Capper & Jones considers any sign of dissatisfaction with our work to be a client complaint. In the first instance this will be discussed with clients to attempt an immediate resolution. Where issues are not rectified to the client’s satisfaction the client will be invited to issue an official complaint. The procedure set out below will be forwarded to any client requesting the same.

Capper and Jones will follow the procedure outlined below in respect of any complaints made.

Our Complaints Policy

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.

Our Complaints Procedure

If you have a complaint, write to us with the details.

What Will Happen Next

1. We will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint and asking you to confirm or explain the details set out. We will also let you know the name of the person who will be dealing with your complaint. You can expect to receive our letter within 2 days of us receiving your complaint.
2. We will record your complaint in our central register and open a separate file for your complaint. We will do this within a day of receiving your complaint.
3. We will acknowledge your reply to our acknowledgement letter and confirm what will happen next. You can expect to hear from us within a day of your reply.
4. We will then start to investigate your complaint. This will normally involve the following steps.

a) We will pass your complaint to one of the other Partners within 3 days.

b) He or she will ask the Partner who acted for you to reply to your complaint within 5 days.

c) The other Partner will then examine their reply and the information in your complaint file. If necessary, he or she may also speak to them. This will take up to 3 days from

receiving their reply and the file.

5.    The Partner dealing with your complaint will then invite you to meet him or her and discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. He or she will do this within 3 days.

6.    Within 2 days of the meeting the other Partner will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions that were agreed with you.  If you do not want a meeting or if it is not possible the other Partner will send you a detailed reply to your complaint. This will include any suggestions for resolving the matter. He or she will do this within 5 days of completing the investigation.

7.    At this stage, if you are still not satisfied you can write to us again. We will then arrange to review our decision. This will happen in one of the following ways:-

a) The decision will be reviewed, if possible, by another Partner of the firm, within 10 days.

b) We will ask our local Law Society or another local firm of solicitors to review your complaint within 5 days. We will let you know how long this process will take.

c) We will invite you to agree to independent mediation within 5 days. We will let you know how long this process will take.

8.    We will let you know the result of the review within 5 days of the end of the review. At this time we will write to you confirming ‘our final position on your complaint and explaining the reasons. If you are still not satisfied you can contact the Legal Ombudsman about your complaint.  Their address is PO Box 6167 Slough SL1 0EH (www.legalombudsman.org.uk). Any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must be made within six months of receiving our final response to your complaint; and no more than one year from the date of the act or mission being complained about; or no more than one year from the date when you should reasonably have known that there was cause for complaint.  

While the Legal Ombudsman handles complaints about the services we provide, or our fees for the services, the SRA deals with complaints about conduct. Further information is available on the SRA website.

If we have to change any of the timescales above we will let you know and explain why.