Our Complaints Policy

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all of our clients.  When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it.  This will help us to improve our standards. Your complaint might concern the way in which you have been dealt with, the quality of the advice which you have received, or any invoice that you have received.

Our Complaints Procedure

If you have a complaint, please contact our client care Partners Simon Nethercott or Hugh Storry Deans with the details at Harold G Walker Grenville House 30 West Borough Wimborne Dorset BH21 1NF or telephone 01202 881454. It is preferable that you do put your concerns in writing, but if you would prefer not to, or if you would find it difficult to do so, they may be contacted by telephone.

What will happen next?

1. Upon receipt of your complaint, we will send to you a letter acknowledging your complaint within 3 days of receiving it, enclosing a copy of this procedure.

2. We shall then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to Hugh Storry Deans (for litigation and other contentious or court matters) or Simon Nethercott (for domestic property and non-contentious matters), who will review your file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.

3. Simon Nethercott or Hugh Storry Deans will send to you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including their suggestions for resolving the matter, within 7 days of completing their investigations and within 14 days of receiving your complaint, or 21 days if it necessitates obtaining a file from our external storage facility.

4. Upon receiving such letter, please let us have your response, which could include a request for a meeting.

5. Within 7 days of that response or any meeting, they will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions which they have agreed with you.

6. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again, preferably within the next 21 days, and we shall arrange for another partner to review the decision, or we may, where appropriate, invite you to participate in an independent mediation. If this is the case, 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 we have to change any of the timescales above, we shall let you know and explain why.

You may, if you wish, approach the Legal Ombudsman who can investigate complaints about service against lawyers, including firms of solicitors. He will usually expect us to have concluded our examination of your complaint within eight weeks.

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint:

If we are unable to resolve your complaint, then you can have the matter independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman who investigates complaints about service issues with lawyers.  If you would like more information about this service, including the time limits for taking a case to them, please contact the Legal Ombudsman directly.

You can find out more about their service by visiting www.legalombudsman.org.uk or contacting them on 0300 555 0333 between 9.00 to 17.00; Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk ;  PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ

You will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint and within 1 year of the date of the issue you are complaining about, see link leo-here-if-you-need-us-leaflet.pdf (legalombudsman.org.uk)

You may also have the right to apply to the Court for an assessment of our bill within 1 month from delivery of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974.

What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour:

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.

Visit their website to see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Solicitor Regulation Authority – Contact center

The Cube
199 Wharfside Street
Birmingham
B1 1RN
DX 720293 BIRMINGHAM 47

Tel: 0370 606 2555

Email: contactcentre@sra.org.uk

SRA is open today from 08.00 to 17.00 (Except Tuesdays from 09.30 to 17.00)

Harold G Walker Solicitors Grenville House 30 West Borough Wimborne Dorset BH21 1NF | Tel 01202 881454