When Banks don't Act on FOS Findings

eskbanker

She seems to be linking reopening your case with ombudsman escalation, whereas my understanding was that you'd simply asked for the case to be kept open until resolution rather than being prematurely closed off without it being sorted one way or the other.

The fact that she's still chasing TSB suggests that it is still open anyway, in the sense that some sort of activity is ongoing, but again her tone with TSB has shifted demonstrably from December's 'pay up within three weeks' instruction to February's pleading of 'any chance of letting me know what's happening?'.

I'd still be tempted to ask what she intends to do to ensure that TSB comply with her instruction and exactly how long she is prepared to give them....

Cotta

eskbanker wrote: »

She seems to be linking reopening your case with ombudsman escalation, whereas my understanding was that you'd simply asked for the case to be kept open until resolution rather than being prematurely closed off without it being sorted one way or the other.

The fact that she's still chasing TSB suggests that it is still open anyway, in the sense that some sort of activity is ongoing, but again her tone with TSB has shifted demonstrably from December's 'pay up within three weeks' instruction to February's pleading of 'any chance of letting me know what's happening?'.

I'd still be tempted to ask what she intends to do to ensure that TSB comply with her instruction and exactly how long she is prepared to give them....

Yes I am a litte confused about the opening and closing of cases, from previous conversations with her the below is how it stands:


1. Hope that TSB pay the compensation and missed interest.


2. Under no circumstances will TSB be asked to pay anyone regardless of how late the compensation amount it.


3. Going to an Ombudsman could be very unfavourable to me and result is a lesser offer or no offer.

masonic

I would ask for her to get her manager's advice on how to proceed, or for him to call you to discuss the next steps.

Re-emphasise that you are happy with the Adjudicator's decision, so it would be inappropriate to reject it and escalate to an Ombudsman.

eskbanker

masonic wrote: »

I would ask for her to get her manager's advice on how to proceed, or for him to call you to discuss the next steps.

Re-emphasise that you are happy with the Adjudicator's decision, so it would be inappropriate to reject it and escalate to an Ombudsman.

Agreed - it's only just over a week ago that she said "My Manager has advised that for now the best option is to attempt to get a final response from TSB as this will make things much smoother if it does go to the Ombudsman", so she should be concentrating on securing TSB's final response if that's what he's asked/told her to do, rather than trying to put the ball back in Cotta's court all the time....

Cotta

I feel the adjudicator has ran out of patience with my case.

What interests me is the stalling from TSB, they're playing a game of cat and mouse with me. They either pay up at the point it goes to the Ombudsman or let it go to the Ombudsman hoping for a smaller bill. I honestly feel the delays should be penalised rather than working in TSB's favour.

eskbanker

Cotta wrote: »

I feel the adjudicator has ran out of patience with my case.

What interests me is the stalling from TSB, they're playing a game of cat and mouse with me. They either pay up at the point it goes to the Ombudsman or let it go to the Ombudsman hoping for a smaller bill. I honestly feel the delays should be penalised rather than working in TSB's favour.

I suspect you're right about the adjudicator - based on a range of comments over several months it seems clear that she just wants it off her desk, and perhaps sees ombudsman escalation as a convenient way of washing her hands of it, although would have thought that it doesn't reflect well on her if it's referred and it becomes clear how ineffective she's been. I'd have hoped her manager sees it the same way too, i.e. it reflects badly on him as well if one of his team isn't performing.

On the subject of penalising delays, I think you had a stronger case first time round, when their failures to act were compromising your ability to bank, but when it comes to settling up a bill that's purely for retrospective compensation then I'm less convinced that there's justification for some sort of automatic penalty regime, although am far from sympathetic to TSB! The adjudicator's manager seems to be on your side though, which may be indicative of how it'll be seen by an ombudsman if/when that happens....

Personally I don't think TSB are playing games though, I think it's just down to institutional incompetence and a massive backlog of (self-inflicted) activity. I don't see how delay would work in their favour, even if they were confident of an ombudsman reducing the compensation?

Cotta

Turned out to be impossible to get hold of the adjudicator today, she does seem to spend much of her time in meetings.

I want this to go to the Ombudsman now but I'm worried that as mentioned before if I push for it then I maybe looked upon unfavourably by the Ombudsman.

masonic

You are being put in an utterly unfair position. If it has to go to the Ombudsman, you should ensure that it is recorded that this is not your desired outcome but was at the Adjudicator's suggestion as she is unable to force TSB to cooperate.

Cotta

Is there any benefit to asking to speak with a FOS Manager? The adjudicator no longer feels there is a need to chase this issue as the case is closed and TSB's delay/refusal to act as we approach nine weeks is not seen as an issue.

eskbanker

She seems to have an odd line in logic! My view remains that the case shouldn't be closed until TSB pay up (which would finalise everything) or TSB reject the adjudicator's decision (or miss their final deadline), which would result in escalation to the ombudsman.

I don't believe that it's appropriate for her to simply close it without resolution and assert that the only option is for you to refer it to an ombudsman - that's not how their process is meant to work, in that you should only seek referral if you're unhappy with the FOS decision, which you're not.

So, I'd put that back to her and ask that if she disagrees then you'd like to speak to her manager. It can't be right that she doesn't feel she needs to do anything and apparently TSB are of the same mindset, seemingly without FOS setting any deadlines for action....