Complaints Procedure

The Proddow Mackay Group is committed to providing a high standard of service to our clients, however, we understand that you may feel that we may not always get it right.

If you have a complaint about the service you have received or the handling of your claim please contact us. We will respond to any concerns you may have and we will do everything we can to sort out your complaint quickly and efficiently.

You can raise your complaint by letter, email or telephone with the fee earner who has been dealing with your case, with the fee earner’s manager, or by email to enquiries@pm-law.co.uk Please mark your letter or email ‘Complaint’. If you have any special needs to enable you to bring your complaint to us please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate them.

To help us make sure we have understood your complaint, and not missed anything, please tell us:

your full name, contact details and any reference number you may have for your case;
what you think we have done wrong; and
what you think we should do to put things right.

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. You can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulations Authority here.

How we will deal with your complaint

Normally, you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months from the end of our complaints process, six years from the date of act/omission, or three years from the act or omission about which you are complaining occurring (or you becoming aware of it).

We have up to eight weeks to consider your complaint but will endeavour to deal with it as quickly as possible. If we have not resolved it within this time you may complain to the Legal Ombudsman.

We will record your complaint in our central register and open a file for your complaint.

Stage 1

We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 5 working days of receiving the complaint.

We will investigate your complaint and provide a substantive response within 20 working days of receiving your complaint.

We may be able to deal with the matter in a phone call, or we may need to carry out a detailed review of your case. In all cases we will write to you to tell you the outcome of your complaint and to give you the opportunity to have your complaint reviewed if you are not satisfied with the outcome.

Stage 2

If you are not satisfied with our response you should contact us again and we will arrange for the file to be reviewed. When contacting us please explain why you continue to be dissatisfied.

Your complaint will be acknowledged within five working days of receiving the complaint and we will provide a substantive response within 20 working days from receiving your letter. If your complaint is particularly complex and we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why and provide you with an updated timescale.

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 a final response to your complaint

and

No more than six years from the date of act/omission; or
No more than three years from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.

If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them.