<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=1223437568524110&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">

Complaints procedure

We pride ourselves on delivering an outstanding service and excellent client care. If our service ever falls short of your expectations, our complaints procedure ensures we will resolve your complaint fairly and quickly.

Download PDF

Summary

This document outlines the procedure that Kings Court Trust Ltd (KCT) follows for handling and resolving complaints.

Our complaints procedure aims to:

  • Be easily available, well-publicised and easy to follow
  • Show clearly how a complaint will be dealt with and by whom
  • Respect confidentiality and adhere to Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) regulation
  • Be impartial, based upon a sufficient and fair investigation
  • Make recommendations to prevent future complaints
  • Investigate any complaint promptly

Our complaints procedure is based on the Model Complaints Resolution Procedure of the Legal Ombudsman. You can find more information about the Model Complaints Resolution Procedure on the Legal Ombudsman’s website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk. 

 

large-holding

 

holding-1

Complaints

Any verbal or written suggestion of client grievance or dissatisfaction which alleges that the complainant has suffered (or may suffer) financial loss, distress, inconvenience, or detriment will be regarded as a complaint whether it relates to service, process or other matters affecting KCT in dealings with our customers. We are committed to providing a high quality service to all our clients. When something goes wrong, we need to know, both to resolve your complaint as soon as possible and also to improve our methods of working.

Procedure

STEP 1
Contact us

We aim to resolve any complaint you have about the service we have provided to you as quickly as possible. If you are unable to obtain a satisfactory response from the person who has been dealing with your case, you can always give us your feedback by putting this in writing via the post to: Customer Relations Manager & Head of Legal Practice, Kings Court Trust Limited, Spectrum House, Bond Street, Bristol, BS1 3LG. When writing to us, it is very helpful if you can tell us why you are concerned about our service and give examples. If possible, please also let us know what would put things right for you. Alternatively, you can make your complaint by emailing complaints@kctrust.co.uk. You are also welcome to telephone our Customer Relations Team to explain your concerns over the phone. Please call our office number and ask to speak to a member of the Customer Relations Team.

STEP 2
Investigation

All complaints are shared with our Head of Legal Practice/Legal Services Director. Once we have received your complaint, we will write to you within five business days but usually within one working day to explain how your complaint will be investigated, if a complete response to your complaint has not been made by that time. We will provide you with the details of the Customer Relations Team who will be investigating your complaint, including their direct telephone number and e-mail address. We will record your complaint on our central register. We will at that stage also begin to investigate the complaint by examining the case file. You are also welcome to telephone our Customer Relations Team to discuss your concerns over the phone.

STEP 3
Potential quick resolution

If we believe we can resolve your complaint quickly with you, without the need for a full review of the file, we will contact you to discuss a resolution to the complaint. This will be within the 10 working days after our acknowledgement. If we don’t consider that a quick resolution is a suitable option for resolving your complaint, we will proceed to our full investigation.

STEP 4
Final response

You will receive a full response in writing from us within 20 working days from the date that the complaint was received. Please note if you have made the complaint verbally – either at a meeting or on the telephone – we will set out in our full response our understanding of the nature of your complaint.

The Legal Ombudsman

If, after following our complaints procedure, you remain dissatisfied with any aspect of our handling of your complaint or our findings, you may directly contact the Legal Ombudsman to ask them to consider the complaint further.

The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints about the service consumers have received from their lawyer and works to resolve the situation.

Tel no: 0300 555 0333
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Address: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH

Unless it agrees there are good reasons not to do so, the Legal Ombudsman will expect you to allow us to consider and respond to your complaint in accordance with the procedure set out above in the first instance. You can refer your complaint up to six months after you have received our final written response to your complaint. You can also use the Ombudsman service if we have not resolved your complaint within eight weeks of us receiving it. The Ombudsman must be contacted in connection with a complaint within one year of the act or ommission you are complaining of, or within one year of when you should have known of the cause of the complaint. The Ombudsman deals with service related complaints; any conduct-related complaints will be referred to our regulator, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).

There is no charge for us investigating your complaint and we will continue to progress with our service whilst the complaint is being reviewed, so that this does not cause a delay.

We will do all we can if any complaint is made known to us. We value client relationships very highly.

Record keeping

Records of complaints, all telephone calls and related correspondence will be kept as part of our file in line with our retention period. This will typically be 20 years from the date our file has closed.

holding-2