Complaints

We aim to offer all our clients an efficient and effective service. However, should there be any aspect of our service which you are unhappy with, please initially contact the fee-earner with conduct of your case to see if it can be resolved. We will not make any charge for this work.

If you wish to discuss matters further or you have a complaint about a bill/invoice, please contact Alexandra Scott-Malden who is the solicitor/director responsible for complaints:

Address: 4-8 The Broadway, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 1BA
Telephone: 01635 45595
Email: scott-malden@hoiles.co.uk

We are permitted eight weeks to consider your complaint. If we are unable to resolve the problem with you or you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint, then you may ask the Legal Ombudsman to deal with it. Normally you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint.

The Legal Ombudsman can be contacted at:

Address: PO Box 6167 Slough SL1 0EH
Telephone: 0300 555 0333
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

The Ombudsman’s office will decide whether they are able to deal with the referral and will check that the referral is made within 6 months from our response to the complaint and that it is made within 6 years of the act or omission complained of or that it was made within 3 years from the date of you found out about it or that exceptional circumstances exist.

Charles Hoile Ltd is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and we are duty bound to comply with the SRA Standards and Regulations which include a set of Principles and various codes of conduct. If your complaint is about a breach of our regulatory obligations as set out by the SRA, you can refer the matter to the SRA to review. You must fill out a report which can be downloaded from the SRA website.

The SRA can be contacted at:

Address: The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham B1 1RN
Telephone: 0370 606 2555
Website: www.sra.org.uk
Email: contactcentre@sra.org.uk

We are required to advise you that alternative complaints bodies (such as Ombudsman Services: https://ombudsman-services.org) exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services.

We have however, chosen not to adopt an alternative dispute resolution process. If, therefore, you wish to complain further you should contact the Legal Ombudsman or the SRA (as appropriate).