Complaints Policy
Our Attitude to Complaints
Fullbrook Associates Limited value the complaints we receive. When a complaint is made to us it enables us to learn from experience, endeavour to improve the experience of future clients and other parties to have contact with us, and lastly attempt to bring some satisfaction to the complainant
Scope of this Policy
This policy sets out how Fullbrook Associates Limited endeavour to deal with complaints made against them, whether they are raised by a client or a third party. Copies of this policy are available for clients and third parties on request.
Informal Complaints
Most complaints are dealt with effectively on an informal basis. Clients are encouraged to raise any concern or queries about the service they are receiving with the solicitor or paralegal responsible for their work. If you are not a client of the company your complaint should be addressed in writing to the Managing Director, Kate Scully (or if the complaint is about Kate Scully, to Stephanie Connor) as described below. The solicitor or paralegal responsible for a client’s work is specifically designated in the terms of engagement that will have been sent to the client by Fullbrook Associates Limited at the beginning of the transaction or relevant matter, or at the commencement of the client relationship.
Managing Director
If clients are not satisfied, having raised their complaint or queries with the manager responsible (or if a third party who is not a client wishes to make a complaint), they may make a complaint in writing to our Managing Director, Kate Scully. If the complaint is about Kate or work that she is responsible for, complaints should instead be addressed in writing to Stephanie Connor.
Complaint Handling Process
We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within five days of receiving it, enclosing a copy of the complaints procedure.
We also aim to let the complainant know within ten working days of receipt of the complaint whether we require any further information in order that we can fully investigate the issues raised.
We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to our Head of Legal, who will review your matter, file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.
We will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including our suggestions for resolving the matter, within 28 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for someone unconnected with the matter 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 you are still not satisfied, or 8 weeks has passed since you first let us know about your concerns, you can ask the financial Ombudsman Service to review your complaint. The Financial Ombudsman Service provides a free, independent service for customers to solve disputes. The Financial Ombudsman Service say they will only deal with your complaint if you have given us the opportunity to put matters rights, so please contact us first and we will do all that we can to help you.
Third Party Complaints
If a third party who is not a Fullbrook Associates Limited client makes a complaint it may be that we are restricted by client confidentiality so that we cannot provide a full response to the complaint. We will however, endeavour to operate (wherever possible, and as appropriate subject to receiving instructions from any client affected) within the timescales set out above.
Unresolved Complaints
If the complainant is not satisfied with how we propose to resolve the complaint regarding regulated activity only, they may raise their complaint with the Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, London, E14 9SR (Tel: 0800 023 4567) www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk.
Conclusion
We are more than happy to try and answer any queries clients have about our complaints handling procedure.
The vast majority of complainants deal with complaints in a courteous and respectful manner. Unfortunately, a minority behave in an unacceptable way. Complainants may also wish to refer to our policy on unacceptable actions by service users during the complaint handling process (available on request).