Time limit on complaining to Financial Ombudsman

DoctorJohn

I submitted a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman (FO) on 22/10/2022 relating the refusal of Aviva Insurance to meet a household insurance claim made on 20/11/21. This followed fruitless complaints to Aviva and their alleged Final Response of January 2022.

The FO says it will not consider the matter because my complaint was made 10 months after the final response from Aviva - which will not agree to extend the period. (The delay was due to the fact it was not made clear by Aviva that it was their final response.)

On Money Show Live broadcast on 20/2/24, Martin Lewis said that the time limit for complaining to the FO was 15 months, not 6 months as the FO has claimed.  Does anyone know if this extended period of 15 months apply to all complaints or just PPI complaints. I was not clear on this.

MattMattMattUK

DoctorJohn said:

I submitted a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman (FO) on 22/10/2022 relating the refusal of Aviva Insurance to meet a household insurance claim made on 20/11/21. This followed fruitless complaints to Aviva and their alleged Final Response of January 2022.

The FO says it will not consider the matter because my complaint was made 10 months after the final response from Aviva - which will not agree to extend the period. (The delay was due to the fact it was not made clear by Aviva that it was their final response.)

On Money Show Live broadcast on 20/2/24, Martin Lewis said that the time limit for complaining to the FO was 15 months, not 6 months as the FO has claimed.  Does anyone know if this extended period of 15 months apply to all complaints or just PPI complaints. I was not clear on this.

The time limit is six months, the 15 month limit only applies in to car finance. 

After you’ve complained to the business and you’ve received the business’s final response, you have six months from the date on the final response to refer your complaint to us.

For certain complaints relating to car finance, you may have up to 15 months from the date of the final response to bring your complaint to us.  

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/expect/time-limits#:~:text=You usually need to complain,you had cause to complain.

Annemos

If they give you a final response, do they HAVE to give you information about going to the Ombudsman if you are not happy? 

Please see the part lower down on Final Response here. Did they do all that? 


https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/businesses/resolving-complaint/before-get-involved

DullGreyGuy

Annemos said:

If they give you a final response, do they HAVE to give you information about going to the Ombudsman if you are not happy? 

Please see the part lower down on Final Response here. Did they do all that? 

Sounds like they did but the OP continued to argue with Aviva rather than following the instruction to go to the Ombudsman if you weren't happy.

Normally in these circumstances where the OP didnt know the date of the final response they've put some later date on the form, Aviva have been asked for their file inc the final response letter which the ombudsman has reviewed confirmed it was correctly formed and determined its time barred.