Complaints

Complaints Handling Policy

gunnercooke llp is committed to providing an excellent level of service to all our clients. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to maintain our high levels of client care.


If you have a complaint, you should in the first instance discuss it with the person handling your matter directly. If you feel unable to do so, or if this does not resolve your complaint, then please contact Paul Meredith, who is our designated complaints handler. His email address is [email protected].
Alternatively, you can write to him at:

gunnercooke llp
53 King Street
Manchester
M2 4LQ

If you are a client and we have made a contract with you by electronic means, you may be entitled to use an EU online dispute resolution service to assist with any contractual dispute you may have with us. This service can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/odr.

What will happen next?

  1. Your complaint will be recorded in our central register and a file will be opened, usually on the day that we receive the complaint.
  1. We will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint within three working days of receiving your complaint. We will at that stage provide you with the name of the person who will be dealing with your complaint.
  2. We will then begin to investigate your complaint. We may need to ask you to provide us with further information so that we fully understand the nature of your complaint. Your file(s) and any other documentation relevant to your complaint will be reviewed. In addition, the lawyer who acted for you may be asked for their comments in relation to your complaint and we may also need to speak with other people who may have a bearing on the matter. We may need some time to complete this work (for example if people to whom we need to speak are on leave) and we will try to give you an estimate of the time this will take if it is longer than ten working days.
  3. Once we have reviewed the matter fully and taken the above steps, we will write to you with our detailed response to your complaint, setting out our views on the situation and any redress that we believe to be appropriate. This letter will usually be sent to you within ten working days of receipt of your complaint. If we are unlikely to be able to meet that timescale, we will let you know and provide you with a revised timescale.
  4. In some cases, where it seems appropriate, we may suggest a meeting with you to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. Alternatively, we may telephone you to discuss the matter with you. If there is a meeting or telephone discussion, we will write a letter to you within five working days of it confirming the outcome.
  5. If you remain dissatisfied after we have provided our initial response to your complaint, please let us know. We will then arrange to review our decision. We would generally aim to do this within 10 working days of receiving confirmation from you that you remain dissatisfied. Our review will happen in one of the following ways:
    a) The complaints handler may review their own decision; or
    b) Another senior member of our team may be asked to review your complaint.
  6. We will let you know the result of the review within five working days of the end of that review. We will then write to you confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
  7. If you remain dissatisfied following receipt of our final decision, you are free to contact the Legal Ombudsman (whose contact details are PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ; email: [email protected]; and telephone: 0300 555 0333). We very much hope however that this will not be necessary. There are limitations to the availability of this service, which are detailed on their website, www.legalombudsman.org.uk. The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within one year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within one year of you realizing there was a concern. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you.
  8. Alternative complaints resolution bodies (such as ProMediate – www.promediate.co.uk) exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish and agree to use such a scheme.
  9. In respect of mediations undertaken by Civil Mediation Council Registered Mediators, if the response is not accepted, you can appeal to the Civil Mediation Council on certain grounds. Details of the CMC’s appeal processes can be found here: www.civilmediation.org/for-the-public/complaints.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic. You can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Any complaints regarding conduct must be reported to our regulator, the SRA. Further information on how to do this can be viewed HERE