Which? Legal Service Terms and Conditions
The following terms apply to you as a member of Which? Legal Service. Please take the time to read and understand them. If you have any questions, then please contact us on 01992 822828 and we will be happy to help you.
1 What we will do for you
Availability: our qualified lawyers and specialist employment advisors will be able to advise you Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays) between 8.30am and 6pm. We will always try
to connect you directly with a lawyer but, if they are all helping other customers when you call, we will arrange for you to be called back. We will always let you know when to expect your call back.
Different membership options: we may offer you different membership options, although we have no obligation to keep any offer open for a certain length of time. We currently offer two membership options: Which? Legal Service and Which? Legal Service Plus, as follows:
|
Membership Option |
Type of Advice |
Who can be advised
|
|
Which? Legal Service
|
Telephone advice only
|
You or a permanent member of your household. We can only advise individuals, sole traders or small partnerships.
|
|
Which? Legal Service Plus
|
Telephone and email advice
|
By telephone - we can advise you or a permanent member of your household. By email - we can only advise you on your own legal issues. We can only advise individuals, sole traders or small partnerships. |
Legal advice: our team of qualified lawyers and specialist employment advisors will advise you in relation to any of the following issues, subject to the specific and general limitations and exclusions set out below:
|
Issue |
Specific Limitations/Exclusions |
|
General consumer law issues |
The goods or services must have been purchased in the UK or otherwise subject to UK law. We are unable to advise: > Limited companies; > Where a business has purchased goods/services for re-sale. |
|
Holiday and travel issues |
We are unable to advise in relation to > Timeshare agreements entered into before 23/2/11. Timeshare agreements entered into outside of the UK ; > Holiday clubs entered into outside the UK. |
|
Employment Law |
> We are only able to advise on legal rights in relation to individuals who are employed in the UK, except members of the armed forces. > We are unable to advise in relation to pensions, personal injury, employment tribunal appeals, enforcement proceedings, any tax issue. |
|
Tenancy advice to private residential tenants and private landlords |
We can only advise: > Private residential tenants and private landlords (i.e. not businesses) in relation to assured shorthold tenancies granted after 15/01/89. We consider landlords owning more than 2 properties to be a business and not a private landlord. We are unable to advise in relation to: > any other type of tenancy including leases and assured tenancies; > resident landlords; > company lets; > legal obligations relating to housing in multiple occupation; > local authority, agricultural or social tenancies; > the completion ofnotices/documentation; > court hearings relating to tenancy deposit schemes and/or possession/disrepair cases; > Tenancies in Northern Ireland. |
|
Civil neighbourhood disputes |
> We can only provide advice in relation to hedges, trees, light, noise and boundaries relating to an adjoining property > We will not advise in relation to party walls or on any aspect of court procedures relating to neighbour disputes |
|
Parking tickets |
We cannot advise in relation to: > legal proceedings against a local authority > any other road traffic penalty (e.g. bus lane offences, congestion charge). |
General exclusions and limitations: we are only able to advise you in relation to civil disputes that would fall within the small claims court system. In England and Wales, this means the value of your dispute must be less than £5,000 for us to help you. In Scotland the maximum value is £3,000 and in Northern Ireland it is £3,000.
In addition, we cannot advise in relation to:
> any aspect of another solicitor's advice, or where another solicitor is already advising you on that issue;
> any claims against a local authority;
> the enforcing or appealing of any judgments; or
> the merits of a case if proceedings were issued before any advice was taken from us
We will only advise you by email if you are a member of W?LS Plus, but we can only advise you in relation to your own legal issues. We will:
> only be able to advise you if you have e-mailed us a summary of the relevant facts, which we'd normally expect to be no more than 1000 words in length;
> aim to respond to all emails within 3 working days (starting the day after receipt);
> not advise on or review any other written documents or attachments you provide to us;
> not provide a written or email summary of any telephone advice we provide.
2 What we cannot do for you
• Try to settle disputes directly: we are unable to intervene
directly with a third party to try to settle your dispute.
• Speak to someone who telephones on your behalf, unless you have previously given us permission to do so.
• Review or draft any documents on your behalf.
• Guarantee you always speak to the same lawyer. If you are a member of Which? Legal Service Plus, we will try to ensure you are advised by the same lawyer, but we cannot guarantee this.
• Advise you where this could cause a conflict of interests between your interests and those of Which? or another Which? Legal Service member, for example neighbours in dispute or advice to a business selling goods to consumers. Where a conflict of interest arises, we will be unable to provide you with exact details due to data protection legislation.
• Assist you to recover sums to which you are not legally entitled.
For us to advise you, you must have a genuine legal case.
3 Other important things you need to know
Professional conduct: our lawyers must comply with the Law Society's Rules and Principles of Professional Conduct of Solicitors and the Bar Code of Conduct. If we think responding to your
request may cause us to break these rules, our lawyers will be unable to advise you. If such a situation arises, we will always explain the position to you.
You can pay using most credit and debit cards (including Amex) and all such payments will be subject to validation checks and authorisation by the card issuer. If the issuer of your card refuses
to authorise payment to us, then we will not be able to confirm your order and no contract will exist between us. We will usually collect your subscription by setting up a direct debit or continuous payment authority.
Cancellation: You may cancel your membership at any time by emailing wls@which.co.uk or calling us on 01992 822828:
• If you cancel within the first 7 working days (starting the day after you join Which? Legal Service), you will be entitled to a full refund within 30 days providing you have not received any legal advice from us.
• Otherwise, your cancellation will take effect from the day before your next payment would have been due, unless you request an earlier date. Please be aware that we are unable to provide refunds in respect of periods of less than 3 months, and that if we're in the process of advising you when your cancellation takes effect, such assistance will stop.
If we need to change the price of your membership, we will always provide you with at least 6 weeks' notice. If, as a result, you decide to change or cancel your membership, please let us know so we can amend your records accordingly.
Which? may vary any of its other terms at any time, although we will only make changes if we think these are either necessary or reasonable. If we think the changes are likely to be important to you, we shall always let you know in advance.
Fair Usage Policy. It is important that all our members have a fair opportunity to obtain legal advice from us, so where we think you are using Which? Legal Service excessively or in a disruptive manner such that our other members could be unfairly affected, we may suspend or cancel your membership.
What happens if you don't comply with these terms? We will treat any non-compliance as a serious issue, and if we think you have breached any of these terms, we may take any action that we consider appropriate. This may include the temporary or permanent suspension of your use of Which? Legal Service.
Complaints: If you are unhappy about any aspect of Which? Legal Service, then please let us know by contacting the Manager of Which? Legal Service at:
- Which? Legal Service, Gascoyne Way, Hertford, SG14 1LH
- Email: wls@which.co.uk; or
- Telephone: 01992 822828.
We will respond to your complaint fairly and usually within 5 working days. If we are unable to resolve your complaint and it relates to the legal advice you have received, we will explain how you can make a complaint about a particular lawyer to their professional body.
Details of your call: To make sure Which? is investigating the issues that are really affecting consumers. We will record details of your call, such as the general nature of the issue you have called about within the Which? consumer contacts database. Except where we have obtained your express prior consent, we will only use the general call details you provide on an anonymous basis. Please contact us if you would like further information on this or if you are not happy with the information you provide being used in this way.
4 About Us
Our website is operated by Which? Limited, a subsidiary company of the Consumers' Association. We are required to provide you with the following information about our companies:
Name: Consumers' Association
Company number: 580128
Registered address: 2 Marylebone Road, London, NW1 4DF
Registered in: England and Wales
VAT number: n/a
Company type: Limited by guarantee
email: which@which.co.uk
Name: Which? Limited
Company number: 677665
Registered address: 2 Marylebone Road, London, NW1 4DF
Registered in: England and Wales
VAT number: GB238534158
Company type: Private limited company
email: which@which.co.uk
The Consumers' Association is a registered charity under number 296072.