The aim of the below guide is to help you improve the overall service you provide to your customers. By sharing best practice with you, we hope you will be able to reduce the number of complaints that are escalated to the Legal Ombudsman and improve service standards across the profession. Below we outline our top tips for best practice complaint handling.
Key principles: Be transparentAside from it being a regulatory requirement, having an accessible complaints procedure in place can help to increase customer confidence in your service. It shows you are committed to providing a good level of service and will mean you are ready if/when a complaint is made.
Your complaints procedure should ensure your customer is aware of:
An effective complaints process should:
Have a named point of contact Use simple language that is easy to follow Be accessible Be as straightforward as possible Be clear about what will happen at each stage and how long each stage should take SignpostThere is a requirement under section 112 of the Legal Services Act for all authorised persons to signpost customers to the Legal Ombudsman. Section 3.2 of our Scheme Rules sets out the Legal Services Board’s (LSB) requirements that you inform your customers how to complain at the time of engagement and in writing at the end of the complaints process.
We have seen many complaint procedures that have incorrect signposting information in them. You should double check your signposting information is right. If you fail to correctly signpost, then we can use our discretion to accept complaints, which may have otherwise fallen out of our time-limits.
The below signposting guidance has everything you need to correctly signpost.
Legal Services Act - section 112 - statutory requirements for complaint handling
Scheme rules - (section 3.2) the framework for how we resolve complaints
Signposting guidance - signposting requirements
Avoid jargon and emotive or provocative language
The type of language and tone used in the complaints process can affect customer decisions. Use of jargon and legalistic language can also be a barrier to resolving issues.
It is best practice to use clear, comprehensible language and a neutral tone. Clarity in any communication is vital to a considered and effective complaints procedure.
Complex and legalistic terminology may be second nature to you; however, it is best avoided when writing responses to complaints. In addition to this, it is important to give careful thought to the tone used in your complaint responses. For example, it is unlikely that the tone used here will help resolve the issues
I reject all complaints contained in your letter (dated) and deny any breach of duties…You have the right to make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, but you must do so within 6 months. I will not respond to any further communication on this matter.
Whilst there may not be anything factually wrong here, its dismissive and defensive tone is unlikely to help resolve the issues at first tier.
Instead, consider re-phrasing:
I have now concluded my review of your file and as set out within this letter; I have not upheld the complaints that you have raised. I appreciate you may be disappointed with this outcome and I therefore confirm that you do have a right to bring your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman…
The language of complaints research - this research considers the impact of language
Complaints process: ListenIdentifying a complaint
It is unlikely that you will ever be able to avoid complaints entirely. So, it’s important to be able to recognise when a complaint is being made and to deal with it appropriately.
Our Scheme Rules define a complaint as an ‘expression of dissatisfaction’. We will always encourage people who contact us before making their complaint, to put it in writing; however, this isn’t a requirement and we will investigate complaints where the complaint has been made in person or over the phone.
Sometimes customers will simply be raising queries about their case, however, sometimes these queries become concerns and the customer may be expressing their dissatisfaction about the service they are receiving. It is important that you can identify when these queries have become concerns that need to be addressed more formally.
A customer may also feel intimidated or concerned that making a complaint may affect their ongoing case. Or they may have special needs or requirements, which need accommodating in order to make your complaints process fair and accessible. It is important that you are able to identify when this is happening and to act on it appropriately.
If in doubt about whether a complaint is being raised – ask! Speak to the customer, acknowledge their concerns and ask them if they would like them to be addressed under your complaint’s procedure.
Think:
Understand the reason for the complaint
A key part of your process needs to be really understanding the complaint that is being made. This will help to approach the complaint in the best way possible to reach a resolution. If you don’t get to the heart of the complaint being raised, you won’t be able to fully resolve it.
It may also be helpful to think about any underlying reasons for the complaint. Perhaps a customer is anxious about the progress of their case, hasn’t fully understood the legal process or is working to a limited budget.
Some customers may also be dealing with very stressful events in their life and may need more support than others. Take these things into account as the complaint progresses.
We sometimes receive complaint letters which are very long and detailed and it can be difficult to identify the key issues being raised. If you receive a complaint like this, it can be useful to phone the customer and talk it through, identify with them what the real issues are and what is important to them. Once you have a good understanding of the main issues, you can start to address them.
Case Study
Mrs C was going through a difficult divorce and when she complained to the firm she told them she was feeling overwhelmed and was struggling to focus on all the lengthy letters she was receiving about the divorce and couldn't take the information in.
Despite this, the firm's response to the complaint was really long and set out a lengthy chronology of everything that had happened. Mrs C came to the Legal Ombudsman as she was unhappy with their response and when we spoke to the firm they agreed they were happy to speak to Mrs C to explain a couple of key issues.
When they did this, the complaint was resolved without any significant involvement from the Legal Ombudsman. The firm had followed their standard process in dealing with the case despite Mrs C having told them how hard she was finding things. If the firm had taken a different approach and just spoken to her, it could have been resolved without our involvement.
Case Study
Miss D was unhappy with the service she had received while purchasing her first property. She wrote to the firm with a lengthy complaint that included complaints about the service they had provided, accusations against the seller and also complaints about the estate agent.
In order to better understand her complaint, the firm decided it would be best to speak to Miss D. They arranged a call and talked through the detail of her complaint. The firm explained that they would only be able to address the issues about their service, but also signposted Miss D to the complaint process for the Estate Agent. In making this call, the firm were able to clarify the issues at the heart of Miss D's dissatisfaction and they followed up with a letter setting out the complaints in three bullet points. Miss D confirmed these were the issues she wanted the firm to deal with and at this point, the firm undertook their first tier complaint investigation. They only did so, once they were sure they understood the complaint fully.
Complaints process: InformAcknowledge the complaint within two working days of receipt
Good communication is going to be vital to ensuring that you handle the complaint in an appropriate way. Good practice requires a timely acknowledgement of a complaint. The experience of customers in other sectors shows that a response within two working days increases their confidence in a complaint handling process.
Provide a map of options to resolve the issue/s
It is important to be flexible and tailor your approach to your customer, provide options and consider what approach would best suit the situation. If the issue relates to greater clarity over costs, you might simply need to provide the customer with a more detailed breakdown of their bill. In this way, the complaint could be dealt with quickly and informally.
On the other hand, if the complaint is about whether you have followed their instructions regarding the work it may require a more formal route in which both parties provide written evidence to support their argument.
You may have a procedure in place but if circumstances mean it would be better to deviate from this and try something new, suggest that to the customer and see how they feel about it. It is about recognising that one size won’t always fit all.
Manage expectations
Reassure the customer that they won’t be charged for complaining. Be clear and up front about how long it will take to investigate the complaint. Don’t set yourself unrealistic timeframes but remember after eight weeks from the date the complaint is raised, the customer can refer their complaint to the Legal Ombudsman whether you have concluded your process or not.
We have seen complaint procedures that fail to identify that the eight weeks to resolve the complaint starts as soon as the service provider has received a complaint and not when the service provider confirms that they have begun their complaint process.
This is addressed in Scheme Rule 4.2 which says:
“4.2 But a complainant can use the Legal Ombudsman if:
Share your findings
When responding to the complaint, you should set out what you have investigated and what you have found. You need to include as much detail as is required to ensure the customer understands how you have reached your conclusion. Again, your communication here needs to be clear, with a neutral tone that avoids emotive or provocative language. Keep your communication jargon free.
Here it can be useful to bullet point the complaint areas and respond to each point, providing evidence where possible.
Remember your service does not have to be perfect. The Legal Ombudsman will look to determine if the service provided was reasonable.
How we determine complaints - the key questions we consider when determining service
Putting things right if there has been unreasonable service
It is important to be honest. If you have found the service to be unreasonable, be clear about this and explain what will be done as a result. Remember an early apology can go a long way to resolving issues.
When offering an apology, where you have concluded that the service was unreasonable, really listen to what the customer is saying and construct your apology based upon what they say they are unhappy with.
A well-meaning apology will:
Acknowledge what went wrong and offer the customer a suitable remedy, along with a full explanation of what happened. The remedy should be proportionate to the level of poor service. For example, if there was a small administrative error that didn’t adversely impact their case, but which caused minor inconvenience, an apology might be more appropriate. If, on the other hand, they’ve been overcharged, it would be sensible to apologise, refund the amount and perhaps pay a small amount of compensation.
Putting things right when the service has been reasonable
An apology doesn’t have to mean you have provided poor service; it is possible to apologise even when the service has been reasonable. It can be a way of expressing empathy and understanding and as defined in our Scheme Rules, ‘an apology will not of itself be treated as an admission of liability’ by the Legal Ombudsman.
Scheme rules - (section 5.21) the framework for how we resolve complaints
In the below example, the service provider did not uphold the complaints, but they started their response in the following way:
Client care is extremely important to us here at [firm] so I am truly sorry to hear of your dissatisfaction both with regards to the service you have been offered by our firm, as well as the basis of our charging.
It is important I have a clear understanding of the complaints in issue. I hope to have summarised them correctly below…
If you found that the service provided was reasonable, be clear about this and explain why you’ve formed this view, sharing evidence where possible.
Below is an example of a good complaint response because:
I’m sorry that, on this occasion, our service did not meet your expectations. Feedback is very important to us as a company, and I appreciate the time you have taken to bring this to my attention.
I have reviewed the file and you are correct that there was a lack of regular updates between the file creation on 10 August 2017 and 18 October 2017. I do apologise for this lack of updates, and I acknowledge that this may have caused you some frustration. Please be assured however that this did not in any way hinder the progression of your transaction, and all work was progressed as soon as was possible. Nevertheless, this is not the standard of service I would have expected us to provide and for this I apologise.
I must balance this with the fact that you did not request an update during this time, or contact us to let us know that you were feeling frustrated. In the circumstances, whilst I do not consider that a remedy is appropriate in this matter, I would like to confirm that I have provided feedback to the staff involved, and going forward, we are looking into sending automated updates on cases where there has been little progress.
Conclude your own complaints procedure
If you are unable to resolve your customer’s complaint, and they remain unhappy, you should provide them with a final response and signpost them to the Legal Ombudsman. Signposting them is a regulatory requirement.
Think:
When signposting, it is important to include accurate timescales for when the customer can complain, particularly if you have reached the end of your complaints process.
We see many complaint procedures and final responses that have incorrect time limits included. Remember an Ombudsman has the discretion to accept complaints where time limits have not been outlined correctly.
