Complaints

General 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. The following applies  to all matters, except where there is a dispute over a bill, in which case a different procedure applies

If you have a complaint, please set it out in writing and send it to Richard Antrobus, Antrobus Solicitors, Suite 167, Courthill House, 60 Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AJ.

What Happens Next?

1. Upon receiving your complaint, an acknowledgement letter or email will be sent out to you within 7 days of us receiving it.
2. We will then investigate your complaint. The matter will be investigated personally by the owner of the firm, Richard Antrobus. At this stage, Mr Antrobus will ask you for any further information needed from you to enable him to complete his enquiries.
3. Upon completing his enquiries, Mr Antrobus will: (i) Either contact you to discuss the matter and hopefully resolve your complaint. Having discussed the matter with you, he will then write to you (within 21 days of the acknowledgement letter being sent out) to confirm what took place and any solutions he has agreed with you. (ii) Or, alternatively, Mr Antrobus will instead send you a detailed written reply to your complaint (within 21 days of the acknowledgement letter being sent out), including his suggestions for resolving the matter.
4. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, then you should write to us again within 7 days of receiving our response to your complaint at the above address setting out your reasons why. An acknowledgement letter will be sent out within 7 days of us receiving your request for a review. Mr Antrobus will then review his decision. He will then write to you within 7 days of the acknowledgement letter being sent out confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
5. Given the above, you will note that we aim to complete the full complaints process, including any appeal, within 7 weeks of first receiving the complaint.
6. If you are still not satisfied, you can then contact the Legal Ombudsman at PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH about your complaint (whom you can also refer your complaint to should it have not been resolved within 8 weeks from the date your first raised it). Any complaint you refer to the Legal Ombudsman must be brought within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint, 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 the complainant should have realised that there was a cause for complaint. For further information you can contact the Legal Ombudsman on 0300 555 0333 or at www.legalombudsman.org.uk.
7. In relation to any professional conduct issues you are concerned about, then you can contact the Solicitors Regulation Authority at The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN (Tel: 0370 606 2555)

Disputed Bill

Where there is a dispute over a bill, a different procedure applies, which is as follows:-

If you have a complaint about a bill, please set it out in writing and send it on to Richard Antrobus, Antrobus Solicitors, Suite 167, Courthill House, 60 Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AJ.

What Happens Next?

1. Upon receiving your complaint, an acknowledgement letter or email will be sent out to you within 7 days of us receiving it.
2. We will then investigate your complaint. The matter will be investigated personally by the owner of the firm, Richard Antrobus. At this stage, Mr Antrobus will ask you for any further information needed from you to enable him to complete his enquiries. As part of his enquiries, Mr Antrobus will cancel the original bill and appoint an independent firm of legal costs assessors, to compile a new and much more detailed bill. As part of this process, legal costs assessors will determine whether the costs were reasonably and transparently incurred and arrive at an ultimate costs figure which they regard as reasonable in all of the circumstances. Hence, Mr Antrobus will be guided entirely by the legal costs assessors in the matter and whatever figure the legal costs assessors arrive at in terms of the size of the bill, will be the amount of the final bill.
3. Upon completing his enquiries and the legal costs assessors completing the new detailed bill (within 35 days of the acknowledgement letter being sent out – 35 days are required as the legal costs assessors normal turnaround time for the detailed bill is 28 days), Mr Antrobus will contact you to discuss the matter and hopefully resolve your complaint. Having discussed the matter with you, he will then write to you (within 7 days of the discussion) to confirm what took place and any solutions he has agreed with you.
4. If you do not want to discuss the matter in person or over the phone, Mr Antrobus will instead send you a detailed written reply to your complaint (within 42 days of the acknowledgement letter being sent out), including his suggestions for resolving the matter.
5. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, then you will need to issue court proceedings within 1 calendar month of the date of the bill. The Court will then assess the bill at what is known as a “Detailed Assessment Hearing”. The Courts ultimate decision is final.