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, and if we agree we will put it right. We do not charge you for investigating complaints and raising a complaint should not usually delay your case. We will tell you if it will.

Complaints must be made by a client and should be addressed to The Complaints Manager, Winn Solicitors Limited, Brinkburn Street, Byker, Newcastle upon Tyne NE6 1PL or please email: complaints@winnsolicitors.com 

What will happen next?

  • We will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint within five days of receipt.
  • We will investigate your complaint by reviewing your file and speaking to relevant staff.
  • If we uphold your complaint we will apologise and tell you how we propose to resolve it. If we have caused any loss we will compensate you.
  • If we do not uphold your complaint we will explain why.
  • We aim to answer your complaint within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter. All complaints should be answered within eight weeks.

If you disagree with the outcome of our investigation into your complaint:

  • You should contact us again to explain why you remain unhappy with our response and produce evidence you believe we may have missed and/or explain if you think we have misunderstood.
  • We will then review your comments and write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.

What to do if you are unhappy with our final decision

  • If we are unable to resolve your complaint then you can have the complaint independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints about service issues with lawyers.
  • 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 realising there was a concern. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you.
  • You can contact the Legal Ombudsman by: Telephone: 0300 555 0333 Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk Post: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH.
  • Complain to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). They can help you if you are concerned about our behaviour, such as dishonesty, taking or losing your money, or treating you unfairly because of a protected characteristic.
  • They can be contacted at https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor