Endowment Compensation Rejected By Ombudsman

FuzzyPhelan

I made a claim to Friends Provident that my endowment policy had been mis-sold but my claim was sent after a 'deadline from claims' date they had apparently stipulated in just one letter which I never received (or I may have received but did not appreciate the significance of at the time and binned - in truth I have no recollection). My claim has also now been rejected by the Ombudsman on the grounds that if they sent a letter then it must have been delivered and I should have paid attention to it.

They are effectively saying I did receive the letter and deliberately ignored it.

Is it worth involving any legal assistance or is this the end of the line for me?

dunstonh

I made a claim to Friends Provident that my endowment policy had been mis-sold but my claim was sent after a 'deadline from claims' date they had apparently stipulated in just one letter which I never received (or I may have received but did not appreciate the significance of at the time and binned - in truth I have no recollection).

Friends Provident would have notified you about three times. I have seen the notifications with the big red text telling you the date you are timebarred. Its a bit of a push to say you didnt get all the notifications. Didnt read them is probably more likely.

My claim has also now been rejected by the Ombudsman on the grounds that if they sent a letter then it must have been delivered and I should have paid attention to it.

They are effectively saying I did receive the letter and deliberately ignored it.

That is effectively what happened. So, you cant really argue with it.

Is it worth involving any legal assistance or is this the end of the line for me?

legal assistance wont help you with the FOS. The FOS apply law and fairness. The court is your other option but they only consider law and you have to show a failing (unlike the FOS which puts the onus on your firm). Timebars occur in law. So, you are pretty unlikely to find a court willing to overrule it unless the application of the time bar is wrong. However, the FOS would have checked the application of the time bar when you complained to them and seeing as they rejected your complaint, we have to assume the application of the time bar is correct.

Its the end of the road for you I'm afraid.