Complaints Policy

MSB Solicitors are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us. This will help us to improve our standards.

In the first instance it may be helpful to contact the person who is working on your case to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues  If you would like to make a formal complaint, then you can read our full complaints procedure below. Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case.

How to make a complaint

If you have a complaint, please provide us with the full details, preferably in writing via email or post. You can contact us at 4 St Pauls Square, Liverpool L3 9SJ. You can also call us with the details on +44 (0) 0331 630 1144 or email emmacarey@msbsolicitors.co.uk

It would be useful if you provide the following details:

• Your name, contact details and preferred contact method
• Your file reference number
• Details of your concern
• Any action you would like us to take

We will deal with your complaint promptly, fairly and free of charge.

If your complaint relates to a matter that was concluded more than 12 months ago, we will consider whether it is fair to investigate it, in line with the Legal Ombudsman's timescale’

How we will deal with your complaint

1. Within 5 working days  we will write to you acknowledging your complaint and may ask you to provide further details if necessary. With that acknowledgement, we will provide you with a copy of this complaints procedure.

2. We will record your complaint in our central register.

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

a) We will pass your complaint to Emma Carey, our Managing Partner If your complaint is about Emma Carey, it will be investigated by Mark Forman, who is a Partner.

b) We will ask the member of staff who acted for you to comment on your complaint.

c) We will then consider your complaint, the comments of the relevant member of staff, examine your file, speak with any relevant third parties. We may ask you to provide further details in order to investigate the complaint.  Should you prefer a meeting to discuss the details of your complaint, we can set up a meeting with Laura Prysor-Jones, Client Relationship Manager. The meeting can take place at our head office 4 St Pauls Square, Liverpool, L3 9SJ or via Teams or phone.

4. Emma Carey or Mark Forman will then write to you with a detailed reply to your complaint. This will include our suggestions for resolving the matter. We will do this within eight weeks of our receipt of your complaint.

5. Alternatively, we can set up a meeting with Laura Prysor-Jones, Client Relationship Manager,  to discuss the outcome of the investigation. The meeting will take place at our head office 4 St Pauls Square, Liverpool L3 9SJ. Alternatively, a Teams meeting can be set up. If you are unable to travel to the Liverpool Office and attend the virtual meeting, please let us know to discuss the alternative arrangements.

If you have any concerns regarding the legal advice provided to you, you may wish to seek independent legal advice.

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint

The Legal Ombudsman can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case.

Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:

• Within six months of receiving our final response to your complaint

and

• No more than one year from the date of the act or omission being complained about; or
• No more than one year from the date when you should reasonably have known that there was cause for complaint.

The Legal Ombudsman has discretion to extend the 1 year time limit for specific customers if, on the evidence, it was fair and reasonable to do so.

The Legal Ombudsman can accept complaints from:

• Members of the public who have a problem with their legal service provider
• Beneficiaries of an estate
• Charities and trusts
• A micro-enterprise

There are a number of reasons why the Legal Ombudsman  may decide not to investigate a complaint and this will depend upon the specific circumstances of your case. However, here are some examples:

• They may decide that the complaint raised includes complex legal matters that are best decided by a court, or that it would not be a proportionate use of our time to investigate the complaint;
• They may decide that the service provider has already made an offer to resolve the complaint, that is still open for acceptance, or which has already been accepted, which is more than we would award even if we concluded in your favour;
• They may decide that you have not suffered (and are unlikely to suffer) any significant financial loss, distress, inconvenience or other detriment as a result of the complaint;
  
  or
  
  
• They  may decide that the issues you are complaining about have already been addressed by a previous investigation with this office or through the courts.

Please note that they will not look at a complaint where you have ongoing court proceedings or have already had a decision from the court about the same issues which you would like them to investigate. Equally, if you have had a final decision from the Legal Ombudsman, you will be unable to bring court action against us about the same issues that the Legal Ombudsman have looked at.

For more information contact the Legal Ombudsman.

You can contact the Legal Ombudsman by visiting www.legalombudsman.org.uk, by telephone on 0300 555 0333 or by email at enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk.

Or you can write to them at:

Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6167
Slough
SL1 0EH

What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help 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.

Visit their website to see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Or contact the SRA at:

Solicitors Regulation Authority
The Cube
199 Wharfside Street
Birmingham
B1 1RN

Tel: 0370 606 2555

What to do if you are not happy about the bill

Your right to complain is not restricted simply to our conduct but also about the amount of our bill. In addition to your rights to complain about our bill under our Complaints Procedure and to the Legal Ombudsman, you may also have a right to object to the bill by applying to the Court for an assessment of the bill under Part 3 of the Solicitors Act 1974.

 We are obliged to inform you that if all or any part of the bill remains unpaid, we may be entitled to charge interest upon it.

What to do if your unresolved complaint relates to an insurance policy

If the complaint relates to an insurance policy, you may be able to contact the Financial Ombudsman Service via an online new complaint form Our online complaint form | Our privacy notice | Financial Ombudsman Service, by telephone 0800 023 4567.

Or you can write to them:

Financial Ombudsman Services

Exchange Tower

London

E14 9SR

Alternative Dispute Resolution

In addition to directing a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, you may be able to refer your dispute for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). There are three institutions available to deal with disputes in the legal services sector, namely Ombudsman Services, ProMediate and Small Claims Mediation. If required, we will provide contact details for those mediation services.

Data protection complaints

If your complaint relates to the way in which we have collected, used, stored, disclosed, retained or otherwise handled your personal data, we will treat this as a data protection complaint.

Data protection complaints will be handled under this complaints procedure, unless we tell you otherwise.

1.      We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days of receipt and will investigate and respond to you as soon as reasonably practicable.

2.      We will then pass your complaint to  Emma Carey, our Managing Partner and Data Protection Manager Investigation may include review of the file, speaking with the relevant team members and a review of internal systems.

3.      Where your complaint relates to personal data, we may need to ask you for further information to help us understand your concerns. We may also need to verify your identity. We will communicate any relevant updates to you during the course of the investigation.

4. Emma Carey will then write to you with a reply to your complaint. This will include our suggestions for resolving the matter. We will do this within eight weeks of our receipt of your complaint.

·       5. Alternatively, we can set up a meeting with Laura Prysor Jones our Client Relationship Manager to discuss the outcome of the investigation. The meeting can take place either at our head office 4 St Pauls Square, Liverpool L3 9SJ. Alternatively, a Teams meeting can be set up. If you are unable to travel to the Liverpool Office and attend the virtual meeting, please let us know to discuss the alternative arrangements.

Our Privacy Notice provides further information about how we handle personal data and explains your rights as a data subject, including your rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, objection and data portability, where applicable. A copy of our Privacy Notice is available https://www.msbsolicitors.co.uk/privacy-policy or can be provided on request.

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint

If you remain dissatisfied with the way we have handled a data protection complaint, you may complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, which is the UK supervisory authority for data protection matters.

You can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at:

Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Website: www.ico.org.uk
Telephone: 0303 123 1113

What to do it complaint relates to both legal service and Data Protection aspects?

Where a complaint includes both a concern about our legal service and a concern about how we have handled personal data, you may have the right to refer the service element of your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman and the data protection element to the Information Commissioner’s Office.