Dispute Resolution Ombudsman

zjoliveira

Who holds ombudsmen accountable or is responsible for investigating complaints against the Ombudsman itself?
I submitted a complaint to the Dispute Resolution Ombudsman and the resolution that they provided, after many months, did not uphold my complaint but their reason completely contradicted their outcome. I then reported this to the Ombudsman and they assigned a more senior person to look at my case. The website says that this takes 15 working days. I have emailed this second person four times to get a likely timeline for the resolution and it has been radio silence since then.
I cannot wait on this forever. The dispute has been submitted for their consideration in February 2023 and they missed their deadline to investigate a complaint against themselves.
Is there another body that I can go to who will enforce something on the Ombudsman, seeing that it is clear that they cannot do their job properly?

DullGreyGuy

Have you followed the process for complaints to them?

https://www.disputeresolutionombudsman.org/faqs/for-consumers/how-do-i-complain-about-the-dispute-resolution-ombudsmans-service-1 

As per the Ombudsman Association (https://www.ombudsmanassociation.org/what-ombudsman) who overseas an ombudsman can vary depending on their origins but the association doesn't offer direct support. From memory Trading Standards or its Chartered Institute has some role in policing the wider ADR community.

They were setup by the OFT so that may be a route however it may also depend on which scheme your complaint was under 

zjoliveira

DullGreyGuy said:

Have you followed the process for complaints to them?

https://www.disputeresolutionombudsman.org/faqs/for-consumers/how-do-i-complain-about-the-dispute-resolution-ombudsmans-service-1 

As per the Ombudsman Association (https://www.ombudsmanassociation.org/what-ombudsman) who overseas an ombudsman can vary depending on their origins but the association doesn't offer direct support. From memory Trading Standards or its Chartered Institute has some role in policing the wider ADR community.

They were setup by the OFT so that may be a route however it may also depend on which scheme your complaint was under 

I tried to complain internally and they said they would investigate but haven't heard back in months, despite many emails to chase.

finnmurph

Hi,

The ombudsman is approved by Chartered Trading Standards Institute. I've found the ombudsman providers are very slow and often lack some of the knowledge needed, when you read their responses. 

There are other providers listed on the Trading Standards website. Its all voluntary so you can ask another provider. Not sure what your complaint is about but we had an issue with the ombudsman and asked the company we were complaining to, to consider another provider (which they did as I think they too were frustrated). It was a home improvement project and we end up using a company called Dispute Assist (www.dispute-assist.co.uk). I think we had our outcome within a week! 

Best of luck 

F

ElaniArtin

This is a thread I wish I had found last month!

It's bookmarked.