Is the ombudsman service independent assessor really independent?

OceanSound

Is the financial ombudsman service independent assessor really independent? What are your experiences?

Here's mine. I've complained to the independent assessor recently because the financial ombudsman service failed to honour my communication preferences when it issued the decision of the ombudsman. The decision was sent via post when I had clearly indicated on the complaint form to communicate via email.

Not only that, the adjudicator asked me does it need to be 'email ONLY'. I confirmed this and it was recorded on the system. Apparently, the decisions are issued by a different team, and not by the adjudicator, so they missed the flag on system and sent letter by post.

Adjudicator somehow caught wind of the fact and sent the decision via email a week later.

When I complained to a Manager, she passed blame to the 'different team' who issues the decisions and said it had no impact on me accepting/rejecting the decision. However she failed to realise that it would prevent me from pursuing other avenues (e.g. contacting solicitor for advice, citizens advice bureau, consumer champion etc.) for a week.

So I complained to Independent Assessor. This is what she has said in her decision:

The Service received your complaint form on 20 July 2018. On the form you
indicated your correspondence preference as email.

Despite this the Service issued its decision on 1 April 2019 by post, it
shouldn’t have done and I can see it has acknowledged and apologised for the
error. As a result you first became aware of the decision on 8 April 2019 when
the case handler, Mr [adjudicator name] emailed a copy to you.

I can understand how frustrating it must have been to have found out the
decision had been issued earlier by post, despite your request to be emailed.

The Service has acknowledged an error was made and it has apologised. I do
not consider the seven day delay in you receiving the decision will have
impacted your ability to take your case against PayPal further by other means,
and I note you have not evidenced any such impact.

I appreciate your time is valuable and you feel it has been wasted as a result
of you having to raise your concerns about this error to the Service. Errors do
happen, and it is inconvenient when they do, but it is my role to assess the
impact of those errors and make recommendation accordingly. I do not
consider the impact of this error warrants more than the apology given.

OPINION and RECOMMENDATIONS

I am not satisfied the decision issued 1 April 2019 was sent using your
preferred correspondence method.

I am satisfied in all other respects of your service complaint the Ombudsman
Service handled your case as it should have done.

I have no recommendations to make to the Ombudsman Service.

I do believe there is a learning point here for the Service. This was a simple
error caused by the customer’s communication preference not being adhered
to. It is important that, where specified, customer preferences are flagged on
the case file in a consistent manner and that all staff are reminded to check
customer preferences, prior to issuing correspondence to avoid similar
circumstances occurring in the future.

As my Opinion is final I have closed my file so I will not be corresponding
further on this case. I do not intend to be discourteous but I am letting you
know any correspondence you may send will be read and added to my file
but not responded to.

She says 'I do believe there is a learning point here for the Service. This was a simple
error caused by the customer’s communication preference not being adhered to. '

She talks about a 'learning point'. Unfortunately, in every single complaint I've made (more than 10 - I score much higher than the national average ) over the past few years, the communication preference hasn't been honoured. I've complained, the manager has apologised then said feedback has been provided to the relevant individuals/teams. Every time the same mistake has been repeated.

I wonder if the independent assessor is aware how many times the same mistake has been repeated? From her decision seems highly unlikely (even through I had told the Manager in an email it wasn't the first time this has happened).

DId she actually mean 'learning'?. Given how many times the same mistake has been made, couldn't it simply be described as 'doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results'.

eskbanker

Seems to me that the independent assessor is unconvinced that your issue, while legitimate, is of any great importance, and hence "I do not consider the impact of this error warrants more than the apology given" and "I have no recommendations to make to the Ombudsman Service", i.e. she's mildly sympathetic but doesn't actually plan to do anything about it.

If she felt it was significant then she'd make a recommendation to the chief ombudsman, as per the process outlined in https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/about/IA_terms_reference.htm

If you feel strongly about it, and have evidence of raising the same issue repeatedly without resolution, then perhaps it would be worth flagging this to someone senior within FOS itself?

p00hsticks

OceanSound wrote: »

However she failed to realise that it would prevent me from pursuing other avenues (e.g. contacting solicitor for advice, citizens advice bureau, consumer champion etc.) for a week.

I'm no expert in these matters (from the sound of it, you're very experienced), but given that you say the complaint was lodged nine months ago, my gut instinct is with the adjudicator in that a delay of a week in getting the response communicated in the manner you opted for is hardly material....

JuicyJesus

You are very much overplaying your hand. You've not actually been materially affected by receiving the decision via post. You've barely been inconvenienced, let alone actually harmed. A week's delay is extremely unlikely to prevent you pursuing other avenues.

So:

• You raise lots more complaints than the national average, more than most people will raise in their lifetimes
• Your complaints mostly aren't upheld either by the people you're complaining to or independent adjudicators
• The only complaint we have evidence of is an extremely petty borderline-frivolous one with no actual harm to yourself or identifiable loss bar you being mildly annoyed
• Pursuing the complaint has taken you disproportionately more time and effort than simply dealing with it because as noted no harm has been done
• Your response to the Independent Assessor looking at this and noting that no harm has been done and saying (in very nice terms) that you're massively overplaying your claim here is to question their independence without really engaging with the substance of what they're saying
• It's unclear what you seek to gain from pursuing this beyond a sense of self-satisfaction

There's also the issue that you don't really have anywhere else to go with this complaint. Citizens Advice are unlikely to be able to do anywhere near as much as FOS. You can obviously go to court but a week is not likely to materially stop you raising an action if you wanted to do so.

Think I'm going to have to take a punt here and say that the issue is you and your expectations, rather than people you choose to complain about. That or you actually enjoy the process of raising complaints. I'm not sure which it is but it's one of those.

waamo

Mr Mountain please meet Mr Molehill.

colsten

OP, everybody agrees that they should have honoured your request to receive communication by email but as you got your response twice - 1st by snail mail, then by email, there's nothing really to complain about..

Everybody - with perhaps the exception of yourself - also agrees that the one week delay hardly made any material difference to your case. If, however, it did, you have failed to tell us what that material difference is.

I can't see anything in your post that would make me query the independence of the ombudsman service. It appears to me that you got a lengthy and considered response. You may not have liked the result (what result were you actually after?) but that by itself doesn't mean that the service isn't independent.

You also mentioned in your post that the FOS has consistently ignored your communication request, on at least 10 different occasions, and you are, understandably, unhappy about this. However, it appears that you didn't mention this in your complaint to the FOS, so it's unclear to me why you now appear to be unhappy that they didn't respond to a complaint you didn't actually make.

I think that's just about all I can say (and no, I don't work for the FOS or any related organisation ).

meer53

If this has happened 10 times, why did you not raise the complaint the first time it happened ? Seems a bit odd to let it happen 10 times, THEN make a complaint !

colsten

meer53 wrote: »

If this has happened 10 times, why did you not raise the complaint the first time it happened ? Seems a bit odd to let it happen 10 times, THEN make a complaint !

and not mention in the complaint that it had happened 10 times before

OceanSound

meer53 wrote: »

If this has happened 10 times, why did you not raise the complaint the first time it happened ? Seems a bit odd to let it happen 10 times, THEN make a complaint !

For each complaint I've made (definitely over 10 complaints over the years), the same mistake has been made by the Financial Ombudsman service. I've raised a complaint on each occasion. Each occasion, it has been concluded by a Manager (or a senior Manager) that an error/oversight occurred. The Manager (or Senior Manager - depending on the stage where the service complaint was at) had apologized, paid compensation (usually £50), and said appropriate action has been taken to give relevant individuals/teams feedback to prevent a re-occurrence.

But still the same mistake has been repeated on my next complaint. Please see OP:

Unfortunately, in every single complaint I've made (more than 10 - I score much higher than the national average ) over the past few years, the communication preference hasn't been honoured. I've complained, the manager has apologised then said feedback has been provided to the relevant individuals/teams. Every time the same mistake has been repeated.

JuicyJesus

Have you considered getting over it?

OceanSound

colsten wrote: »

and not mention in the complaint that it had happened 10 times before

Let me be clear. For example, I make a complaint about Santander Bank. I tell Financial Ombudsman service (FOS) please communicate via email only. They send me postal letter. I make service complaint. FOS admits error was made, but it won't be repeated.

3 months later I need to complaint about Paypal. I tell FOS, please communicate via email. They send me postal letter. I make service complaint. FOS say's sorry, it won't happen again.

4 months later I need to complain about Revolut, I tell FOS, please communicate via email. They send me postal letter. I make service complaint. FOS say's sorry, it won't happen again.

this has been repeated. All together over 10x.

It's hard to get your head round, isn't it?