Complaints Officer: Tom Teggelaar, klachten@pvdb.nl
1. Complaint: Any reasonable, oral or written expression of dissatisfaction with the service provided by the lawyer or other employees, made known by or on behalf of the client. This also includes complaints about the financial aspects of the services provided.
2. Complainant: The customer or their representative who makes a complaint.
3. Attorney-at-law: The attorney against whom the complaint is directed. Employee The employee (non-attorney) against whom the complaint is directed.
4. Complaint Procedure: The Internal Complaint Procedure established by the Board of Trustees ofas contained in this document.
5. Complaints Officer: The officer and his or her observer to whom is assigned the monitoring of compliance with the complaint procedure, advising and assisting in or taking over the complaint handling, periodic analysis and reporting of complaints, and training and guiding attorneys in complaint handling.
6. Secretariat: The Secretariat of the Complaints Officer designated by the Board.
7. Complaint Registration Form: The internal form to implement the procedure set forth in the grievance procedure.
The objectives of the complaint and evaluation scheme are:
1. Handling customer complaints in a constructive manner within a reasonable time.
2. Maintain and improve relationships with customers through proper complaint handling.
3. attorneys and train and assist employees in customer-focused response to complaints.
4. Improve service quality by analyzing and evaluating the complaint and making recommendations.
1. This complaint procedure has been made public. Prior to entering into the engagement agreement, the attorney shall inform the client that the firm has an office complaints procedure and that it applies to the services provided.
2. The complainant is not liable to pay any fee for the cost of handling the complaint.
1. When a client approaches the firm in any way with a complaint, the attorney or associate respectively and the responsible team leader or, if the complaint relates to an associate and does not concern the handling of a file, the facilities manager shall be notified immediately. At the same time, the secretariat will be informed. Complaints of a general nature, that is, complaints that are not directed to a particular lawyer or employee, will be forwarded directly to the secretariat.
2. If the complaint concerns financial matters, the attorney at law also informs the administration or, if the complaint is filed with the administration, the administration informs the attorney at law, respectively. The attorney at law, after consulting with the team leader, instructs the administration on whether or not to continue the payment process in full. The secretariat is informed accordingly.
3. Within two days of receipt of the complaint, the attorney-in-fact shall hand a copy to the responsible team leader and the secretariat, accompanied by a complaint registration form completed by the attorney-in-fact and an explanation in which the attorney-in-fact states his/her views.
4. If the complaint is addressed to an employee and does not relate to a file, the employee completes the complaint registration form and forwards it directly to the Secretariat.
5. If the lawyer or the employee so desires, the Secretariat or the Complaints Officer may provide assistance in completing the registration form.
6. The lawyer, in consultation with the responsible team leader, tries to reach a solution with the client. If no solution is reached within 2 weeks, the secretariat will be informed in writing. The secretariat will then ensure that the complaint handling is transferred to the complaints officer. If the complaint concerns financial matters, the secretariat will inform the administration.
7. Of the transfer of the handling of the complaint to the Complaints Officer, the client will be notified in writing by or on behalf of the Complaints Officer. The Complaints Officer will then still try to reach an acceptable solution together with the lawyer or the client respectively.
8. In the case referred to in paragraph 4, complaint handling shall be transferred directly to the Complaints Officer.
9. The result of the complaint handling shall be recorded in the complaint registration form. Subsequently, the complaint registration form will be signed by the lawyer concerned, the employee or the complaints officer respectively. The client will also be informed and, if no settlement has been reached, pointed out to other possibilities for (further) complaint handling.
10. If the complaint involves financial matters or affects the payment process, the attorney, in consultation with the team leader, will instruct the administration on the implications for the payment process after the complaint has been settled. If all or part of the payment process has been suspended and no settlement has been reached, the advice of the Complaint Officer shall be sought before the payment process is resumed.
11. Copies of all correspondence regarding the complaint, including the fully completed and signed complaint registration form, shall be provided to the Secretariat for the purpose of the complaint file.
12. Within four weeks of receiving the complaint, the Complaints Officer pronounces an opinion on the merits or notifies the complainant of the deviation from this deadline with reasons, stating the deadline by which an opinion on the complaint will be given.
13. Complaints not resolved after treatment shall be submitted to the ordinary courts by the prevailing party.
14. The complaint officer and the person about whom a complaint has been made shall observe confidentiality during the complaint handling process.