Complaints

Our complaints procedure

If you have a complaint, please contact us with the details. You can reach us by email sanjay@sanjaypatellegalservices.co.uk, or in writing, by telephone or in person.

Within 21 working days of sending the acknowledgement letter, we will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint.

If you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. We will do this within 14 working days of you contacting us.

Within five working days of the meeting, we will write to you either to confirm any solutions we have agreed with you or to confirm our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.

Contacting the Legal Ombudsman

From 1 April 2023 the Legal Ombudsman scheme rules will change. Please check the Legal Ombudsman’s website at www.legalombudsman.org.uk for full details of all changes. The main change will be that the time limit for making a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman will not be later than: (a) one year from the date of the act or omission being complained about; or; (b) one year from the date when the complainant should have realised that there was cause for complaint. Any complaint must usually be made to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint from this firm.

If your complaint has not been resolved within 8 weeks or you are still not satisfied, you can contact the Legal Ombudsman at PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH about your complaint. Any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must be made within six months of our final response or within 6 years of the act complained of or if later within 3 years of you first knowing of the problem. 

There are also limits on who can complain, for example the scheme does not cover most businesses (unless they are defined as micro enterprises, charities or clubs with an annual income of less than £1m, or trustees of trust with asset value of less than £1m). 

For further information, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman on 0300 555 0333 or enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk or legalombudsman.org.uk

Complaints about our fees

If you have a complaint about our fees you may have the right to apply to the court for assessment of the bill (under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974) although you may have to pay interest if all or part of the bill remains unpaid.

Alternative complaints bodies

Alternative complaints bodies such as Ombudsman Services (www.ombudsman-services.org), ProMediate (www.promediate.co.uk) and Small Claims Mediation (www.small-claims-mediation.co.uk) exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme. 

Some of these schemes charge for their services. We may agree to use such an alternative scheme and will consider each case individually.

Data Protection law

If you wish to make a complaint about how we use your data, please contact us and we will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and we will comply with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Data (Use & Access) Act 2025.