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Financial Ombudsman in Cahoots with the Banks?
cdab
Posts: 1 Newbie
I had an issue with Metro Bank dating back to last year when I ordered a product online and it was never delivered.
I attempted to resolve this with the company but, despite me sending several e-mails, they never replied. I called and was told their stockist had gone out of business between them purchasing the product for me (they order the stock after customers order from them) and the stockist shipping the goods. I was told that I could not be refunded as they no longer had my money.
I started chargeback proceedings with Metro Bank.
Metro Bank told me over the phone that I would need to provide them with several pieces of evidence such as receipt, proof the money had left my account, proof that I had attempted to resolve the issue with the merchant, etc.
I sent a letter with everything they asked for apart from the two things that were impossible to get. These were the merchant's terms and conditions in .pdf format (not available in .pdf format, but I gave them the URL to the T&C) and a statement from the merchant that they would not be returning my money (the merchant ignored every e-mail I sent).
A few days after I sent that letter, I received a letter in the post asking me to send them all of the information they had asked for over the phone.
I sent an e-mail asking if this letter was sent before I sent my letter, or if they had sent it again because they needed the .pdf and a statement from the merchant. They replied back telling me that they couldn't answer that question via e-mail as, if my e-mail was intercepted, somebody could access my bank account if they knew whether or not that letter was sent before or after they received my letter. Obviously that is ridiculous, but they told me that I would have to go to my local branch to find out.
When I went in, they told me that I would have to call them as they don't deal with chargebacks in branch. When I phoned in, they told me that they couldn't tell me whether or not that letter was sent before or after as somebody might be listening in on the call and if they answered that question, the answer could be used to access my bank account. Again, that is ridiculous. They told me that I would have to send a letter to get the answer.
Instead of sending a letter to ask, I simply just sent all of the information in again. I sent the letter recorded delivery and they signed for it.
A month passed without me hearing anything, so I phoned up to see what was happening. They told me that they were still waiting for my reply to the letter they sent. I told them that I had sent a letter in a month ago via recorded delivery and I had proof they had signed for it. They claimed that they never received the letter. Again, I asked if the letter they previously sent me was a response to my initial letter or if they sent that out before they received it. I got the same old crap about them not being able to answer that in case somebody was listening in on the call as the answer could be used to access my bank account.
I sent the same letter in via recorded delivery again, this time also sending another letter asking if the letter they sent me was a response to the letter I had now sent in three times, or if they sent it out before I sent in the information.
This went on for months, with a total of seven letters being sent to them via recorded delivery. They signed for each one, but claimed to have never received them. I sent them to the correct address as instructed over the phone.
Six months after the transaction date, Metro sent me a letter telling me that the chargeback case I had opened was closed as they have to raise the chargeback within six months and they never heard back from me.
I raised a complaint with Metro as I had sent the information in but they kept ignoring my letters and would not engage with me over the phone, in branch or via e-mail on the subject.
It took a while to get a response, so I sent an e-mail in at one point asking how long it generally takes their complaints department to respond to complaints. As expected, they replied telling me that they couldn't answer that question as, if the e-mail was intercepted, the answer could be used to access my bank account... Why they even have an e-mail service available in the first place when that is all they ever say is beyond me.
Eventually I received a letter in the post stating that they would not be upholding my complaint. No explanation at all. Just one short sentence.
I raised the complaint with Financial Ombudsman, sending in the tracking numbers to prove that I had sent Metro seven letters, all of which they claimed they never received despite signing for them.
The case manager I was assigned explicitly told me that banks do not have to respond to customers letters and Metro were right to ignore the evidence I had sent them. She told me that when it was obvious that e-mails, calls, letters and going to my local branch weren't working, I should have tried another way to contact the bank.
I suppose she expected me to go to their head office and demand that somebody in authority spoke to me there and then? I don't see what other options were available.
She asked me if I was satisfied with her conclusion, or if I wanted an ombudsman to review it. I told her that I wanted her to escalate the matter to an ombudsman as it was crystal clear that she was biased towards Metro Bank. She closed my complaint and marked it as resolved. I only found that out because I called to raise a complaint against her...
I received an e-mail a few days later apologising for the fact that she closed the case when I specifically told her that I wanted an ombudsman involved.
A month later I heard back from an ombudsman. The ombudsman has decided that Metro Bank were correct to not raise a chargeback dispute. The fact that they signed for seven letters and pretended to never have received any of them is apparently completely redundant. According to the ombudsman, Metro couldn't have raised the chargeback as I was not able to provide their T&C in .pdf format and I didn't have a statement from the merchant confirming that they would not be returning my money.
I know from experience with other banks that, when a .pdf of T&C is not available, sending the URL is fine. Likewise, if the company are deliberately ignoring you, a chargeback can still be raised. The merchants get a chance to defend their case and would have had the opportunity to prove that they were in the process of returning my funds (which they aren't).
It seems to me that Financial Ombudsman are working alongside the banks as I don't see how I have fairly lost this dispute
I attempted to resolve this with the company but, despite me sending several e-mails, they never replied. I called and was told their stockist had gone out of business between them purchasing the product for me (they order the stock after customers order from them) and the stockist shipping the goods. I was told that I could not be refunded as they no longer had my money.
I started chargeback proceedings with Metro Bank.
Metro Bank told me over the phone that I would need to provide them with several pieces of evidence such as receipt, proof the money had left my account, proof that I had attempted to resolve the issue with the merchant, etc.
I sent a letter with everything they asked for apart from the two things that were impossible to get. These were the merchant's terms and conditions in .pdf format (not available in .pdf format, but I gave them the URL to the T&C) and a statement from the merchant that they would not be returning my money (the merchant ignored every e-mail I sent).
A few days after I sent that letter, I received a letter in the post asking me to send them all of the information they had asked for over the phone.
I sent an e-mail asking if this letter was sent before I sent my letter, or if they had sent it again because they needed the .pdf and a statement from the merchant. They replied back telling me that they couldn't answer that question via e-mail as, if my e-mail was intercepted, somebody could access my bank account if they knew whether or not that letter was sent before or after they received my letter. Obviously that is ridiculous, but they told me that I would have to go to my local branch to find out.
When I went in, they told me that I would have to call them as they don't deal with chargebacks in branch. When I phoned in, they told me that they couldn't tell me whether or not that letter was sent before or after as somebody might be listening in on the call and if they answered that question, the answer could be used to access my bank account. Again, that is ridiculous. They told me that I would have to send a letter to get the answer.
Instead of sending a letter to ask, I simply just sent all of the information in again. I sent the letter recorded delivery and they signed for it.
A month passed without me hearing anything, so I phoned up to see what was happening. They told me that they were still waiting for my reply to the letter they sent. I told them that I had sent a letter in a month ago via recorded delivery and I had proof they had signed for it. They claimed that they never received the letter. Again, I asked if the letter they previously sent me was a response to my initial letter or if they sent that out before they received it. I got the same old crap about them not being able to answer that in case somebody was listening in on the call as the answer could be used to access my bank account.
I sent the same letter in via recorded delivery again, this time also sending another letter asking if the letter they sent me was a response to the letter I had now sent in three times, or if they sent it out before I sent in the information.
This went on for months, with a total of seven letters being sent to them via recorded delivery. They signed for each one, but claimed to have never received them. I sent them to the correct address as instructed over the phone.
Six months after the transaction date, Metro sent me a letter telling me that the chargeback case I had opened was closed as they have to raise the chargeback within six months and they never heard back from me.
I raised a complaint with Metro as I had sent the information in but they kept ignoring my letters and would not engage with me over the phone, in branch or via e-mail on the subject.
It took a while to get a response, so I sent an e-mail in at one point asking how long it generally takes their complaints department to respond to complaints. As expected, they replied telling me that they couldn't answer that question as, if the e-mail was intercepted, the answer could be used to access my bank account... Why they even have an e-mail service available in the first place when that is all they ever say is beyond me.
Eventually I received a letter in the post stating that they would not be upholding my complaint. No explanation at all. Just one short sentence.
I raised the complaint with Financial Ombudsman, sending in the tracking numbers to prove that I had sent Metro seven letters, all of which they claimed they never received despite signing for them.
The case manager I was assigned explicitly told me that banks do not have to respond to customers letters and Metro were right to ignore the evidence I had sent them. She told me that when it was obvious that e-mails, calls, letters and going to my local branch weren't working, I should have tried another way to contact the bank.
I suppose she expected me to go to their head office and demand that somebody in authority spoke to me there and then? I don't see what other options were available.
She asked me if I was satisfied with her conclusion, or if I wanted an ombudsman to review it. I told her that I wanted her to escalate the matter to an ombudsman as it was crystal clear that she was biased towards Metro Bank. She closed my complaint and marked it as resolved. I only found that out because I called to raise a complaint against her...
I received an e-mail a few days later apologising for the fact that she closed the case when I specifically told her that I wanted an ombudsman involved.
A month later I heard back from an ombudsman. The ombudsman has decided that Metro Bank were correct to not raise a chargeback dispute. The fact that they signed for seven letters and pretended to never have received any of them is apparently completely redundant. According to the ombudsman, Metro couldn't have raised the chargeback as I was not able to provide their T&C in .pdf format and I didn't have a statement from the merchant confirming that they would not be returning my money.
I know from experience with other banks that, when a .pdf of T&C is not available, sending the URL is fine. Likewise, if the company are deliberately ignoring you, a chargeback can still be raised. The merchants get a chance to defend their case and would have had the opportunity to prove that they were in the process of returning my funds (which they aren't).
It seems to me that Financial Ombudsman are working alongside the banks as I don't see how I have fairly lost this dispute
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Comments
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They're really not.
Given how many cases go against the banks (and a few that perhaps shouldn't IMO) I really don't see how you can draw that conclusion.0 -
The FCO most certainly do not work with banks - it is usually as a result of the consumer thinking that they have more rights and recourse than they actually do...
However, your issue above is peculiar and it seems to me that something is amiss. Has the complaint been published on the FOS website, as I can't see anything?0 -
Can't comment on the FOS, it sounds like Metro got off on a technicality. Out of curiosity why didn't you "print" the web page T&C to a .pdf to tick the box?
As for getting your money back if the seller is in the UK you can file a MCOL (Small Claims Court) and chase the money back from them.0 -
Agreed - since the statistics are published at https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/data-insight/business-complaints-data, it's easily seen that 49% of FOS complaints relating to Metro Bank were resolved in the consumer's favour during the most recently-published reporting period.They're really not.
Given how many cases go against the banks (and a few that perhaps shouldn't IMO) I really don't see how you can draw that conclusion.
This is significantly higher than many of their competitors, so even if there was any bias towards the banks (and sub-50% uphold rates certainly can't be taken as conclusive evidence of this, given the ease with which complaints can be referred, regardless of merit) then there is considerably less favour shown to Metro than most others - Nationwide and Coventry are 10% and 5% respectively, for example, and the main high street players are typically in the 20s....
Having said that, I find the level of bureaucracy imposed here by Metro to be puzzling - I made a successful chargeback claim (different bank) last year for services not received and didn't have to produce anything in support of this.0 -
Is this for real? Can you give me the Ombudsman case reference so that I can read it for myself?
If this is true, it was a simple Chargeback for non-receipt of merchandise - end of.0 -
Sounds like there is either another side to this story, or the thread is just bull.
As Terry says, if this is for real give us the Ombudsman case number and we can read their review.0 -
Any chance that the poster RequiredField and the original poster of this thread could be the same poster.0
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