Breakdown

luckybert

So I broke down twice in the space of a week on both occasions I rang my breakdown company who failed to come out on both occasions, I complained to them, they sent a resolution by email, I've complained to the financial ombundsman and because I've complained they have now issued a claim against me and have retracted their compensation offer (which was to waive the callout fee for the breakdown person who never reached me as I 've fixed the problem myself and no longer required their help) In my eyes I've fixed the problem and saved them a job but in their eyes I had called them out unnecessarily. Their email to me says if I'm not happy to contact the FO (who are investigating) and now it seems I'm being punished for doing so!

Alderbank

What are the dates when the breakdowns occurred?
What was the nature of the breakdowns?

There are lots of breakdown services, all different.
What are the specific T&Cs of the service you bought?

saajan_12

luckybert said:

So I broke down twice in the space of a week on both occasions I rang my breakdown company who failed to come out on both occasions, - what exactly does this mean.. did they say they it wasn't covered, or covered but couldn't come out at all, or just had a longer wait than you were prepared to wait? 
I complained to them, they sent a resolution by email, - what was the resolution (just waiving the callout fee, or any further compensation / discount to premiums?) 
I've complained to the financial ombundsman and because I've complained they have now issued a claim against me and have retracted their compensation offer - well offer retracted is par for course really.. they would have made that to settle things, but if you disagree then you can escalate to get the FO to decide. You wouldn't get to keep the free option of picking which gives you the better outcome though. 
What do you mean by 'claim' - just for the callout fee? 
(which was to waive the callout fee for the breakdown person who never reached me as I 've fixed the problem myself and no longer required their help) In my eyes I've fixed the problem and saved them a job but in their eyes I had called them out unnecessarily. - well failed to come entirely is different to agreed + started to come out and then you cancelled.. what actually happened? 
Their email to me says if I'm not happy to contact the FO (who are investigating) and now it seems I'm being punished for doing so! - punished how.. you didn't have the compensation, that was an offer to settle the matter there. If you're not happy with that then you can complain INSTEAD, not as well. 

Comments in line.. I think would be good to lay out what actually happened. Did they refuse / fail to come out entirely, or did you just beat them to it? The latter isn't necessarily their fault and they may have incurred costs in starting to come out, unless they had a ridiculously long wait time.. 

The resolution offer is usually to close the matter, but if you're referring it to a complaint then the FO would decide what resolution is due, starting from scratch not the insurer's offer. You're not being punished ie losing something as you never had the waived fee in the first place.. that was just an offer whihc you said you weren't happy with. 

tightauldgit

Normally you refer to the ombudsman once you've been through the complaint process and not got the resolution you want. Yes if you refer it then it would be standard practice I think to withdraw any goodwill or settlement offer. 

Again it's not clear what actually happened. You said you fixed the car before they arrived so not really the case that they failed to show. Did you tell them you fixed it and they were no longer needed?

I've waited 5 hours with my car blocking the road before to get a tow. It's not the case that a breakdown van is going to get to you in 20 minutes if you're a non-emergency. A couple of hours seems about standard. 

born_again

luckybert said:

So I broke down twice in the space of a week on both occasions I rang my breakdown company who failed to come out on both occasions, I complained to them, they sent a resolution by email, I've complained to the financial ombundsman and because I've complained they have now issued a claim against me and have retracted their compensation offer (which was to waive the callout fee for the breakdown person who never reached me as I 've fixed the problem myself and no longer required their help) In my eyes I've fixed the problem and saved them a job but in their eyes I had called them out unnecessarily. Their email to me says if I'm not happy to contact the FO (who are investigating) and now it seems I'm being punished for doing so!

Contacting FOS, means YOU HAVE rejected their offer. NOT that they are punishing you.

You could have said to them the amount offered was not enough, but now it is in the hands of FOS & they will decide. So you could get more, the same, or less.

luckybert

Lots to answer so I'll start with the questions from the top in order.

Breakdowns occurred in same week in March.
First breakdown, I initially couldn't get wheel off to put spare on whilst on the hard shoulder, second was smoke coming out of my bonnett, which (call me old fashioned) didn't feel safe to drive.
T&C's stated I would be charged for a call out if it's cancelled - it's a pity I don't have T&C's saying if I save them the job then I'll charge them.

Them failing to come out - the first call came after I left as I was trying to get to work (I can't prove he did or didn't turn up, but I never saw him). Yes I fixed the problem and left before the bloke arrived and yes I rang them for the upteenth time that morning and told them this. Apparently the breakdown recovery was 40 minutes away but when I rang to say I had fixed the issue this reduced to 10 minutes. The second occasion they refused to come out as the car (with the smoke coming out was 'mobile'). Both occasions the customer service was dreadful.
The resolution offered to me was to waive the fee yes.
The fact is I was offered a resolution by email which states if I'm not happy I can complain to the FO, which I've done. They seem to have not liked the fact I've done this and now have raised this call against me.It's almost like they have forgotten that they gave me the option to complain!
I coul dhave said the offer was not enough but having had a chat over the phone is was obvious to me that they had offered the best they could so all I am doing is exercising my right to take it further.

born_again

FCA regulations state on any reply to a complaint, has to have instructions of what you can do if not happy.

So, sadly by not going back to them, with a counter offer. You could have shot yourself in the foot. They have done exactly the same as any other co will do when customer goes to FOS. Any offer is withdrawn & they will wait to see what FOS decide.
Expect a wait of at least a couple of months now.

No company gives their best offer in the 1st reply, they offer what they feel they can get away with.
Perhaps go back to them & see if they will up the offer if you withdraw the action with FOS.

luckybert

I don't feel I have shot myself in the foot. It's THEY that haven't followed the process by not waiting for the investigation to be completed, not have they followed up with me to see if I was happy with the resolution and still haven't replied with copies of telephone conversations to the FO. I'd like to see them held accountable for all of this.

born_again

luckybert said:

I don't feel I have shot myself in the foot. It's THEY that haven't followed the process by not waiting for the investigation to be completed, not have they followed up with me to see if I was happy with the resolution and still haven't replied with copies of telephone conversations to the FO. I'd like to see them held accountable for all of this.

They made you a offer. What investigation is there left for them to do?

Sorry, They sent a offer, you did not respond to them on the offer, which is what people do. Instead you went straight to FOS. What follow up could they do, as you did not give them chance.

They will be waiting for FOS to contact them, with what they want. Phone conversations will have to be transcribed. Not something that is done straight away. Can take a while to do, depending on many factors.

As I said these complaints can take months to be resolved.

You have made no mention of how long you had to wait for them to get to you when you broke down. Before fixing the issues yourself.

Not sure what you want them to be held accountable for? As I'm afraid your actions (no offence) have caused most of the issues.

Aylesbury_Duck

I agree with the above.  If you were after a speedy resolution, then going straight to the FOS has meant you've shot yourself in the foot.  All you can do now is await the FOS outcome and hope it's satisfactory (and better, not worse than, what you were originally offered, because that offer has gone.)