Complain about the Ombudsman?

scooo

Can you complain about the ombudsman?
Is there any point or are they beyond reproach?

In brief, the ombudsman has acted with complete bias, failed to impose upon the energy supplier (Scottish Power) and made completely incorrect conclusions. It’s like she hasn’t even read my case, she just wants to fob me off with the £100 compensation and an apology.

I don’t even want the money, I did want Scottish Power to be brought to task for how they have mishandled my account and think they can get away with overcharging.
Now I want the ombudsman bought to task for allowing SP to just ignore their requests and not even make them refund the overcharges despite being fully aware of them.

I’m at war with everyone :rotfl:

footyguy

scooo wrote: »

Can you complain about the ombudsman?
Is there any point or are they beyond reproach?

In brief, the ombudsman has acted with complete bias, failed to impose upon the energy supplier (Scottish Power) and made completely incorrect conclusions. It’s like she hasn’t even read my case, she just wants to fob me off with the £100 compensation and an apology.

I don’t even want the money, I did want Scottish Power to be brought to task for how they have mishandled my account and think they can get away with overcharging.
Now I want the ombudsman bought to task for allowing SP to just ignore their requests and not even make them refund the overcharges despite being fully aware of them.

I’m at war with everyone :rotfl:

I'm sure you can complain about the ombudsman if you wish

But are you perhaps missing the aim here? Your complaint stems from a dispute with your supplier. The Ombudsman, as an independent middleman, has attempted to resolve the dispute.
If you are not happy with the proposed resolution, do not agree to it, and ask a court to rule on the dispute you have with the energy provider.

Any complaint you make of the ombudsman will not affect the final decision the ombudsman has given you in your complaint against the supplier.


Note: It is not really the role of any ombudsman to bring anyone to task.
Where a mistake has occurred (and is agreed), the ombudsman generally will put the situation back to the position the complainant would have been in had the error not have occurred. Depending on the circumstances, a small award to compensate the complainant for the distress and inconvenience caused is usually also awarded by the ombudsman (which may not necessarily be awarded by a court should the matter progress to that stage)

naedanger

scooo wrote: »

Can you complain about the ombudsman?
Is there any point or are they beyond reproach?

In brief, the ombudsman has acted with complete bias, failed to impose upon the energy supplier (Scottish Power) and made completely incorrect conclusions. It’s like she hasn’t even read my case, she just wants to fob me off with the £100 compensation and an apology.

I don’t even want the money, I did want Scottish Power to be brought to task for how they have mishandled my account and think they can get away with overcharging.
Now I want the ombudsman bought to task for allowing SP to just ignore their requests and not even make them refund the overcharges despite being fully aware of them.

I’m at war with everyone :rotfl:

For details of how to complain about the Ombudsman:

http://www.ombudsman-services.org/service-standards.html

If you are unhappy with the decision they reached you do not need to accept it and can instead take your case to court (although this will involve some costs but you may be able to recover those if you win your case). https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/overview

scooo

footyguy wrote: »

But are you perhaps missing the aim here? Your complaint stems from a dispute with your supplier. The Ombudsman, as an independent middleman, has attempted to resolve the dispute.

Where a mistake has occurred (and is agreed), the ombudsman generally will put the situation back to the position the complainant would have been in had the error not have occurred.

Hi.

No, I haven’t missed the point, at least I don't think I have.
I understand the objective of the ombudsman but as far as I can see she hasn’t put me back in the position I would have been. Moreover, she is fully aware of that fact.

I tried to change tariff in March 2014 but it wasn't changed until Nov 2014.
Although the ombudsman has had confirmation of all this from SP, they only supplied copy bills from Oct & Nov 2014 and only adjusted the billing for that period.
The ombudsman has accepted that as fair but I don't agree.

Quote:
“as the account has now been re-billed to accurate readings and to the correct tariff, we consider the billing is now correct. However we do acknowledge that you requested the tariff be applied to your account in April 2014 and consider this a shortfall in customer service”

How can she “consider the billing is now correct”?
It clearly isn’t, it was only adjusted to the cheaper tariff for Oct & Nov, nothing for Mar – Oct.
"Shortfall in customer service"? What about the shortfall in my bank account?
I was overcharged for a further 7+ months (and I’m a heavy user) and there’s no reimbursement. I have tried explaining this to her but she just replies telling me the matter is concluded and I am to sign the acceptance form.


More importantly, and this really gets me, having noted my dissatisfaction I get this: “We have received your request to review the report dated 22 December 2014. Scottish Power has not responded to the report.”
So SP still haven’t responded and she does nothing? What’s the point of having an ombudsman if the supplier just ignores their requests and they just accept that???

footyguy

scooo wrote: »

Hi.

No, I haven’t missed the point, at least I don't think I have.
I understand the objective of the ombudsman but as far as I can see she hasn’t put me back in the position I would have been. Moreover, she is fully aware of that fact....

So you are not happy with the final decision of the ombudsman, rather than the way they handled your complaint.

As I said, any complaint against the ombudsman will not change that decision.
You cannot complain about the outcome the ombudsman finds, only the manner in which they handled your complaint.

You need to ask a court to decide who is right and who is wrong in your original complaint. i.e. you or the supplier. The ombudsman's decison will then be irrelevent (except the supplier will probably raise it as part of their defence to your claim)

You said in your OP you were not interested in a monetary award (despite the ombudsman suggesting £100 plus an apology off the supplier)
So what is it you would want a court to award you, should you win???

I suggest you seek independent legal advice.

scooo

No, I'm not happy with the way she handled the claim.


She didn't read the details properly.
When SP adjusted my account for 2 months out of the 9 due she shouldn't have accepted that.
She shouldn't accept them just ignoring her.
She took ages to respond and then rang my home and left messages when I'd informed her I was overseas (she had been emailing).


She emailed correspondence to my wife who was never involved. I have no idea where she got my wifes email.
When I questioned her on it she claimed that "the final decision letter was emailed to the email address/third party named on your complaint form" but I have that 'form' and she is not named on there at all.
That's a lie which is inexcusable.


So no, I'm not looking for her to change her decision, I would like her corrected because as far as I see it she has acted very poorly and now is acting extremely arrogantly.

footyguy

scooo wrote: »

No, I'm not happy with the way she handled the claim.


She didn't read the details properly.
When SP adjusted my account for 2 months out of the 9 due she shouldn't have accepted that.
She shouldn't accept them just ignoring her.
She took ages to respond and then rang my home and left messages when I'd informed her I was overseas (she had been emailing).


She emailed correspondence to my wife who was never involved. I have no idea where she got my wifes email.
When I questioned her on it she claimed that "the final decision letter was emailed to the email address/third party named on your complaint form" but I have that 'form' and she is not named on there at all.
That's a lie which is inexcusable.


So no, I'm not looking for her to change her decision, I would like her corrected because as far as I see it she has acted very poorly and now is acting extremely arrogantly.

You seem to make this all sound very simple. As though you wrote a complaint about the supplier to the ommbudsman, and the ombudsman then replied with her decision.

I'm sorry, but that is not the way it works, as anyone who has made a complaint to the ombudsman knows.

You would have had ample time to have discussed the details of your claim, and any possible shortcomings of the adjudicator even before the ombudsman (of which many claims never actually reach) gets to review it.
You make no mention of this or how this was acted upon.

As I said, now you have a final response, that is the end of the complaint against the supplier as far as the ombudsman is concerned.

The suggestion the ombudsman is now telling you to sign the agreement (despite her presumably knowing you do not agree with her proposed resolution) I also find hard to accept. You obviously only sign an agreement if you accept it. Whatever you decide the ombudsman has now concluded the complaint.

As I said, I suggest you seek independent legal advice. You have, I fear, lost sight of your goal here.

Good luck!

naedanger

scooo wrote: »

No, I'm not happy with the way she handled the claim.


She didn't read the details properly.
When SP adjusted my account for 2 months out of the 9 due she shouldn't have accepted that.
She shouldn't accept them just ignoring her.
She took ages to respond and then rang my home and left messages when I'd informed her I was overseas (she had been emailing).


She emailed correspondence to my wife who was never involved. I have no idea where she got my wifes email.
When I questioned her on it she claimed that "the final decision letter was emailed to the email address/third party named on your complaint form" but I have that 'form' and she is not named on there at all.
That's a lie which is inexcusable.


So no, I'm not looking for her to change her decision, I would like her corrected because as far as I see it she has acted very poorly and now is acting extremely arrogantly.

Remember the Ombudsman can make very bad decisions but these cannot be appealed through the Ombudsman complaint process. (However in this scenario you can still take legal action against your supplier, This will cost you some money, but not that much, if you read the link I posted earlier. The process is meant to be simple so that you should not need to engage a solicitor.)

The Ombudsman complaint process will not consider the Ombudsman's poor judgment. Therefore I suggest you try and limit your complaint to those aspects that are not concerned with judgment and concentrate on those where the Ombudsman has clearly not followed proper process e.g. emailing correspondence to your wife etc.

scooo

footyguy wrote: »

You seem to make this all sound very simple. As though you wrote a complaint about the supplier to the ommbudsman, and the ombudsman then replied with her decision.

I'm sorry, but that is not the way it works, as anyone who has made a complaint to the ombudsman knows.

Really? But that is the way it went, honestly. What more would you expect to see?
Maybe because I went away it reduced the communications somehow but that is the way it went.

22/10 I got to the end of my tether with SP not replying so I emailed the ombudsman.
04/11 They replied telling me to send everything I had which I did.
17/11 Someone from Ombudsman office rang but I wasn’t able to take call.
21/11 I emailed saying please call back
16/12 Email from dealing officer stating she was in a position to close (I was o/seas so I emailed back)
17/12 Letter giving decision.

There were no other communications between “Hello I’m the dealing officer, please supply this..” and “this is my final decision” (apart from the general confirmations of receipt).

From there were a few emails back and forth whereby I tried to get across that I wasn’t happy with that and that she had the facts wrong.
She replied reiterating that that was her final decision and each time referred me sign the form.
At no time have I ever spoken to her. I don’t have her number.

scooo

naedanger - I've looked at the complaints section, they don't give you much room to complain do they!


I'll have a go at that, may put some pressure on her at least, I guess

naedanger

scooo wrote: »

naedanger - I've looked at the complaints section, they don't give you much room to complain do they!


I'll have a go at that, may put some pressure on her at least, I guess

In my view you need to concentrate of where they failed in following their own processes. I think if you aim to get across the poor quality of the decision your complaint will fail as they will be wise to people disguising complaints about the decision as complaints about the process. So I suggest you really concentrate on the process and its failings e.g. sending correspondence to your wife, providing incorrect information [if you can give examples of this], failing to communicate in line with their stated processes [if you can give examples of this] etc.