RBS Packaged bank account rejected by Ombudsman

AndyC1967

Hello, I had a Royalties Gold account with RBS from 2000 until 2017, paying £14 per month, never had the need for any of the insurance policies and never informed that if I did need them Id have to register. I contacted RBS in 2016 who rejected my claim for mis-selling on the grounds that I should have cancelled my account within 5 years of me realising that it was unsuitable. Referred to the Ombudsman who initially upheld the decision made by RBS, but subsequently after reviewing further information reopened the case and referred back to RBS, the end result being that they agreed that RBS were correct as they wrote to me at 3 points over the last 15 years giving me all of the information I required to either activate the policies or change the account, to my knowledge these letters were never received however I suspect they were possibly incorporated within the junk mail magazines that were sent. Either way I do not agree with the decision but am not able to take this further. Does anyone here have any experience of this or similar? Is there a higher authority that I can follow this up with? Any help would be appreciated.

PeacefulWaters

You can take it to court.

But if the FOS have said no the odds of success are slim.

AndyC1967

So I have to just roll over and accept that RBS took the best part of £4K and there is no redress? Court is probably not the best option, is there a higher authority or appeals department within the Ombudsman?
Thanks for your reply.

John-K_3

AndyC1967 wrote: »

So I have to just roll over and accept that RBS took the best part of £4K and there is no redress? Court is probably not the best option, is there a higher authority or appeals department within the Ombudsman?
Thanks for your reply.

Not exactly. You have to accept that you could have cancelled it, but chose to keep paying. You do not get to keep paying through choice then just get what you spent back.

Why did you not cancel?

ValiantSon

AndyC1967 wrote: »

So I have to just roll over and accept that RBS took the best part of £4K and there is no redress? Court is probably not the best option, is there a higher authority or appeals department within the Ombudsman?
Thanks for your reply.

You chose to pay for the product. In the information that you have provided there is no evidence of mis-selling. Both RBS and the FOS look to be completely correct in their respective decisions. You are not being required to "roll over". You paid for a product that was provided. It is your own fault if you did not make use of that product.

Did you not at any point in that 17 years ask yourself why you were spending £168 a year on something that you weren't making use of? No sympathy coming from me, I'm afraid.

By the way, £14 per month over 17 years is £2856, so your claim that it was, "the best part of £4K" is either gross exaggeration on your part, or you haven't done your sums properly.

AndyC1967

Thanks both of you, i was paying for a bank account that RBS advised me to take, the one and only time I tried to make a claim for a phone that I dropped prompted me to question why i bothered paying as the claim for replacing the phone was rejected, at this point and this point only I made a claim to RBS as the policies are simply a con. So the long and short of it is tuff, its my fault that I got tucked up by RBS?

ValiantSon

AndyC1967 wrote: »

Thanks both of you, i was paying for a bank account that RBS advised me to take, the one and only time I tried to make a claim for a phone that I dropped prompted me to question why i bothered paying as the claim for replacing the phone was rejected, at this point and this point only I made a claim to RBS as the policies are simply a con. So the long and short of it is tuff, its my fault that I got tucked up by RBS?

In what way were the policies a con?

You pretty well do have to accept that you paid for a product of your own volition which you never made use of. RBS haven't mis-sold nor defrauded you.

Personally, I think packaged bank accounts are a massive waste of money for most people, but I don't think that they are a con, rather they are just an over-priced product.

AndyC1967

A con because we were told a crock of lies when opening the account, free travel, life, mobile phone and car breakdown Insurance, all of which are worthless! holiday policy would not cover my wife so had to buy our own cover, mobile phone as I previously stated, life, well Im still here! Car breakdown we both drive company cars so no use whatsoever, RBS are guilty of misleading consumers, simple!!!

ValiantSon

AndyC1967 wrote: »

A con because we were told a crock of lies when opening the account, free travel, life, mobile phone and car breakdown Insurance, all of which are worthless! holiday policy would not cover my wife so had to buy our own cover, mobile phone as I previously stated, life, well Im still here! Car breakdown we both drive company cars so no use whatsoever, RBS are guilty of misleading consumers, simple!!!

Nothing that you describe is a con!

Travel insurance: would you have been covered under the policy terms? Your statement that your wife wouldn't have been covered suggests that you were. You have no complaint. It isn't a con.

Life assurance: only ever pays out if you die! Again, this is not a con.

Breakdown insurance: it is irrelevant that you have company cars. You could also have a personal car, and you knew this was the case anyway when you opened the account! Again, not a con.

Mobile phone insurance: you haven't explained why your claim was rejected. It sounds like it was because you claimed for something that was not covered by the policy. That is not a con; it is up to you to read the policy documents and ensure that the terms meet your requirements.

RBS are not guilty of misleading their customers in general, nor in your specific case. Your complaint was not upheld because you had no legitimate grounds for complaint. Get over it: you haven't been conned. You chose to pay for a product and you received the product. The fact that you were never able to make use of that product because the eventualities for which you were insured never arose does not make it a con: that is what happens with insurance! I have spent lots of money on insurance policies over the years that I have never made a claim on. Should I demand that the insurers pay me back my premiums?

You chose to pay this money and it is therefore your own fault that you are now (less than) £3,000 out of pocket.

mije1983

AndyC1967 wrote: »

A con because we were told a crock of lies when opening the account, free travel, life, mobile phone and car breakdown Insurance, all of which are worthless! holiday policy would not cover my wife so had to buy our own cover, mobile phone as I previously stated, life, well Im still here! Car breakdown we both drive company cars so no use whatsoever, RBS are guilty of misleading consumers, simple!!!

What lies did they tell you? From what you have said above I can't see any lies from RBS.

Why would the travel insurance not cover your wife?

It's the fault of RBS that you haven't died so haven't used the life insurance cover? A very strange way to look at things! I'm sure your wife is actually glad that this is a part of the package that you haven't used!

It's the fault of RBS that you drive company cars? Surely you knew this part of the package wasn't applicable to you due to the car you drive?

It does sound like you are more annoyed with yourself for not checking the terms of the policies.

TrickyDicky101

AndyC1967 wrote: »

So I have to just roll over and accept that RBS took the best part of £4K and there is no redress? Court is probably not the best option, is there a higher authority or appeals department within the Ombudsman?
Thanks for your reply.

If the decision was made by an adjudicator within the Ombudsman Service then you can appeal to have the decision reviewed by an actual Ombudsman. Don't necessarily expect a different outcome if you do so though.