Common complaints

We investigate complaints about the service which consumers have received. These complaints often happen when consumers have used a service provider to buy a house, pursue a personal injury claim, resolve family issues or administer a family members estate. The most common complaints include:

• Costs: the costs were unclear or different from the original estimate.
  
  
• Delay: no clear reason for the work taking longer than expected.
  
  
• Poor information: a process wasn't well explained, or there wasn’t enough information for a consumer to make an informed choice.

Our case studies section gives more examples of the complaints we investigate, the remedies we can award as well as the reasons why we might decide not to investigate a complaint.

We accept complaints about service providers who are regulated. These include:

• Solicitors
• Barristers
• Licensed conveyancers
• Cost lawyers
• Legal executives
• Notaries
• Patent attorneys
• Trade mark attorneys; and
• Some accountants providing probate services.

Most providers display their regulation number on their website and correspondence.