The firm’s complaints policy

We are confident of providing a high quality service. We do, of course, welcome any suggestions you might wish to make which you think could help to improve our service. Please send feedback to davidpett@m-j-p.co.uk

If something goes wrong or any client believes they have reason to complain, it is essential that we have an effective procedure to assist the complete and early resolution of the problem. Only by doing so can we maintain the quality standards we have set ourselves and improve them by learning from what may have gone wrong and from what our clients tell us.

If, at any time, you are not happy with the service you are receiving from the firm, please let us know. You are valued by us and we would like the opportunity to put matters right if any problems do arise. In the first instance, please contact David Jones (01603 877002 or via e-mail davidjones@m-j-p.co.uk ) and he will do what he can to resolve the problem promptly as he is responsible for the firm’s complaints procedure. If for any reason we are unable to resolve the problem between us, then we are regulated by The Solicitors Regulation Authority which also provides complaints and redress scheme.

We are not authorised by the Financial Services Authority. However, we are included on the register maintained by the Financial Services Authority so that we can carry on insurance mediation activity, which is broadly the advising on, selling and administration of insurance contracts. This part of our business, including arrangements for complaints or redress if something goes wrong, is regulated by The Solicitors Regulation Authority. The register can be accessed via the Financial Services Authority website at www.fsa.gov.uk/register

The procedure

Although it is not essential, in making your complaint, it would be helpful if you could provide details of your concerns in writing (if you have not already done so). Your complaint should be addressed to:

David Jones, Morgan Jones and Pett, 18/20 Prince of Wales Road, Norwich, NR1 1LB.

While David Jones will retain overall responsibility for the handling of your complaint, some of the steps set out below may be undertaken by someone designated by them to deal with the matter and who will accept initial responsibility for dealing with the complaint.

What will happen next?

We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint, set out our understanding of it and request your confirmation or seek any necessary clarification. We will also confirm who will be dealing with your complaint within three days of receipt.

The complaint will be registered in the Central Register (for monitoring and management information purposes) and a separate file will be opened.

We will acknowledge receipt of your confirmation letter or telephone call and confirm what will happen next and agree a timetable for dealing with your complaint.

We will then commence investigating your complaint. This may involve the following steps:

1. the person who acted for you may be asked to provide a response to your complaint
2. the response will be examined together with the file and your complaint and, if necessary, further information will be sought from the person who acted for you
3. you may then be invited to meet with the individual handling your complaint to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint.

If you do not wish to attend a meeting or it is for some reason impractical, we will write to you with a detailed response to your complaint and with any suggestions we have for resolving it. If a meeting does take place, we will still write to you to confirm the outcome of the meeting and any agreed solution arrived at.

If, at the meeting or from your written reply to our detailed written response, you remain dissatisfied with what we said and how we proposed to resolve your complaint, we will then arrange for our decision to be reviewed.

Review

This will happen in one of the following ways:

the person dealing with your complaint will review their own handling of your complaint and why you are dissatisfied with the decision,

OR

another Partner will consider all relevant information, how the complaint was handled and the decision made.

NOTE: The time scale for conducting the review process above will be notified to you within seven days of receipt of your request for a review. You should receive notification of the outcome of the review within 14 days of this acknowledgement.

The outcome of the review will assess our initial handling of your complaint and our decision upon it.

If we are unable to resolve matters to your satisfaction you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider your complaint at the conclusion of our complaints process. Normally, you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint. You can contact the Legal Ombudsman by telephoning 0300 555 0333 or by writing to PO Box 15870, Birmingham B30 9EB.