You do not need to use any particular form of words. If something has gone wrong, tell us in plain English. We will treat the matter seriously and respond within the timescales below.
How to raise a complaint
You can raise a complaint by any of the following routes:
- By telephone — call us on 0333 112 0876 and ask to speak to the person responsible for complaints. If they are not available, we will arrange a call back the same business day.
- In writing — by email to the address used in our last correspondence with you, or by post to 275 New N Rd, #3293, London, N1 7AA.
- Through our solicitor or yours — if you would prefer to raise the complaint indirectly, your solicitor (or ours) can pass it on. Where the complaint relates to an investigation conducted under instruction from a solicitor, we will copy them in to our reply.
Please give us as much detail as you can: what happened, when, and what outcome you would like. If you are not sure of dates or names, give us what you have.
What we will do
- Acknowledge your complaint in writing within three working days. We will name the person handling it and confirm what we have understood the complaint to be.
- Investigate the matter. This will normally involve reviewing our records of the engagement, speaking to the team members involved, and considering any documents you have referred to. The complaint is reviewed by someone who was not directly involved in the underlying matter wherever possible.
- Respond in writing within 20 working days of acknowledgement. The response will set out what we found, what we accept, what we do not accept and why, and what we propose to do. If our investigation needs longer than 20 working days we will tell you why and give you a revised timescale.
- Implement any agreed remedy promptly. This may include a partial or full fee refund, a redrafting of work, an apology, or a change in our processes.
Confidentiality
Complaints are handled on the same basis of confidentiality as the underlying engagement. We will not refer to a complaint in any external forum without your consent, except where required to do so by law or by a regulator. We do publish anonymised summaries of complaint trends internally to learn from them; identifying details are removed before this happens.
Vexatious or repeat complaints
We treat every complaint on its merits. Where we have already investigated a matter and provided a final response, and the same points are being repeated without new information, we may write to confirm that we will not investigate the same complaint a second time and signpost you to the external routes below.
If you remain unhappy
The private investigation industry in the United Kingdom does not currently have a single statutory ombudsman. The routes below are available depending on the nature of the complaint:
If your complaint is about how we have handled your personal data — for example, how we have processed it, how we have responded to a subject access request, or how we have shared it — you can refer the matter to the ICO under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK GDPR.
The ICO will normally expect you to have raised the matter with us first. Telephone 0303 123 1113. Website: ico.org.uk ↗.
Where we have been instructed by a solicitor on your behalf, your relationship is primarily with the solicitor. Conduct concerns about a solicitor's handling of an instruction can be raised with the SRA. We are not regulated by the SRA in our own right.
Website: sra.org.uk ↗.
If your complaint relates to conduct that you believe is unlawful — for example, a breach of confidence, harassment, or unlawful surveillance — you may have civil remedies (such as an injunction or a claim for damages) and may also wish to report the matter to the police. We will cooperate with any lawful investigation.
What we learn from complaints
We review every complaint at the close of the matter to identify whether anything in our processes contributed to what went wrong, and whether any change is needed. Where a change is made, the team is briefed on it and the lesson is recorded in our internal log.