Main contact for complaints: Jen Paice, CEO of Aberdein Considine Wealth

Contact details: 5-9 Bon Accord Crescent, Aberdeen, AB11 6DN

We take care to maintain high standards of service. Where we become aware of client concerns or unease we give priority to resolving the matter as quickly as possible and that your concerns are handled fairly and within reasonable timescales.

Upon receipt of a complaint, we’ll do all we can to resolve your concerns within three business days, and confirm this to you in writing. If we can’t do this we’ll write to you, normally within five business days to acknowledge your complaint and to let you know when we expect to be able to issue a full response.

A senior person who, where possible is independent of the case, will investigate your complaint. You’ll be given their name and contact details. When acknowledging your complaint, especially in the case of an oral complaint, we’ll set out the nature of the complaint and may request further clarification if necessary.

Your complaint will be investigated using our files together with reports from other parties if relevant. We may also write to you if further information is required. We’ll keep you informed of the progress of the complaint investigation.

After eight weeks, if a final response letter has not already been sent to you, you’ll receive:

A final response letter detailing our conclusions and resolution to the complaint. This letter will also confirm that if you remain dissatisfied with our final response, you may refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) within six months of the date of our final response letter, otherwise you would lose this referral right. A copy of the FOS leaflet ‘your complaint and the Ombudsman’ will be enclosed, if not already supplied. You may also be able to take civil action.

OR

A response that we are still not in a position to make a final response, giving the reasons for the further delay and indicating when we expect to be able to provide a final response. We’ll also inform you that you may refer your complaint to the FOS if you are dissatisfied with the delay. A copy of the FOS leaflet ‘your complaint and the Ombudsman’ will be enclosed, if not already supplied.

Where your complaint relates to the administration or management of an occupational or personal pension, we may also be able to refer your complaint to the Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) in addition to the FOS. Where appropriate, we’ll provide you with the relevant contact details.

Please bear in mind that if your complaint involves information from third parties some delays could be beyond our control. We’ll however, pursue information on a regular basis.

In the event that we receive a complaint that is not about us, or our services, and assuming that we can identify the firm to whom the complaint should be addressed, we’ll carry out the following action:

• We’ll write to the firm concerned, explaining that we believe the complaint in question to be theirs, and suggesting that they contact you directly.
• We’ll enclose a copy of your original complaint letter.
• We’ll write to you, giving contact details of the relevant firm, and invite you to get in touch with them directly. We’ll also provide you with a copy of the letter we send to the firm.
• We’ll copy the new firm in on this letter

Financial Ombudsman Service

The Financial Ombudsman Service is available to sort out individual complaints that clients and financial services businesses aren't able to resolve themselves. To contact the Financial Ombudsman Service please visit www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk.

Legal Complaints - Scotland

We always strive to provide a quality service to our clients in the hope of at least satisfying their reasonable expectations.

Unfortunately it is an imperfect world and from time to time and despite our best efforts things may go wrong.

Matters of law are inevitably complex and it may be that the problem is not of our making. If, however, you are unhappy with any aspect of the service provided to you, you should initially take the matter up with the solicitor with whom you have been dealing. If you remain dissatisfied we would invite you to raise your concerns in writing with our Client Relations Partner. Your complaint will be acknowledged within five working days and normally, after a full investigation, you will receive a detailed response within a further ten working days. Our Client Relations Partner is Anthony Quin, 23 Port St, Stirling FK8 2EJ..

If the matter cannot be resolved then you are entitled to refer it to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, The Stamp Office, 10-14 Waterloo Place, Edinburgh, EH1 3EG (www.scottishlegalcomplaints.com). If a complaint is to be made to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (hereinafter referred to as “the SLCC”) regarding service or conduct of the Solicitor you must contact the SLCC within 12 months of the service ending, or within 12 months of the date when you could reasonably have been made aware of the matter. If you make a complaint after the 12 month deadline has passed, it is unlikely that the SLCC will be able to consider the complaint unless there are exceptional circumstances.

In the event you have a Handling complaint, you must contact the SLCC about this type of complaint within 6 months of the date on which the professional body wrote to you with their decision. If you contact the SLCC after this date the SLCC cannot consider your complaint.

We recognise that Alternative Dispute Resolution Regulations have implemented ADR/EDR Directive 2013/11/EU to promote alternative resolution as a means of redress for consumers in relation to unsatisfactory services. We have however chosen not to adopt an ADR process and if you have any concerns about the services you receive from this firm you should contact the firm’s Client Relations Partner.

Legal Complaints - England & Wales

Aberdein Considine & Company is a Partnership established under the Law of Scotland with a Head Office situated at 5 – 9 Bon Accord Crescent. Aberdeen, AB11 6DN and having a place of business inter alia at 30 Cloth Market, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 1EE. We are authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) which is the regulatory body of solicitors practicing in England and Wales. Our Registration Number is 628245.

We want to give you the best possible service. However, if at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service, we have provided then you should inform us immediately, so that we can do our best to resolve the problem.

In the first instance it may be helpful to contact the person who is working on your case to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues. If you would like to make a formal complaint, then you can read our full complaints procedure here. Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case.

The Legal Ombudsman can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case.

Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first.

If you have, then you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman: Within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint and No more than six years from the date of act/omission; or No more than three years from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.

If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them:

• Visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
  
• Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9.00 to 17.00.
• Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
• Address: Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.

Visit their website to see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.