Financial Ombudsman success - FOS complaining does work!

cing0

I am posting to big up the work of the FOS as they do actually work.
Recently got one over on Santander after they disagreed with adjudication. The FOS send you a posh envelope containing a nice final decision certificate on expensive paper (not watermarketd) which you can frame an put on your bog wall.

Tips for a successful complaint:

Make your complaint in full first to the institution, preferably by email. Ringing them will turn it into a multimedia complaint submission where the company will send audio tapes, copies of letters, copies of emails etc wasting time.
Try to find the specific paragraph in the companies T&C's that they have broken and send that with your FOS complaint.
With your submission, claim for refund of costs, charges etc individually broken down and if intangible or not directly paid out, how you costed them.

Be patient. It will take about a year from notifying the company with the simplest of complaints and if you win, wait for a few weeks for the other side to grudgingly pay comp posted under plain cover.

happy_bunny_2

Hi

Do you mind telling us what complaint you had upheld?

Thanks

exel1966

I'm not sure why you're surprised that it works. I believe the stats will tell you that approx 55% of all cases referred to the FOS will be found in favour of the complainent, but if it's a credit card complaint or a PPI complaint it's likely to be 68% and 89% respectively.

cing0

Exactly due to the stats you've quoted - only 50-50 chance.

exel1966 wrote: »

I'm not sure why you're surprised that it works. I believe the stats will tell you that approx 55% of all cases referred to the FOS will be found in favour of the complainent

happy_bunny wrote: »

Hi

Do you mind telling us what complaint you had upheld?

Denied internet banking access with no notification.

happy_bunny_2

Thanks for the info.

I have had 3 complaints upheld about interest rate rises on existing balances being unfair and all being upheld by the FOS after being told to poke off by the banks.

So I agree, if in doubt complain, it doesn't take long and you lose nothing. Companies just presume/hope you won't.

Annisele

I don't think it's fair to say that a 50-50 uphold rate means that each complaint has a 50% chance to be upheld. Some of the complaints will be obvious non-starters, so I'd hope that the ones that actually have merit would have a much higher than 50% chance to succeed!

jiggybyt

Thanks for this, has inspired me to get on to them. :j

cing0

Just got one over again on Santander for the second time at the Ombudsman, but was a bit trickier. The Adjudicator decided to issue their opinion without a final letter from Santander when I should have had one first before full FOS involvement. After complaining about procedural error, Santander coughed because they are too arrogant to bothering issuing a final response.
What has been learnt on this occasion is that

The FOS are in the pockets of the banks and insurers who fund them.

You need have proof of at least 2 screw ups by the financial co to win, otherwise the FOS will say shafting you is fair and reasonable.
The FOS decide from the outset who will win the case based on your compo you request. If this is out of bounds for previous cases (note the FOS know as they’ve done thousands), you will lose and because everything is on a need to know basis, no one knows what these levels of compensation are.
Top tip, your keep you claim for distress and inconvenience etc low at the beginning.

Make sure the ombudsman covers all the points in your complaint. The best way to ensure everything is covered is to structure your complaint to the ombudsman in identifiable sections or parts.
If at adjudication, the ombudsman service rules against you, check it has covered the all points in your complaint. If not, get a copy of your case file containing all the stuff sent between the company and the FOS. This will show if the FOS have made mistakes and if the company has left stuff out, lied or said you are a massive Cocke.
You will be in a better position to go into the final stage which is Ombudsman ruling.
Don't assume the FOS know what they are doing. They need direction and guidance and don't automatically assume this is coming from top anagement in the FOS.

Just after getting the compo cheque from Santander, I applied for another account with them which they refused to open due to ID checks despite them sending me money weeks earlier. The complaint this time resulted in swift compo automatically with no acknowledgment.
They never learn.