Useless Ombudsman - help or advice needed please!

gemspan1

If the claim is for less than £5000 you can take them to court via the Small Claims route and you will get this sorted quicker. Alternatively, why not have a chat with your MP. 4 years is far too long to wait for a complaint to be dealt with - especially when an adjudicator has already ruled in your favour.

Small Claims is not that expensive and you can add the cost of the claim to your final total....plus 8% judicial interest.

I don't see how an organisation that is run by the banks can be "independent" and not have conflicting interests.

Gemspan

dunstonh

If the claim is for less than £5000 you can take them to court via the Small Claims route and you will get this sorted quicker.

Not necessarily and there are consequences. By going to court, the onus is on you to prove a breach of law. Documents that the FOS generally ignore (such as key features documents) would not be ignored by the court. Plus, the FOS not only includes the legal position but also looks at fairness. The courts look at the legal position.

The lenders have been successful in the courts with PPI complaints. Even the likes of Black Horse (who have over 90% uphold rates with the FOS) have won in court. Single premium PPI was not unlawful.

The final problem is that if you go to court, the FOS complaints process is turned off to you. If the court rules against you then the FOS cannot be used after that and it cannot make a ruling whilst legal action is in force.

I don't see how an organisation that is run by the banks can be "independent" and not have conflicting interests.

It is not run by the banks. It does not have conflicting interests. It is an independent arbiter of complaints. Given that is also considers fairness, it does if anything, have a slight consumer bias rather than a corporate bias.

Alternatively, why not have a chat with your MP. 4 years is far too long to wait for a complaint to be dealt with - especially when an adjudicator has already ruled in your favour.

An adjudicator decision is not binding. An ombudsman decision is. it hasnt got the ombudsman yet.

gemspan1

an organisation cannot be independent if it is funded by the very organisations that people are complaining against....... Huge conflict of interest.

Waiting 4 years for a claim to be assessed by the ombudsman is simply ridiculous showing real incompetence!

gemspan1

The FOS would not exist if it wasn't funded by banks!!!!! Doesn't take a genius to work out there is a conflict of interest there.... As it is the only "service" available to people who have complaints against the greedy banks then it will have to do - but it certainly does have a conflict of interest.

dunstonh

an organisation cannot be independent if it is funded by the very organisations that people are complaining against....... Huge conflict of interest.

Yes it can because ALL financial services companies pay a levy into the pot. It is a mandatory levy and a failure to pay it leads to you losing your FSA authorisations. The firms have no control over the FOS itself or the staff.

Indeed, the fact there is no right to appeal an ombudsman decision and that there is no long stop means that the liability for complaints is much greater for financial services firms than any other industry.

If the banks had control over the FOS then there wouldnt be anywhere near the number of complaints going against them.

rocketman80

financial_ombudsman_representative wrote: »

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

Thank you. I've emailed you on the address you have provided, if you would pass it on to Ms Ceeney I'd appreciate it.

ALIBOBSY

If you are interested in court action have a look over on the CAG forum where people are much more experience and knowledgable about the legal side of things. The vast majority of court cases over there ARE winning, but just like the FOS nothing is guaranteed. Court action is much faster and can lead to much higher payouts, but involves alot more work, initial costs and you really have to understand the legal arguements and precedents and be willing to argue them in court.
Recently the FOS have stated to a number of members over there that they ARE willing to look at PPI cases even when they have lost in court as like Duns says they can take other matters into account as well as the legal aspect.

Trouble is the FOS would probably not like you to start court action whilst in the middle of your complaint with them.
Best to chase up with them at this stage.

Good luck
ali x

rocketman80

Thanks Ali, I've emailed Emma a (long) letter of complaint.. so hopefully things may move a long a little now!

Alpine_Star

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

If you are interested in court action have a look over on the CAG forum where people are much more experience and knowledgable about the legal side of things. The vast majority of court cases over there ARE winning,

AFAIK there hasn't been a single example of anyone winning a PPI case in court on CAG - but plenty of losses. Perhaps you could identify some.

I despair at some of the advice given there by people who have no understanding of the law.

The current laws which govern the sale of insurance offer very little remedy for PPI mis-selling and as such the courts are an inadequate medium on which to rely - anyone taking their case to court is ill-advised.

nutty_nat

Hi

I posted on here earlier today about my FOS journey and I have only been going with it for nearly seven months so I know where you are coming from. One person tells me I have had an offer the other says you haven't you don't know if you are coming or going with it.

I know the FOS are snowed under with work and the excellent service they give is free, but one person has said one thing to me and another says something else.

Good luck