Service and Complaint information

Southgate & Co is committed to high quality legal advice and client care.
If at any time you do have concerns about the way in which your case is being dealt with, aspects of our services or a bill please raise them with us at your earliest opportunity so we can take steps to address them.
If you have a complaint or are disputing our bill, please contact us in writing with the details. You may email your letter to savvas@southgateandco.co.uk or post your letter to our office address. Please call us to state you are emailing us or posting a letter.

What will happen next?

1. We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your compliant within three working days of receiving the compliant, enclosing a copy of this procedure.

2. We will then investigate your compliant. This will normally involve reviewing your file and correspondence and speak to any members of staff involved.

3. At this stage we will then either write to you or invite you to a meeting to discuss with Savvas Panayiodou and, it is hoped, resolve your compliant. We will do this within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgment letter.

4. Within five days of the meeting, Savvas Panayiodou will write to you and confirm what took place and any solution he has agreed with you.

5. If you do not want a meeting or if it is not possible, we will send you a detailed written reply to your compliant, including suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgment letter.

6. If you are still not satisfied, you should write to us requesting a review within 14 days explaining why you remain unhappy with our response and how you believe it should be resolved, we will review your comments and suggestions.

7. We will write to you within 7 days of receiving your request for review, confirming our final written response on your compliant and explaining our reasons.

8. If you feel that your compliant has still not been dealt with to your satisfaction you are entitled to refer your compliant to the Legal Ombudsman by contacting at

Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6167
Slough
SL1 0EH
Email to enquires@legalombudsman.org.uk.
www.legalombudsman.org.uk.

9. A complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must be made

• Within six months of receiving our final response to your complain

and

• No more than one year from the date of the act or omission being complained about; or

• No more than one year from the date when you should reasonably have known that there was a cause for complaint.

10. You also have the right to object to our bill and apply for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. If you apply to the Court for an assessment and if all or part of the bill remains unpaid at the end of that assessment, we are entitled to charge interest.

11. The Solicitors Regulation Authority 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, this is not an exhaustive list.

12. For further information from the Solicitors Regulation Authority and how they can help you, please visit www.sra.org.uk or telephone 0370 606 2555.