Ombudsman taking 18 months
irisheyes153
Forumite 30 Posts
in Loans
I have been fighting v12 retail finance for the last 2 years, based on wrong information, false reports on my credit file and changing my payment plan without telling me. I complained to the Ombudsman in December 2019, they never acknowledged the complaint till May 2020 and I'm still waiting for a resolution today.
Each time I contact them, its "we are waiting for the Ombudsman to investigate".
They have blamed the pandemic, even though the complaint was made before it started, and by rights should have been solved by then, said that the pandemic had nothing to do with it but there was a backlog, and said that the complaint was made 6 months later than it was... They backed down when I read the email saying "we received your complaint etc" in December 19.
I have contacted the independent assessor who won't touch it till it's resolved, and my MP who says it's disgraceful and to speak with the assessor.
Is there anyway to get this resolved as the company is adversely affecting my credit rating and ignoring complaints saying "speak to the Ombudsman".
I don't know what to do.
Each time I contact them, its "we are waiting for the Ombudsman to investigate".
They have blamed the pandemic, even though the complaint was made before it started, and by rights should have been solved by then, said that the pandemic had nothing to do with it but there was a backlog, and said that the complaint was made 6 months later than it was... They backed down when I read the email saying "we received your complaint etc" in December 19.
I have contacted the independent assessor who won't touch it till it's resolved, and my MP who says it's disgraceful and to speak with the assessor.
Is there anyway to get this resolved as the company is adversely affecting my credit rating and ignoring complaints saying "speak to the Ombudsman".
I don't know what to do.
"Always remember, I'm just the other side of the rainbow, or just north of the north star. Whichever is closest." AJM 17/03/75-16/03/97
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1 told me that if I cancelled my direct debit I would never receive late payment fees or receive calls - late fees applied and charged for not having a DD.
2 declined a. £15 per week payment plan for a £12 a week bill, based on the agent stating I would be paying £15 a month, but never told me
Reported no payments on the account for 6 months, despite the fact that they got £15 per week.
Cancelled the payment plan in January without consent or consulting me, then reporting late payments on my credit report based on a monthly payment.. That i have been over paying for the last 9 months.
Admitting I have been misinformed several times, but not upholding complaints about the misinformation due to "no evidence".
Not upholding complaints due to listening to calls made 4 weeks before the incident, admitting this bit refusing to investigate as they have issued a "final response". About the wrong day.
Calling me twice a day, for 7 days, to tell me they would be requesting payment that Friday, plus sending me texts and emails demanding that I called them to discuss the payment, starting 2 hours after the payment was due (they told me it would be due on the 1st of each month, but actually claimed payment on the 16th without telling me - at which point I was told to cancel the dd and make ad hoc payments. It took them 8 months to tell me I could pay weekly).
They admit I'm paying more than contracted, and I have chosen to do this so it gets paid off quicker, but they reported I hadn't made any payments for 6 months due to recording my payment plan as £15 a month rather than per week.
There are two ranks, though oddly three job titles, within the ombudsman for dealing with complaints. The first decision is made by a investigator or adjudicator and the majority of complaints stop here. If either party object to the decision then the matter is passed up to an ombudsman. These guys given a formal report that is published and their decision is binding on the financial institute.
So if you look at https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/files/298003/DRN-2318848.pdf which seems similar to your and it states "Mrs A didn’t accept the view put forward by our investigator, so this complaint was escalated to an ombudsman for a final decision."
Does that mean you already had a decision from the first rank?
Contractual amounts are what you were supposed to pay when you originally took the loan out. People are trying to check if you failed to stick to the original agreement.
It seems that you did, yet are complaining that this has been recorded.
EDIT due to typing 2019 instead of 2020
They reported I paid NOTHING, which is incorrect. If I hadn't made any payments, fair play.
They also recorded that I had offered £15 a MONTH, which was incorrect and they have admitted that on listening to a call I did say £15 a week as I will pay the bill off quicker. They won't correct that entry though, even though they admit it's wrong.
Correct me if I am wrong, reporting £0 received for 6 months, when you have actually received £15 a week for that 6 month period is false reporting on a credit rating and I have a right to complain, especially if I was told the payment plan had been set up and it hadn't due to their own clerical error.
It took 6 months for me to find out that they had done it, the payments were going out of my account and in to theirs so I had no reason to doubt them.
They then cancelled my payment plan without telling me, then blamed me for not knowing and reported my account was in arrears when in fact I'm in advance due to making higher payments than they have asked for!
They have admitted that they have to legally advise me if they change the payment frequency, but never did. They have no idea why they cancelled the payment plan, but they won't update my credit rating to show that I have actually been paying my bills (as prior agreed by V12).
All the while, I'm sitting here waiting on an ombudsman getting back to me after 18 months.
For expectation management, the Ombudsmen uphold the Investigators decisions over 90% of the time
Literally he said "Oh, I had a look at the volumes of calls, they are a little excessive but I don't see a problem."
I queried about the customer service concerns that were in the same complaint and he said "Oh, I didn't see that. I can't investigate them now, I have concluded my investigation." So I requested the Ombudsman look in to it, especially as he admitted the volume of calls to me was excessive.