General Information
Appointments
Telephone before 10.00 am for same day appointments. If no appointment is available and you consider your problem to be legally urgent, then please ask to speak to your legal representative. Home visits are available on request and at no extra cost if you are disabled or infirm and unable to visit us.
Telephone
We prefer you to restrict your calls to the latter parts of the morning and afternoon. Please leave a full message if the person you call is unavailable. This will enable us to prepare a detailed response to your question. You will be told when to expect a return call – this will usually be within two hours.
Remember
Help us to help you and cut your costs. Unless it is urgent, write to us rather than telephone. Please make an appointment if you want to see someone. This will enable us to plan our day efficiently.
At the outset - we will confirm in writing:
- Your instructions to us
- Any advice we have given
- What action we will be taking
- When you are next likely to hear from us
- What action we need you to take
- How costs will be calculated
- Any further information we need from you
During the matter we will:
- Keep you informed of progress by sending copies of outgoing correspondence
- Advise you of any delay and explain the reason
- Supply copies and explain the effects of any important developments and letters
- Explain any changes of staff affecting your matter
- Confirm your instructions and our advice in writing
At the end of the matter we will:
- Write to you confirming the conclusion of it
- Explain any future consequences
- Render our final account as promptly as possible
- Account to you for all money due to you
- Provide you with any papers and property to which you are entitled, but we reserve the right to retain them if our account is not paid
Note: Completed files of papers may be destroyed after six years. Please let us know in writing if you wish the file to be forwarded to you.
How you can help us:
- Give us clear instructions
- Tell us if you have any important time limits
- Make sure we have understood each other. You must ask if you are not sure about anything
- Deal promptly with any important questions and keep in regular touch
- Do not feel afraid to ask for a progress report if you are worried about anything or do not hear from us when you expect to.
Complaints handling
We hope that you will be pleased with the service we provide to you and we would encourage you to let us know if you feel unhappy about any aspect of what we are doing for you. If you are unhappy with the service provided or the amount of any bill, please let us know. You should contact Philip Bramall by email to p.bramall@franklin-solicitors.co.uk. He will review the matter and reply to you promptly.
A copy of our Complaints Handling Policy is available here
The legal services that Franklin & Co. provides are authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority whose rules and contact details can be found at www.sra.org.uk. Our registration number with the Solicitors Regulation Authority is 8001096.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is the independent regulatory arm of the Law Society. The Legal Ombudsman provides an independent complaints review process for most clients of solicitors’ firms. If you are unhappy with any aspect of the service you receive from us, you may raise your concerns with either of these bodies.
You have the right to make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman at any time, but they will usually expect us to have completed our investigations into your complaint and to have provided you with our final views on it before they will become involved. They will also usually expect us to have reached this point within 8 weeks of first making your complaint to us. There are limitations to the availability of this service, especially for organisations, and you may wish to consult their website for further details. Their full contact details are:
Postal address: The Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH
Telephone number: 0300 555 0333
Email address: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
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.
If you are unhappy with or have a complaint about the amount that we have charged you, you can alternatively use the ‘assessment’ procedure. You have the right to apply to the High Court in accordance with sections 72 to 74 of the Solicitors Act 1974. The court will assess the amount charged in an invoice. This process is subject to certain limitations and strict time limits apply, so you may wish to seek legal advice on your rights under this process.
You also have the right to complain about the amount of any of our invoices under our complaints procedure. If you make an application to the Court you may then be unable to access the services of the Legal Ombudsman.
