Complaints Policy

Our definition of a complaint is;

“Any serious written or verbal expression of dissatisfaction of services rendered by us referred to any person in our firm by a client”

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients and have a procedure in place to ensure that any complaint is handled promptly, fairly, and effectively.

Where you have a complaint about the services you have received from us, please follow the procedures set out below.

How to Notify Us of your Complaint

If you are dissatisfied with the advice or service you have received, we recommend that you immediately raise this with the staff who has been handling your issue.

However, if you do not want to do that or if your discussions with that staff does not resolve your matter, you can contact our complaint’s director.

When contacting us, we advise you to do this via email if possible as it gives you the option to explain your issue elaborately and also, we tend to respond to emails faster.

If you decide to notify us of a complaint via email, please endeavor to provide full details of the matter relevant to your complaint, including but not limited to;

Your full name and contact details;

What you consider we have gone wrong in handling your issue; and

How you would like your complaint to be resolved.

Our objectives:

• To respond to complaints in a courteous, timely and fair manner.
• We endeavour to address the specific issues raised by our customers and, where appropriate, update our procedures to avoid the recurrence of problems.
• To endeavour to achieve a situation where our customer feels we have addressed the complaint, but if he/she remains dissatisfied with the outcome of our efforts, to ensure that he/she is notified of the refer the matter to

Examples of complaints should be:

• dissatisfaction with the handling of a case;
• disappointment with the lack of communication to the client;
• frustration with the perceived lack of progress in the case;
• Displeasure with the outcome of the case.

 Procedure

1. We will establish and maintain a complaints file and all complaint records will be kept for a certain period as required by law.
2. If you have a complaint, please contact us with the full details by sending us an email: info@preciousrubiesfoundation.org or phone via +2348101412384.
3. Where we receive an oral complaint, we will give the consumer the opportunity to have the complaint treated as a written complaint. We will investigate the complaint on the basis of our understanding of the issue. However, issues of a very minor nature, for example, an isolated incident of not returning anon urgent telephone call until the following day will not be recorded as a complaint.
4. We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within three days of receiving it, enclosing a copy of this procedure.
5. We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to our Complaint Director who is responsible for complaints, (or if not available another Director or senior solicitor will be appointed in the complaints director’s place) who will investigate your complaint and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.
6. You will then be invited to a meeting with the Complaints Director (or if not available another Director or senior solicitor will be appointed in the complaint director’s place) to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
7. Within three days of the meeting, the complaints director (or if not available another Director or senior solicitor will be appointed) will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions agreed with you.
8. If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, the complaints director (or if not available another Director or senior solicitor will be appointed) will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including  suggestions  for  resolving  the  matter,  within  21  days  of  sending  you  the acknowledgement letter.
9. You will be given seven days to reply either accepting our proposals or requesting a review together with your alternative proposals.
10. We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
11. We hope that we will be able to resolve your complaint satisfactorily. However, if you are still unhappy you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to look into your complaint. You can contact the Legal Ombudsman: by post at PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH; by telephone: 0300 555 0333; or by email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk. The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within a year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned, or within a 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. Further details are available on the website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk