When Banks don't Act on FOS Findings

nrsql

Sounds to me like this process has been outsourced to tsb - maybe they’ve been asked to finance and recruit a department to deal with issues for the fos.
That’s why this lady has been dealing closely with and being guided by tsb and keeps talking about them like they are co-workers. Maybe has periodic meetings with fos to go over outstanding cases which is why she is sometimes keen to close it.
Not dealing with it will be considered a failure so doesn’t want it escalated.

Also seems the tsb side objective is to minimise compensation rather than to minimise their costs which is a bit odd.

I suspect they won’t want to to go to the ombudsman as it will highlight that they aren’t working in your interest and aren’t being objective.

I would be tempted to say that as they want to renegotiate then it should be moved upwards. The amount was agreed at that time. Now you have increased effort and aggravation so should receive more compensation.
See how they deal with that.

I hope this gets publicised.

Cotta

An update:

Dear Mr. Cotta,

A brief update for you:

Having spoken to my colleagues in TSB this morning they are deeply concerned regarding the amounts of compensation you have been awarded and they feel that the missing interest on top of this to be “taking the biscuit”. Whilst I cannot comment on TSB’s views to date, officially they are still deliberating on whether to pay or not, however as my colleague has said the current timeframe is still much too small as you only agreed with the settlement on 18th December and with Christmas factored in it could be February before any movement happens (I am not saying it will be this long). I am inclined to agree with TSB on this, any payment to you at this stage cannot be deemed late. I think you also need to be aware that this time around as you no longer have an account with TSB any perceived lateness in payments from TSB will NOT result in any additional levels of compensation. I strongly reiterate the fact that you are in excess of the compensation bands and it is this point that is causing TSB some pain.

At present you will just need to show more patience, if TSB have not paid you by 11th of February, feel free to contact me then. In the meantime if there are any developments I will update you accordingly.

Kind Regards

FOS

masonic

Wow, that's re-writing the rule book. The substantial band is between £500 and £2000, and there are two bands above that. The deadline of 11th February seems highly suspect. I was given a deadline of 10 working days for my own complaint and TSB agreed within 5.

I think I'd be asking for documentary evidence that TSB may be given so much time to agree or disagree with the decision.

Cotta

masonic wrote: »

Wow, that's re-writing the rule book. The substantial band is between £500 and £2000, and there are two bands above that. The deadline of 11th February seems highly suspect. I was given a deadline of 10 working days for my own complaint and TSB agreed within 5.

I think I'd be asking for documentary evidence that TSB may be given so much time to agree or disagree with the decision.

I suspect there is something in what has been said, my original timeframe was 3 weeks that TSB failed to comply with, at present tomorrow represents 3 weeks, however factoring Christmas in it is much less.

Silver_Queen

Frankly, this person who is dealing with your complaint is entirely incompetent and if I were you, I'd want it escalated to the ombudsman immediately.

masonic

Cotta wrote: »

I suspect there is something in what has been said, my original timeframe was 3 weeks that TSB failed to comply with, at present tomorrow represents 3 weeks, however factoring Christmas in it is much less.

Even if the timeframe only started today, 11th February is 5 weeks, it would be 6 weeks from 18th December excluding the whole of the Christmas/New Year period.

Cotta

masonic wrote: »

Even if the timeframe only started today, 11th February is 5 weeks, it would be 6 weeks from 18th December excluding the whole of the Christmas/New Year period.

What is a reasonable date to refer this to the Ombudsman?

eskbanker

masonic wrote: »

Wow, that's re-writing the rule book. The substantial band is between £500 and £2000, and there are two bands above that. The deadline of 11th February seems highly suspect. I was given a deadline of 10 working days for my own complaint and TSB agreed within 5.

I think I'd be asking for documentary evidence that TSB may be given so much time to agree or disagree with the decision.

Cotta wrote: »

What is a reasonable date to refer this to the Ombudsman?

I agree with masonic - the adjudicator's documentation of her final decision should have been issued with clear timescales, along the lines of "TSB must pay £x by [date] and that either party has until [different date] to appeal against the decision, after which it'll be deemed to have been accepted".

If timescales haven't been documented in that way then considering the payment to be late after three weeks (or any other period) is just subjective opinion, so it's important to establish what the parameters are....

IanManc

I think that the adjudicator's saying "at present you will just need to show more patience" plus her constant reference to TSB representatives as her "colleagues" when they are in fact representatives of the party against whom a complaint has been made which she is supposedly independently adjudicating combine to show that she isn't independent at all.

This ought to be referred to an Ombudsman.

Earlier on in the saga I hadn't been keen on involving the press as well, but any competent consumer rights financial journalist would love to get their teeth into this story. It makes both TSB and the FOS look awful, and frankly it is a disgrace.

masonic

Cotta wrote: »

What is a reasonable date to refer this to the Ombudsman?

The next step is to confirm what actual deadline was specified in the decision, as eskbanker says. This is crossing over from your complaint against TSB, which an Ombudsman might be helpful in resolving, to a complaint against the FOS and this Adjudicator, for which you'd need to take up separately.

As I mentioned above, the timescale for either party objecting to the decision in my case was clearly documented. If that hasn't happened in your case then it's another item to add to the list of failings.