Complaints Procedure

Complaints Handling Procedure

Waddington and Son (Solicitors) Ltd 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 service and standards.

If you have a complaint or point of concern, you should contact our Complaints Officer, who is Trish Hassell. Contact can be made in writing to Trish Hassell at 28, Richmond Terrace, Blackburn, Lancashire, BB1 7BL or by email to thassell@waddingtonandson.co.uk or by telephone 01254 913203. We have eight weeks to consider your complaint. If we have not resolved it to your satisfaction within this time, you may complain to the Legal Ombudsman, whose details are given below.

(If your complaint involves Trish Hassell then it should be addressed to Colin Warner, Director).

What Will Happen Next?

1. We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 3 working days of receiving it. A copy of our complaint’s procedure document will be enclosed.
2. We will then proceed to investigate your complaint. Our complaints officer will review your file and speak to the person who conducted the matter on your behalf.
3. We will then invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. We will do this within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
4. Within three days of the meeting, we will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions agreed with you.
5. If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, Our Complaints Officer will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including her suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
6. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for someone unconnected with the matter at the company or, for an appropriate alternative such as review by another local solicitor to review the decision.
7. 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.
8. If you are still not satisfied, at that stage you can contact The Legal Ombudsman, P.O. Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH, about your complaint. You will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final written response from us, and within 1 year of the act or omission about which you are complaining occurring or if outside of this period, within one year of when you should reasonably have been aware of it. For further information, you should contact The Legal Ombudsman on 0300 555 0333 or at enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk