RKN SOLICITORS

COMPLAINTS POLICY

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong, we need our clients to tell us about it. This will help improve our standards. Whenever possible, please raise any initial client care problems with the person acting on your case to give them the opportunity of resolving matters with you. Often, matters can be quickly resolved in this way.

If you are unhappy about any aspect of the service you have received, or about the bill, please write or email us with the details to the office dealing with your matter. Contact details can be found on the firm’s letterhead or on our website www.rknsolicitors.co.uk If you are unhappy about any aspect of the service you have received, or about the bill, please write or email us with the details to the office dealing with your matter. Contact details can be found on the firm’s letterhead or on our website www.rknsolicitors.co.uk.

Our Procedure

1. We will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint and asking you to confirm or explain the details set out. We will also let you know the name of the person who will be dealing with your complaint. You can expect to receive our letter within two working days of us receiving your complaint.
2. We will record your complaint in our central register.
3. We will acknowledge your reply to our acknowledgement letter and confirm what will happen next. You can expect to hear from us within two working days of your reply.

4. We will then start to investigate your complaint. This will normally involve the following steps:

   • You complaint will be passed to either Mr Raj Kumar or Miss Nikita Copley, our client care managers, within three working days.
   • He/she will either reply or ask the member of staff who acted for you to reply to your complaint within five working days.
5. If you are still dissatisfied, he/she will then, if they feel it is necessary, invite you to meet him and discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. He/she will do this within three working days and will then write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions he has agreed with you within two working days of the meeting.
6. If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, the Client Care Manager will send you a detailed reply to your complaint. This will include his suggestions for resolving the matter. He will do this within five working days of completing his investigation.
7. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied you should contact us again and we will arrange for another Fee-Earner within the firm to review the decision. We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.

If we have to change any of the above timescales, we will let you know and explain why.

The Legal Ombudsman

If you are still not satisfied with our handling of your complaint you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the complaint. We would hope that this does not become necessary and that we can resolve matters between ourselves. Contact details are as follows:

• PO Box 6167
• Slough
• SL1 0EH
• ' 0300 555 0333
• * enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
• ü www.legalombudsman.org.uk

The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within one year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned, or within one year of you realising there was a concern. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you.

Complaints in relation to bills

The procedure above also applies to complaints arising concerning our bill. There may also be a right to object to the bill by applying to the court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974; The Legal Ombudsman may not consider a complaint about a bill if you have applied to the Court for assessment of that bill.

Raising concerns with our regulator

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) can help you if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic. You can find information about raising your concerns with the SRA at www.sra.org.uk in the ‘For the public’ section.