Complaints Policy

1. INTRODUCTION

Tri Star Costs is committed to providing a high quality service at all times.  However we acknowledge that we may sometimes fall short of this goal.

Therefore, we are equally committed to taking any such incidents seriously; to listening to any issues you may have had with our service; to responding in the right way; and to trying to rectify any problems as quickly and fully as possible.

Finally, we are committed to learning from our mistakes, so that our service can continually improve to ensure that it is the best it can possibly be.

2. WHAT WE NEED YOU TO DO

Everything about our recruitment, training and internal systems/procedures are designed to ensure that we provide you with the best possible service.

We will always try our utmost to make sure that our work is accurate, our communications are clear, and any advice we provide is reasonable.

Please read our communications carefully.  And we would request that, if you have any concerns whatsoever, you raise these with us at the earliest opportunity.  Often potential issues can be nipped in the bud quickly if we are aware of them straightaway.

So, if you are dissatisfied with any part of the service that we provide, please do let us know.  We would really appreciate the opportunity to make right any problems that may have occurred.  All we ask is that you make it clear to us that you are dissatisfied.

You may notify which staff member has been handling your case file or, if you prefer, you can email us at complaints@tristarcosts.com or you can call us on 0151 949 5111 and ask to speak to either Jon Rutland or John Swain.

3. WHAT WE WILL DO IF YOU MAKE A COMPLAINT

If you make a complaint, or if a member of staff recognises that you are significantly dissatisfied and need an issue sorting out, then we will follow our Complaints Handling Procedure. Please note that our staff are trained to recognise complaints regardless of whether they are presented formally, or whether the dissatisfaction is expressed verbally or in writing.

Here is what this means for you:

• A senior manager will be notified of the complaint.
• We will acknowledge the complaint within 48 hours and will let you know who is handling it and also the timescale within which we will aim to sort out the problem. In all but the most exceptional of circumstances we will aim to have your issue resolved within 20 business days at most. If the circumstances are exceptional, we will aim to resolve your issue within a maximum of 8 weeks.
• We will investigate the issue as quickly and thoroughly as we can.
• We will respond to you within the agreed timescale. We will clearly explain the findings of our investigation and the details of our proposed resolution. This might be in writing or verbally. If we respond verbally, we will confirm the details in writing.
• We will then follow up to ensure that you are happy with the way your complaint has been handled and that you are satisfied with the resolution. If you aren’t, a senior manager will contact you to see if there is anything further we can do.

4. IF YOU ARE STILL NOT HAPPY

If, having been through our complaints process you are still unhappy, or if your complaint is unresolved after 8 weeks, you may have the option of taking your complaint further.  Some of our staff are Costs Lawyers. We will let you know if your complaint involves a Costs Lawyer when we provide our written proposed resolution, or you can check on the Costs Lawyer Standards Board website (see below).

If your complaint relates to the service quality of one of our Costs Lawyers, you may take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman – details can be found here: https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/ or you can call them on 0300 555 0333.

If you plan to use the Legal Ombudsman then their rules state that you must take your complaint to the them within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint; and no more than six years from the date of the act/omission giving rise to the complaint; or no more than three years from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.

If you have an unresolved complaint regarding the conduct of one of our Costs Lawyers, you may escalate the problem by notifying the Costs Lawyer Standards Board. Their details can be found here: https://clsb.info/ or by calling 0161 956 8969.

The CLSB will consider complaints made within 12 months of the date on which the matters giving rise to the complaint occurred or the date on which the complainant first became aware that they had grounds for the complaint. This period can be extended in exceptional circumstances. The CLSB will usually expect you to give us a chance to resolve your complaint first.

5. FINALLY…

We really are committed to providing the best customer service possible.  This is why we will always review the service we provide and, in particular, we will keep a log of any complaints that have been made.

This will be reviewed regularly so that we can see if there is anything we can do in future to ensure that similar problems don’t happen again.

And, where we do make changes, we will check back to make sure that those changes have fixed the problem we were trying to fix, or if there is anything else we can do better.

Last, but not least, we will regularly check this policy to ensure that it is ‘fit for purpose’ and will update and improve it where appropriate.