Useless Ombudsman - help or advice needed please!

rocketman80

Hi all,

This is a long one, but I'm at the end of my tether....

Sent my claim for PPI refund to the Financial Ombudsman in February 2008 after Lloyds TSB refused to play ball. The timeline then reads like this:

9 March 2010: An adjudicator sends a letter stating she has awarded in my case but the TSB are ignoring her ruling (STILL not been seen by an ombudsman)

March 2011: I complain to the head of the ombudsman about the lack of, well, ANYTHING going on (I had made calls once a month asking for an update)

28 March 2011: receive a call from Deputy of Service regarding my complaint, explaining I was "really near the top of the queue" (STILL no ombudsman)

November 2011: Call the ombudsman team to be told my case is now awaiting a decision by an ombudsman.

19 December 2011: Receive a letter stating that they have received over 100,000 complaints since April 2011, complaints have tripled in the past few months and they have over 80,000 complaints still from this from this period. And oh, my complaint may be ANOTHER year before being seen by the mythical creature known as an ombudsman.

Obviously I am beyond hacked off and at the point of telling them where to shove their assistance.

An I being unreasonable in expecting it to be resolved in just under 4 years, and who do I complain to know about their crap service? I complained to their senior boss last time and nothings happened. They just palm you off when you ring, and everyone gives you a different reason or excuse.

Any assistance gratefully received.

Rocket.

magpiecottage

The Financial Ombudsman Service is worth every penny you paid for it to take on your case.

The alternative was court, which is likely to be more expensive!

rocketman80

Right, so thanks for that. Yes, i know its free

My point is, my mates put hers through, it was contested and seen by an ombudsman in less than 6 months and I'm almost 4 years in with no ombudsman even looking at it yet.

I was wondering if anyone knew who to complain to, not sarcastic advice.

tifo

i've had the same problems with delays and i don't understand how they work ...

i've had 2 cases go to review to an ombudsman. 1 was sent by me (the decision was against me) and 1 by the firm (the decision was in my favour).

both are at the same level in the queue yet the one sent from the company is being fast racked (because i need it sorting asap).

it's ridiculous .... the complaint being fast tracked is taking the same time as the complaint waiting as normal. It's actually now longer than the normal time they quoted me. The fast tracked complaint has been ongoing for over 3 years and the other one over a year.

tifo

rocketman80 wrote: »

Right, so thanks for that. Yes, i know its free

I don't think it's free, i'm sure the taxpayer funds some of the FOS even though they charge the firms.

magpiecottage

tifo wrote: »

I don't think it's free, i'm sure the taxpayer funds some of the FOS even though they charge the firms.

People were sure the world was flat once!

The reality is that it is paid for entirely by firms. It is true to say that they must find the cost from somewhere and that will be in the form of increased charges - just as the cost of car insurance is higher because all those of us who drive legally have to contribute to claims against the scumbags who are uninsured.

dunstonh

The reality is that it is paid for entirely by firms.

Tell me about it. I pay for it each and every year and like every business, factor the costs into my charges for clients.

The current system is far too easy to abuse. The good companies pay for the bad and it encourages try-it-on complaints/fraudulent complaints which just clog up the system, increase costs and delay all the genuine complaints from being looked at quickly.

rocketman80

ok, so just out of curiosity, does anyone have any actual advise for me?

dunstonh

rocketman80 wrote: »

ok, so just out of curiosity, does anyone have any actual advise for me?

You are not going to like it...... You need to wait.

There are not many ombudsman and they are typically used for more complicated things which take a lot of work. It is not unusual for an ombudsman to take ages. I have had a complaint upheld in the last week for someone I helped initiate it (not against me but I was supporting the complaint) which has been with the Ombudsman for nearly two years. It will still likely be another two months before it is followed through and possibly another month on top of that before any money is seen (and we keep our fingers crossed the firm doesn't go into administration in the meantime to shirk they liability)

rocketman80

dunstonh wrote: »

You are not going to like it...... You need to wait.

There are not many ombudsman and they are typically used for more complicated things which take a lot of work. It is not unusual for an ombudsman to take ages. I have had a complaint upheld in the last week for someone I helped initiate it (not against me but I was supporting the complaint) which has been with the Ombudsman for nearly two years. It will still likely be another two months before it is followed through and possibly another month on top of that before any money is seen (and we keep our fingers crossed the firm doesn't go into administration in the meantime to shirk they liability)

Aye, I'm gathering that, but I don't know 1 person waiting longer its frustrating... the one you initiated was 2 years.. mines 4.... Just seems to be hit and miss with them when my mates had the same thing, same company (same refusal) and got hers seen by an ombudsman and sorted in under 6 months. I know they're busy, but I can see why those PPI Claim companies are raking it in.

Thanks for answering btw.

financial_ombudsman_representative

Hello there rocketman80,

I work for the Financial Ombudsman Service and have replied to you under another thread you've posted on - but just in case you don't see it, I thought I'd post one here too. I am sorry to hear that you've been waiting for so long - it's clearly been very frustrating. We're continuing to receive record numbers of PPI cases, but it is unusual for a case to take over 18 months to resolve - and four years is obviously significantly longer than that.

If you are able to email me at: forumresponses@financial-ombudsman.org.uk with your complaint reference number, I'll look into things for you and see what is happening. Alternatively, if you'd rather follow di3004's advice and address your email to Natalie Ceeney (our chief executive), I'll pass it directly on to her office.

Many thanks,

Emma