Parents Vs Barclays: Misselling/Adjudicator or Ombudsman?

buel

Hello,
i am attempting to help my parents with their claim against Barclays that they missold them their mortgage (they were told that they needn't worry about their endownment not maturing to the amount they were advises and that "The only thing you should worry about is what to spend the excess on"), Barclays claimed that they had sent my parents warning letters that the endownment wasn't going to make what it supposed to but my parents are absolutely adamant that they didn't receive the letters(their post is often patchy due to them living in a rural area where their 'postbox' for receiving letters is 200yards away up a drive) so my parents argued their case against Barclays, Barclays wouldn't budge so.....and the next bit is the grey area.....my mum thinks she remembers that the 'case' went to the ombudsman and he ruled in favour of Barclays but i am/was pretty sure that the case goes to an 'adjudicator' and then, if the claimant is unhappy with his decision, goes to the ombudsman?
Am i right, and that my parents actually only went to the adjudiactor?
(My parents are hopefully finding this out on friday but id like to know if that process is actually 'adjudicator then ombudsman'?)
Many thanks in advance!!

buel

Hi,
My parents' have had their endownment miselling claim turned down by the Adjudicator due to the fact that they are time barred. My mother explained that quite often we dont receive the the correct post for our rural address in the hills of Wales but didn't go into detail, the adjudicator turned down their claim as Barclays 'word' that they sent two letters (one in 2001 and one in 2005) is apparently good enough! Now, i am writing to the adjudicator again, on their behalf, but this time clarifying the following points regarding the postal probl;ems we suffer:

• There are 25 addresses that share our post code
• There are four extremely similar farm names to ours in the vicinity that share our post code, by this i mean that our farm name is 3 words and the other four farms all use at least one word from our address
• I have at least two neighbours willing to make sworn statements that they have regularly received letters meant for my family, as have we received post meant for them.
• Unbelievably(and i swear this is true), even today we have received a letter for a completely different name and address in our village

Do you think there is a possibility that these points may help the adjudicator look at my parents' case?

Ps- how relevant is it that my dad was unemployed through long term sickness when sold the endownment and that the salesman didn't ask by what means my dad would pay off any excess remaining moneys owing on the mortgage and that it was due to mature after my dad had turned 65?

many thanks in advance-Buel

dunstonh

There are 25 addresses that share our post code

Thats not many compared to other areas.

There are four extremely similar farm names to ours in the vicinity that share our post code, by this i mean that our farm name is 3 words and the other four farms all use at least one word from our address

Not uncommon in rural areas. We get it all the time around here. The postman know this.

I have at least two neighbours willing to make sworn statements that they have regularly received letters meant for my family, as have we received post meant for them.

So, they obviously handed the incorrect post over then. Thats good of them.

Do you think there is a possibility that these points may help the adjudicator look at my parents' case?

No. That is clutching at straws. You are asking the adjudicator to believe your parents havent had statements for the last decade, or if they did, they didnt get the ones with the time bar warnings. One may go missing but all of them?

Ps- how relevant is it that my dad was unemployed through long term sickness when sold the endownment and that the salesman didn't ask by what means my dad would pay off any excess remaining moneys owing on the mortgage and that it was due to mature after my dad had turned 65?

None at all. Indeed, it actually supports the use of endowment as endowments are not included in benefits means tests. The age 65 thing isn't that important nowadays due to consumer abuse years ago. As long as its not too many years later its not a problem.

The FOS are fairly strong in supporting the timebar. Typically, they only overrule in cases which are clear cut.

buel

Hi again!
Just a quick update-
After i asked the Ombudsman the questions i posted here a few months ago, i received a standard 'time barred' reply.

I replied asking could they please answer the specific questions i asked (I provided proof of mis-delivered post to my parents address and several local addresses and provided facts that would provide evidence/proof of why my parents didn't question whether there was a shortfall or not, apart from the main reason that they didn't receive the warning letters. I also provided several letters from Barclays addressed to my parents but with three different addresses on, each different enough to not be delivered to my parents' specific address and provided a time-barred case that the FOS had previously re-opened after it was proved that the person's address was '11' and the address above her was '1i'..or something very similar and i stated that i didn't see any differences between this person's case and my parents' case) and they again replied with the standard 'we cant look at your case as it is time-barred' so i once again replied complaining that they had consistently failed to answer my specific questions/points.

Thankfully, last week i received a reply from the adjudicator's manager saying he was sorry to learn of my (parents) dissatisfaction with their service, he confirmed that they failed to achieve the high standards they set themselves, he agrees that my questions/letters were not responded in the manner he would expect, that it is extremely unusual for their service to reopen complaints after such a long period had taken place but he was taking steps to reopen the file on this occasion!
Phew!! Maybe they do listen after all? (after a bit of nagging!)