Ripley:
01773 295799

2 The Walkway, Grosvenor Rd,
Ripley DE5 3JF

Mon - Fri:
9:00 - 17:00

We never close at lunch

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Making a complaint

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards. We deal with all complaints fairly, promptly and at no extra cost to you.

• What is a complaint?

A report by a client that their expectations of what they consider to be a good service have not been met.

A  report or concerns by a client that their personal data has not been handled properly in accordance with the Data Protection legislation including the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUAA).  The Information Commissioner’s website provides some examples of what a data protection complaint might look like

Making a complaint

You can register the complaint with Joanne Clay who can be contacted by email at info@jc-lawyers.com or by letter to be sent to 2 The Walkway, Grosvenor Road, Ripley, Derbyshire, DE5 3JF or by telephone on 01773 295799.

You can raise a complaint by phone, although in the first instance, we’d prefer if you write to us by email or letter with full details of your complaint so that we have a good understanding of the issues being highlighted.

She is responsible for ensuring that complaints are handled effectively and in accordance with this procedure. This procedure will also apply to prospective clients who we have refused to provide a service to or persistently or unreasonably offered an unwanted service to but only if the complainant has evidence to show that we did not have reasonable grounds to do so.

Investigating the complaint

(1) We will acknowledge the complaint within seven days.

(2) We will conduct a full investigation and an independent review of the matter.

(3) Where a full response cannot be given in seven days we will acknowledge receipt of the complaint in that timescale, give the reason for the delay and commit to responding fully within 28 days of receipt of the initial complaint.

(4) Our response to the complainant will include:

• A clear explanation of assessment of the complaint;
• Our decision on it;
• Any offer of remedial action and/or redress where a complaint is upheld;
• Information on our complaint-handling review procedure (if applicable), its timeframes and how it can be accessed;
• Information on the complainant’s right to refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, its time frames and contact details.

(5) If the complainant is dissatisfied with the outcome, or the way the complaint has been handled, the complainant may write to Joanne Clay who will make such further investigations as are necessary.

(6) Joanne Clay will inform the complainant of the conclusions and any alternative proposals to resolve the complaint, usually within 28 days of this being referred to her.

(7) If still unresolved at this stage, the complainant may take their complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, you will have to bring your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of receiving a final response from us about your complaint.

From 1 April 2023, the Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them:

• within one year from the date of the act or omission being complained about; or
• within one year from the date when the complainant should have realised that there was cause for complaint

The requirement to refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you remains the same.

(8) We will record and report centrally all complaints received from clients.

(9) We will identify the cause of any problems of which the client has complained offering appropriate redress and correcting any unsatisfactory procedures.

If still unresolved at this stage, you may take the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman or, in accordance with the Alternative Dispute Resolution Regulations to an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Scheme Provider.   We will issue a final letter advising you of this.

Unresolved Data Protection complaints should be directed to the Information Commissioner whose contact details are provided in our Privacy Notice provided to you at the outset of instruction or a copy is available in our website. We will issue a final letter advising you of this.

Legal Ombudsman

The Legal Ombudsman is an independent body established by the Office for Legal Complaints under the Legal Services Act 2007 to deal with complaints against Licensed Conveyancers.

The Legal Ombudsman may:

• Investigate the quality of professional service supplied by a Licensed Conveyancer to a client.
• Investigate allegations that a Licensed Conveyancer has breached rules of professional conduct.
• Investigate allegations that a Licensed Conveyancer has unreasonably refused to supply a professional service to a prospective client.
• Investigate allegations that a Licensed Conveyancer has persistently or unreasonably offered a professional service that the client does not want.

Before it will consider a complaint the Legal Ombudsman generally requires that the Firm’s internal Complaints Procedure has been exhausted. If the Legal Ombudsman is satisfied that the Firm’s proposals for resolving a complaint are reasonable, it may decline to investigate further.

The Legal Ombudsman’s address is:

PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH; telephone, 0300 555 0333; website, www.legalombudsman.org.uk; or email enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

THE COUNCIL FOR LICENSED CONVEYANCERS

Our Regulator, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers 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 with the Council for Licensed Conveyancers using the following contact details:

Contact Centre open Mon-Fri, 8am-5pm.

Tel: 020 3859 0904

Email: clc@clc-uk.org

Postal address:

Council for Licensed Conveyancers

WeWork

120 Moorgate

London

EC2M 6UR

If you make a valid claim against us for a loss arising out of work for which we are legally responsible, and we are unable to meet our liability in full, you may be entitled to claim from the Compensation Fund administered by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (from whom details can be obtained).

ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION SCHEMES

Alternative complaints bodies include one of the following: Ombudsman Services, ProMediate and Small Claims Mediation and the website exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme.

However, we don’t currently agree to use this Alternative Dispute Resolution service in view of the availability of the independent Legal Ombudsman Service established under the Legal Services Act 2007.  We are bound by our Regulatory Code to comply with the Legal Ombudsman and our Regulator.