Elephant Legal | Policies & Information
Complaints Policy
Last Updated:
Our Approach
Elephant Legal is committed to providing a careful, professional and respectful service.
If something falls short of your expectations, we want to know. We take concerns seriously and aim to deal with them fairly, promptly and openly.
Making a complaint will not affect how you are treated or the standard of service you receive.
What Counts as a Complaint?
A complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction about:
- The service we have provided
- The way your matter has been handled
- Communication or professional conduct
- Fees or billing
- How we collect, use, store, protect or share personal information
- How we respond to requests about personal information or concerns about a possible data breach
You do not need to use particular words or complete a formal complaints form.
You can raise a complaint about personal information even if you are not an Elephant Legal client.
If you are unsure whether something amounts to a complaint, please contact us and we will help clarify matters.
How to Make a Complaint
You can make a complaint by email, telephone, post or another accessible method, including verbally.
It is helpful if you can explain:
- What has happened or what concerns you
- Any relevant service, communication or information involved
- What you would like us to do to put things right
- How you would prefer us to contact you
You do not need to provide all this information before we can receive your complaint.
If you need help making a complaint, we will provide reasonable assistance. Where a complaint is made verbally, we will make a record of the concern.
We may need to confirm someone's identity or authority before discussing confidential information, but this will not prevent us from receiving their complaint.
What Happens Next?
1. Acknowledge your complaint
We normally acknowledge complaints within 2 working days.
For complaints about personal information, we will always acknowledge receipt within 30 calendar days, as required by law.
This is the legal maximum for acknowledging a data-protection complaint, not our usual response time.
2. Review your concerns
We will consider your complaint fairly, review the relevant information and make appropriate enquiries.
We may contact you if further details would help us understand or investigate the matter.
3. Keep you informed
We will provide progress updates where appropriate, particularly if the matter is taking longer than expected.
If there is a significant delay, we will explain why and, where possible, provide an updated timeframe.
4. Explain our findings and outcome
We normally aim to provide a written response within 14 days.
Our response will explain what we have found and any steps we propose to take.
Some complaints may require further investigation. Where this happens, we will keep you informed and provide a response without undue delay.
If You Remain Dissatisfied
If you remain dissatisfied after receiving our response, please let us know.
We will explain any further steps that may be available, depending on the nature of your complaint. These might include:
- Alternative dispute resolution options
- Involvement of our professional indemnity insurer, where relevant
- Legal remedies
We will provide information about appropriate options without suggesting that a particular external complaints scheme is available unless it applies to your circumstances.
Complaints About Personal Information
If your complaint concerns how Elephant Legal handles personal information, you can also contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's independent data-protection regulator.
You can contact the ICO at any stage. You do not have to wait for Elephant Legal to complete its complaints process.
You may also find our Privacy Notice helpful. It explains how we handle personal information and the rights available to individuals under data-protection law.
Continuous Improvement
We review complaints not only to resolve individual concerns but also to identify improvements to our services, communication and working practices.
Our aim is to learn from concerns raised and reduce the likelihood of similar problems happening again.
Questions or Concerns?
If you would like to discuss a concern before making a formal complaint, you are welcome to contact us.
Email: admin@elephantlegalservices.co.uk
Telephone: 01789 576121
We will listen and aim to help.