Our complaints policy

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

Our complaints procedure

If you have a complaint about our service or our fees contact our Client Care Partner, John Mehtam, with the details. You can do this by writing to him at The Foundry, Euston Way, Telford, TF3 4LY, calling him on 01952 272222 or email johnmehtam@martinkaye.co.uk.

If your complaint relates to our bill you may have a right to ask the court to assess the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974 but the Legal Ombudsman will then not be able to assist you.

What will happen next

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 days of us receiving your complaint.
2. We will pass your complaint to our Client Care Partner, John Mehtam – 01952 272222 – johnmehtam@martinkaye.co.uk, who will record your complaint in our central register and open a separate section in that register for your complaint. We will do this within a day of receiving your complaint.
3. John Mehtam will then start to investigate your complaint. This will normally involve the following steps:
   1. he may pass your complaint to the member of staff who acted for you (and/or their immediate manager, if appropriate) to supply him with a reply to your complaint within fourteen days;
   2. he may examine their reply and the information in your complaint file. He may then ask them for more information. This will take up to three days from receiving their reply and the file.
4. Within four days of completing his investigation he will send you a detailed reply to your complaint. This will include his suggestions for resolving the matter.
5. At this stage if you are still not satisfied you contact us again. We will arrange to review our decision. This will happen in one of the following ways:
   1. Another member of the firm will review the Client Care Consultants decision within 10 days.
   2. We will ask our local Law Society or other local firm of solicitors to review your complaint within 5 days. We will let you know how long this process will take.
   3. We will invite you to agree to independent mediation. We will let you know how long this process will take.
6. We will let you know the result of the review within 5 days of completion of the review. At this time we will write to you confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons. We will also give you the name and address of both the Legal Ombudsman and The Ombudsman Service Ltd (Ombudsman Services: The Consumer Ombudsman) a Law Society ADR approved body. If you are still not satisfied you can contact them about your complaint.
7. If we need to change any of the timescales above we will let you know and explain why. In any event the process will not take longer than 8 weeks.
8. If the matter is not concluded by 8 weeks we will contact you and give you the contact details for both the Legal Ombudsman and The Ombudsman Service Ltd (Ombudsman Services: The Consumer Ombudsman) a Law Society ADR approved body.

If you are still not happy with the result

In the event of your not being satisfied by our response you may refer the matter to the Legal Ombudsman (“LeO”) and/or The Ombudsman Service Ltd (Ombudsman Services: The Consumer Ombudsman) a Law Society ADR approved body but you must do so as follows:

1. within 6 years from the date of act/omission, or of your original complaint
2. within 3 years from the date the complainant should reasonably have known there were grounds for complaint (if the act/omission took place before 6 October 2010 or was more than 6 years ago);
3. within 6 months of the complainant receiving a final response from their lawyer

Please note that only copies of documents should be sent to the LeO office or The Ombudsman Service Ltd (Ombudsman Services: The Consumer Ombudsman) to avoid any documentation being lost or destroyed.

The contact details are as follows:

Legal Ombudsman
Postal address: PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH
Telephone: 0300 555 0333
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

The Ombudsman Service Limited (Ombudsman Services: The Consumer Ombudsman)
Postal address: Registered Office: 3300 Daresbury Park, Warrington, Cheshire, WA4 4HS
Telephone: 0330 440 1614
Email: enquiry@ombudsman-services.org
Website: www.ombudsman-services.org