Complaints Policy

This policy covers complaints about our service — the information on our website, the eligibility check, how we handled your details, how we communicated with you, or how our staff behaved.

Complaints about a law firm or claim organiser we introduced you to are not ours to decide, because they are separate organisations that handle complaints about their own work. We will still pass your complaint on for you, and section 7 explains how that works and what routes are open to you afterwards.

This policy forms part of our Terms and Conditions, which also explain what we mean by a claim organiser. Our service is for people aged 18 or over who are resident in the United Kingdom.

You can complain:

• by email to complaints@legalclaimpro.com
• in writing to 4 Hopyard Studios, 13 Lovibond Lane, Greenwich, London SE10 9FY

We do not operate a telephone line, so we cannot take complaints by phone. If using the phone would make things easier for you, tell us and we will see what we can do — see section 6.

It helps if you tell us what happened, when, who you dealt with if you know, and what you would like us to do to put it right. You do not have to use any particular form of words, and you do not need to use the word "complaint" — if you tell us you are unhappy, we will treat it as one.

If you need help making your complaint, see section 6.

Straight away. If we can resolve things within three working days, we will do that and write to confirm what we agreed. If you are not satisfied with that, tell us and we will treat it as a full complaint.

Within five working days. Otherwise we will write to acknowledge your complaint. That letter will set out our understanding of what you are complaining about, tell you who is handling it, and explain what happens next. If we have misunderstood, tell us at that point.

While we investigate. Your complaint will be looked at by someone who was not involved in what you are complaining about, wherever that is possible given our size. We will review our records and correspondence, and we may come back to you for more detail. We will update you at least every two weeks, and you can ask for an update at any time.

Within eight weeks. We will give you a full written response. It will explain what we found, whether we uphold your complaint in whole or in part, why we reached that view, and what we are going to do about it. Where we have got something wrong we will say so and put it right; that may mean an apology, correcting a record, changing how we do something, or compensation.

If we cannot meet eight weeks. We will write to you before the eight weeks are up, explain why, and tell you when you can expect our response.

First, the position on ombudsmen. There is no ombudsman we can refer you to, at any stage — before or after the review described below. We are not a law firm and we are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, so neither the Legal Ombudsman nor the Financial Ombudsman Service covers the service we provide. We would rather say this plainly at the outset than let you find out after spending time on it.

What we can offer is an internal review. Tell us you are not satisfied and a director will review the decision. Ask within 28 days of our final response and we will complete the review within a further four weeks.

What else remains open to you:

• if your complaint is about how we handled your personal information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office — see section 8;
• if your complaint is about a law firm or claim organiser we introduced you to, the routes in section 7 apply;
• you retain any legal rights you have, including the right to take court proceedings. Nothing in this policy affects those rights.

We cannot investigate:

• the merits of your legal claim, or a decision by a law firm about whether to act for you — we do not make those decisions and have no standing to review them;
• the conduct or charges of a law firm or claim organiser — see section 7. But if you believe you have been charged more because you came to them through us, tell us. Clause 5.3 of our Terms and Conditions requires the organisations we work with to charge you no more than they would charge someone who approached them directly, and that is our promise to investigate, not theirs;
• matters that are being dealt with by a court or the Information Commissioner's Office, while those are ongoing.

We will tell you if this applies to your complaint, and point you to the right place.

Tell us what would make this easier and we will do what we reasonably can. That might mean:

• corresponding by post or email, whichever suits you;
• dealing with a family member, friend, carer or adviser on your behalf — we will need your authority, and we will keep it simple;
• giving you more time to respond, or explaining things in a different way;
• large print or another accessible format.

Some of our claimants are unwell, bereaved, in financial difficulty, or dealing with the events behind the claim itself. If any of that applies, say so — not because we need details, but so we can handle things appropriately.

Once you have been introduced, your relationship is with that organisation. We do not manage your claim and we cannot direct how they run it.

If you complain to us about them, we will pass your complaint to them within five working days and write to tell you we have done so, with their contact details and details of their complaints procedure. If your complaint is partly about us and partly about them, we will investigate our part under this policy and tell you clearly which part we are dealing with.

Complaining to them directly is usually faster. Every firm of solicitors must have a complaints procedure and must tell you about it.

If they are a firm of solicitors and you are not satisfied with their response, you can normally refer the matter to the Legal Ombudsman:

• Website: legalombudsman.org.uk
• Telephone: 0300 555 0333
• Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
• Post: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH

There are time limits — normally within six months of the firm's final response, and within one year of the problem or of you becoming aware of it. Check the current limits with the Legal Ombudsman.

If your concern is about a solicitor's professional conduct rather than the service — dishonesty, or misuse of money held for you — that goes to the Solicitors Regulation Authority at sra.org.uk, not the Legal Ombudsman.

If the organisation is not a firm of solicitors, neither the Legal Ombudsman nor the Solicitors Regulation Authority route applies to it. Tell us and we will explain what routes are open in your case. You keep your legal rights, including the right to take court proceedings, and depending on what the organisation does it may have its own regulator — we will tell you if it does.

If your complaint is about how we have collected, used, shared or protected your personal information, we would like the chance to put it right first. Contact us at privacy@legalclaimpro.com or use the route in section 2.

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at any time, whether or not you complain to us:

• Website: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint
• Telephone: 0303 123 1113
• Post: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

We keep a record of every complaint, what we found and how we resolved it, for six years from our final response. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle that information.

We review complaints regularly to find recurring problems rather than treating each one in isolation. Where we find something is going wrong repeatedly, we fix the cause — and where the same problem is likely to have affected other people who have not complained, we will consider contacting them rather than waiting.

Responsibility for this policy sits with a director of LegalClaimPro Limited. It is reviewed at least annually.