We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
Your time's worth £10 an hour if your bank or finance company causes unfair problems
Former_MSE_Natasha
Posts: 672 Forumite
Updated 9 September '08
What's this about?
Buried deep inside its compensation guidelines, the Financial Ombudsman has rules about compensation, here's the key section with the important bits in bold...
"In awarding compensation, we sometimes make allowance for the time the consumer needed to spend to put things right – though not usually for the consumer’s time in dealing with us.
This will normally be at a modest rate (around £50 to £100 a day, and not more than £10 per hour). However, a higher amount may be appropriate in the case of business complaints – but not usually as much as the business’s charge-out rate."
Source: The Distress & Inconvenience Guidelines from the Ombudsman
This is great news for anyone who's experienced unfair problems (from inconvenience to issues that cause distress) due to their bank or finance company, as it officially recognises that time spent to rectify the situation is worth something.
What does this mean?
The statement's a fantastic weapon to mention when making a complaint to a bank or insurer who's caused unnecessary hassles.
It officially only applies for complaints resolved by the ombudsman. Yet when dealing with a bank or insurer causing unfair and unnecessary hassle, use it as a negotiation point to hurry it; tell it the rules and ask for the cash on top.
Ensure you highlight it in your complaint and if you've a case, ask it for this cash on top of any settlement it offers.
Please discuss and feedback and add your experiences of trying this by clicking reply
Related Guides: Consumer Rights, What Shops Don't Want Us To Know
[threadbanner]box[/threadbanner]
0
Comments
-
I have been trying to reclaim missold PPI from Bank of Scotland for over a year - they automatically added it to a loan. They have set obstacle after obstacle - not responding to my initial complaint, not returning phone calls, not entering a defence, then requesting default judgement be set aside, and just this week failing to respond to an SAR within the 40 days allowed (so I can't prepare for the set aside hearing) and I have had to write letter after letter and make countless phone calls. This little bit of info regarding the fact that I may be entitled to compensation for the hour after hour I have spent pursuing this claim may just be the bargaining tool I need. I wrote to them yesterday regarding their non-compliance over my Subject Access Request and just wish I had this bit of info at the time!! I'm going to save it for my next letter...
Hurrah, Hazzar and a ha-cha-cha-cha for Martin and the team!!!!0 -
I know this is slightly off topic but I've just spent hours on the phone to DVLA mostly listening to their options. When are we going to start getting an ombudsmen for sorting out problems with them and HMRC? They've cost me far more in time than any financial institution and are never wrong!!!0
-
this will come in handy, as i am disputing with the bank regarding a mis-selling of a bank loan0
-
Hi Martin & team,
Thanks for that nugget of info. We have just submitted a complaint to the ombudsman about HFC bank.
We had to replace a couple of leather sofas after being flooded out last July and decided to go back to the original shop - Furniture Village, Abingdon and as before signed up to their 24 months 0% finance deal provided by HFC. We took delivery in January and HFC should have taken the first direct debit payment thereafter.
In February we started to receive very early morning phone calls from HFC operators from a foreign call centre with poor english saying we hadn't paid the monthly payment, 'fining' us £15 & then asking for our debit card number!
The operators were obviously reading from a script as our protestations of not the ones being at fault were just met with repeated demands for bank details!
It took 4 months and several letters to HFC to get a standard letter of apology stating that due to human error they had never set up the direct debit mandate properly - oh that's okay then!:rolleyes:
They cancelled the £ 15 'fines' and sent a cheque for ........wait for it......... £ 10 as compensation!
Apart from the early morning aggressive telephone calls what really annoyed us was the damage HFC could do to our previously spotless credit score especially as we are looking to remortgage at the end of this year.
Needless to say we rejected their offer.We had to pay to check our individual credit files with the three credit reference agencies to ensure HFC hadn't added any 'black marks' for missed payments plus the costs of stationery and postage for all the letters = much more than £10!
We have recently had a letter back from the Ombudsman stating our case is being processed and we should hear back soon.
To be continued..............Assume 1st – then check the facts!0 -
Even without this ruling there have been precedents that have made this a very handy strategy.
A few years ago my wife fell foul of one of the major mail order catalogue companies (about time there was a major enquiry into these organisations). Usual rubbish - demands for payments already made (and recorded), non-delivery of goods, delivery of unordered goods - the whole kit and caboodle of an incompetent and uncaring organisation. They continued to pursue us for money we simply didn't owe them - again all the usual stuff - promises that all had been sorted, followed by fresh demands a few days later. On one occasion, a telephone call to senior management produced an apology and a firm promise that all would be sorted - a week later we got a letter from bailiffs. My wife was almost afraid to open the mail.
I then sent them a bill for our time, postage, phone calls, and an estimated amount for the storage of unwanted goods - amounting to just over £500 - and warned that I would continue adding to it, and take it to an appropriate court if necessary. We didn't get the money, but the harassment stopped immediately (in fact they never contacted us again), which was the point of the exercise.
Even before this ruling, we already had rights to financial damages - the problem was enforcing them. This decision could make a real difference, and might make large organisations pull their socks up a bit.0 -
Even without this ruling there have been precedents that have made this a very handy strategy.
A few years ago my wife fell foul of one of the major mail order catalogue companies (about time there was a major enquiry into these organisations). Usual rubbish - demands for payments already made (and recorded), non-delivery of goods, delivery of unordered goods - the whole kit and caboodle of an incompetent and uncaring organisation. They continued to pursue us for money we simply didn't owe them - again all the usual stuff - promises that all had been sorted, followed by fresh demands a few days later. On one occasion, a telephone call to senior management produced an apology and a firm promise that all would be sorted - a week later we got a letter from bailiffs. My wife was almost afraid to open the mail.
I then sent them a bill for our time, postage, phone calls, and an estimated amount for the storage of unwanted goods - amounting to just over £500 - and warned that I would continue adding to it, and take it to an appropriate court if necessary. We didn't get the money, but the harassment stopped immediately (in fact they never contacted us again), which was the point of the exercise.
Even before this ruling, we already had rights to financial damages - the problem was enforcing them. This decision could make a real difference, and might make large organisations pull their socks up a bit.
You don't seem to have stated the precedent pixwix?Gone ... or have I?0 -
Hi All,
Reading the catagories for compensation, I feel that I have let Lloyds TSB off lightly.
They said they were going to pay me back in December, they telephoned me three times asking for my account details promised me the money would be in my account.
I had to go to the Ombudsman wait eight months, more letters, detail my fanancial hardship situation. The ombudsman gets back to me suggesting £100 compensation for distress and inconvenience, which I except as being fair, but when I thought about it thought how stupid I was to say yes and not to ask for more not wanting to appear greedy.
Got the £100 a few weeks ago but still waiting for the remainder of the PPI, It's now six weeks later, I wish I knew about this before it would have given me more ammo.
Estereggeater0 -
Yes, what about government departments - I wish to add the DWP to the list, having spent at least 50 hours sorting out my mum's claim for pension credit - in fact she didn't claim it, she was awarded it wrongly despite them having had full details of her circumstances at the time and continued to award it for 5 months (of course not regularly, they kept stopping it without notice, starting it again with backpay) - and now it has been withdrawn and they want the money back! It has involved telephone calls, letters, calculations, consultation with the CAB, letters to her MP.......and it still isn't resolved!
Meg0 -
Do youknow if I can use this against Local Authorities when successfully fighting wrongly issued Parking Tickets?0
-
Doublespresso wrote: »Do youknow if I can use this against Local Authorities when successfully fighting wrongly issued Parking Tickets?
The financial ombudsman service does not cover that.I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 351.3K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.2K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.7K Spending & Discounts
- 244.2K Work, Benefits & Business
- 599.3K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 177.1K Life & Family
- 257.7K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards