Complaints Procedure

Purpose

Our aim is to ensure that we offer the best possible service to all our clients and when our service has fallen below the standard you expect of us, we would like to hear about it.

If at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service, we have provided then you should inform us immediately, so that we can do our best to resolve the problem.

Complaints should be directed to the compliance team on the contact details below.

• Addressee: Flint Bishop Compliance Team
• Post: Pinnacle Building, 2 Prospect Place, Pride Park, Derby, DE24 8HG
• Email: compliance@flintbishop.co.uk
• Telephone: 01332 340 211

We will always encourage people making their complaint to put it in writing. However, this isn’t a requirement, and we will investigate complaints where the complaint has been made in person or over the phone.

If you have any particular needs to enable you to bring your complaint to us, please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate them.

What you can expect from us:

Stage 1

• We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 5 days of receiving it and explain how we will deal with your complaint.
• The next step will be to investigate your complaint. This will usually involve reviewing relevant files, information and systems, and speaking to the person who acted for you. It may also involve a discussion and/or meeting with you. If this is considered appropriate, we will advise you accordingly.
• We will respond to your complaint promptly with the outcome of our investigations and any decision or proposed action. This will be within 28 days of sending the written acknowledgement.
• If we need to adjust any of these timescales, we will notify you accordingly.

Stage 2

• If you are not satisfied with our response, then do let us know. We will arrange for your file to be reviewed. When contacting us please explain why you continue to be dissatisfied.
• Your escalation will be acknowledged, and we will aim to provide a substantive response within 28 days of your request.
• If we need to adjust any of these timescales, we will notify you accordingly.

We hope to be able to resolve all complaints internally as swiftly as possible.

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint

If we are unable to resolve your complaint you may be able to ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the complaint or an alternative complaints body, such as ProMediate (www.promediate.co.uk). We believe that the Legal Ombudsman’s scheme is the most suitable for legal complaints and they would be our suggestion if we were unable to resolve your complaint.

The Legal Ombudsman will independently review your complaint, 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.

The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within one year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within one year of you realising there was a concern. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you.

The Ombudsman will not accept complaints where the act, omission or date of awareness was before 6 October 2010. You should also note that the Ombudsman may not consider a complaint about a bill if you have applied to the court for it to be assessed.

The Legal Ombudsman’s contact details are:

• Telephone: 0300 555 0333
• Minicom: 0300 555 1777
• Website:legalombudsman.org.uk
• Post: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you 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 directly with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Non-client complaints

We will consider complaints from non-clients where the complaint meets one of the following circumstances:

• You are a beneficiary and there are concerns regarding the service provided to someone who has now died.
• The complaint relates to services we are providing or have provided to an estate.
• The complaint relates to a service which we provided, offered, or refused to provide, to the complainant.
• The complainant has received the benefit of a service from us, even if they did not directly instruct us or pay our fees.
• Where there are concerns regarding our conduct and compliance with our regulatory obligations, which includes allegations of dishonesty, discrimination, offensive or misleading communications, disregard of professional standards, and taking unfair advantage of others.

Date protection complaints

We take the protection of personal data seriously and are committed to complying with applicable data protection legislation, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

If your complaint relates to the way we have collected, used, stored, shared or otherwise processed your personal data, or how we have responded to a request to exercise your data protection rights, you should raise your concerns with our Compliance Team using the contact details set out above. Please provide as much information as possible to help us investigate your complaint.

We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days and investigate your concerns promptly and fairly. We aim to provide a substantive response within one month of receipt of your complaint. Where the complaint is particularly complex or involves multiple issues, we may extend this timescale by up to a further two months. If an extension is required, we will inform you of the reasons for the delay and the expected timescale for our response.

If, following our final response, you remain dissatisfied with how we have handled your personal data or your complaint, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Whilst you may complain to the ICO at any time, we encourage you to contact us first so that we have the opportunity to investigate and resolve your concerns.

The Information Commissioner’s Office can be contacted as follows:

• Website: www.ico.org.uk
• Telephone: 0303 123 1113
• Post: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Customer complaints

We have a separate procedure for handling complaints received from our client’s customers when there are concerns relating to the following services:

• Debt collection

• Administration of rights under a mortgage contract

• Debt administration

• Insurance distribution activity

Please refer to the Customer Complaints Procedure for further information.