We try to provide the best service possible and manage any issues as they arise for our clients and this means that we do not receive many informal or formal complaints about our services or our staff.

If you feel dissatisfied please talk to us.

If you have any concerns about the quality of service provided by your fee earner or from our firm generally, please discuss your concerns with your fee earner directly first so that any misunderstandings can be resolved easily.

If you feel after addressing the issues with your fee earner that your concerns have still not been resolved, please request our complaints procedure as it can be used  to consider the issues raised.

Our complaints procedure considers both general complaints and data protection related complaints.

A copy of our complaints procedure can be requested by emailing info@hannayslaw.co.uk , by calling 0191 4974630 or 0191 4555361 or by completing the form at the end of this page.

If you would like to discuss your dissatisfaction with our complaints manager, please call 0191 4974630 or 0191 4555361 and ask to speak to Mr Kim Rainford. If he is not available please ask the member of staff to take your details and Mr Rainford will return your call.

Explaining your dissatisfaction to us

It is important that explain to us what is causing your dissatisfaction to us using your own words.

Your email, letter or phone call can be quite short and you can use bullet points to explain what you feel is not proceeding as expected.

We do not need you to spend your time and effort producing a long legally worded document as we will grasp the issues as soon as you explain them to us.

Some clients have submitted complaints to us using AI services to help them to word their complaint. We find that when we receive the complaint produced by AI it uses overly legal language and terminology  and is often excessively long and wordy.

Sometimes our clients are not aware of the legal meaning behind the legal wording suggested by AI and the implications of what is being said.

Sometimes AI suggests wording that takes a complaint beyond what a complaint is and we have to deal with what we receive in a different way.

As professional solicitors and lawyers we know the implications when things go wrong. We do not need an AI interpretation of the law to act on your behalf, or to put things right for you.  We will ask you at the during and at the end of our complaints process if we have dealt with everything for you.

The other point to bear in mind when using AI is that as soon as you upload the details of your matter to AI, it is  in the public domain and no longer confidential. Your information can be used by AI in the future and it will be difficult for you to control who has access to your information.

How to submit a complaint

• If your matter with us is ongoing, in the first instance you should contact your fee earner. Your fee earner will understand your matter and might be able to offer an explanation or put things right for you. We will do our very best to resolve any issues you raise and assure you that raising issues with your fee earner will not affect how we continue to handle your matter.
• If matters are not resolved and you remain dissatisfied you may wish to make a formal complaint.
• Think about what you are dissatisfied with and put it in your own words to us. If you feel that you have suffered a financial loos try to tell us what this is and how it occurred.
• You can raise the issues directly to Kim Rainford, our Managing Director, is also our Complaints Manager and he can be contacted directly by calling 0191 4555361 or by emailing or writing to us.
• You can email us at info@hannayslaw.co.uk and your email will be passed to Mr Rainford.
• We will send you a copy of our Complaints Procedure when we acknowledge your complaint within three working days of receiving it

It is important that you put the complaint in your own words to us. Some clients have submitted complaints to us using Chat AI services to help them to word their complaint and when we receive the complaint it is overly legal language and terminology and excessively worded.  

Dissatisfaction with our Bill
You are also entitled to make a complaint if you are dissatisfied with our bill. You may have the right to object to your legal bill by applying to the Court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. There is more information here: https://www.gov.uk/challenge-solicitors-bill

If all the Bill or part of our Bill remains unpaid we may be entitled to charge interest.

What do to if we cannot resolve your complaint

The Legal Ombudsman can assist you if we are unable to resolve your complaint between ourselves.

The Legal Ombudsman Service will look at your complaint independently and decide an outcome that both parties have to adhere to.

Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first and that we have reached a final outcome.

If you want to use the Ombudsman service, then you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within the following time period:

• Within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint from us,
  and
• No more than one year from the date of act/omission; or
• One year from the date when the complainant should have realised that there was a cause for complaint.

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

Legal Ombudsman contact details:

Web: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9am to 5pm.

Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Write: Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH

Negligence

Some complaints cannot be dealt with under our complaints procedure or by the Legal Ombudsman. For instance, if we have been negligent in carrying out the work we have completed for you and you have suffered a financial loss that cannot be dealt with by using our Complaints Process.

You may not know that we have been negligent while conducting your matter, but if  you raise a complaint with us and we recognise that negligence is involved we will inform you that we cannot deal with the matter through our complaints process and the steps you should then take.

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