Banks refusing/ignoring/sidestepping clear requests to register complaints via chat

Ulrich

masonic said:

Ulrich said:

eskbanker said:

WillPS said:
My technique so far has been to open a complaint about the deliberate ignorance of the instruction to open a complaint, but sometimes they then open another 'feedback which you won't hear back about'(!!). I've got one complaint which I've insisted goes before an ombudsman where I had to ask 7 times for a complaint to be opened.

I will update the thread when I hear back from the ombudsman, but the investigator didn't really seem to pick up the ball with this aspect of my complaint (despite me repeatedly pointing back to it) so I'm not too optimistic.

It'll be interesting to see if FOS reject your case as invalid, as there have been previous threads about them doing so on the basis that complaint handling isn't a regulated activity and is therefore outside their remit.

Could you share a link?
If it's true, all banks are free to close all their complaint channels, get rid of their complaints departments (and part of customer service department as well) and stop reporting number of complaints to FCA as there is none?

I've seen a couple of threads here where this was the case, although I probably wouldn't be able to find them again now.

Complaint handling processes are a matter for the FCA and the FOS cannot award punitive damages for non-compliance. They can only award compensation for the overall impact the matter has on the consumer. If the substance of the complaint is that there was a technical breach, then there may be nothing in the complaint the FOS can consider. FOS can flag concerns to the FCA, but this won't influence the outcome of an individual complaint.

Hmm.. still can't wrap my head around - if one complains about the bank limiting their options to complain and the bank refuses to do anything about that, one can still escalate to the FOS but they cannot do anything about it, is that what you're saying? Sounds like Catch 22 then.

eskbanker

Ulrich said:

eskbanker said:

WillPS said:
My technique so far has been to open a complaint about the deliberate ignorance of the instruction to open a complaint, but sometimes they then open another 'feedback which you won't hear back about'(!!). I've got one complaint which I've insisted goes before an ombudsman where I had to ask 7 times for a complaint to be opened.

I will update the thread when I hear back from the ombudsman, but the investigator didn't really seem to pick up the ball with this aspect of my complaint (despite me repeatedly pointing back to it) so I'm not too optimistic.

It'll be interesting to see if FOS reject your case as invalid, as there have been previous threads about them doing so on the basis that complaint handling isn't a regulated activity and is therefore outside their remit.

Could you share a link?
If it's true, all banks are free to close all their complaint channels, get rid of their complaints departments (and part of customer service department as well) and stop reporting number of complaints to FCA as there is none?

No, that's not a valid conclusion - all financial institutions are required to handle complaints, so don't have the leeway to ignore that, but the point is that the legislation defining the role of the FOS specifies that its remit only entails complaints about regulated activities, and complaint handling isn't one of those.

Ulrich

eskbanker said:

Ulrich said:

eskbanker said:

WillPS said:
My technique so far has been to open a complaint about the deliberate ignorance of the instruction to open a complaint, but sometimes they then open another 'feedback which you won't hear back about'(!!). I've got one complaint which I've insisted goes before an ombudsman where I had to ask 7 times for a complaint to be opened.

I will update the thread when I hear back from the ombudsman, but the investigator didn't really seem to pick up the ball with this aspect of my complaint (despite me repeatedly pointing back to it) so I'm not too optimistic.

It'll be interesting to see if FOS reject your case as invalid, as there have been previous threads about them doing so on the basis that complaint handling isn't a regulated activity and is therefore outside their remit.

Could you share a link?
If it's true, all banks are free to close all their complaint channels, get rid of their complaints departments (and part of customer service department as well) and stop reporting number of complaints to FCA as there is none?

No, that's not a valid conclusion - all financial institutions are required to handle complaints, so don't have the leeway to ignore that, but the point is that the legislation defining the role of the FOS specifies that its remit only entails complaints about regulated activities, and complaint handling isn't one of those.

For the sake of this thread then - who regulates complaints handling?
Is it at all possible for mere mortals to report any issues with that and prevent the current trend of drastically reducing customers' ability to complain?

eskbanker

Ulrich said:

eskbanker said:

Ulrich said:

eskbanker said:

WillPS said:
My technique so far has been to open a complaint about the deliberate ignorance of the instruction to open a complaint, but sometimes they then open another 'feedback which you won't hear back about'(!!). I've got one complaint which I've insisted goes before an ombudsman where I had to ask 7 times for a complaint to be opened.

I will update the thread when I hear back from the ombudsman, but the investigator didn't really seem to pick up the ball with this aspect of my complaint (despite me repeatedly pointing back to it) so I'm not too optimistic.

It'll be interesting to see if FOS reject your case as invalid, as there have been previous threads about them doing so on the basis that complaint handling isn't a regulated activity and is therefore outside their remit.

Could you share a link?
If it's true, all banks are free to close all their complaint channels, get rid of their complaints departments (and part of customer service department as well) and stop reporting number of complaints to FCA as there is none?

No, that's not a valid conclusion - all financial institutions are required to handle complaints, so don't have the leeway to ignore that, but the point is that the legislation defining the role of the FOS specifies that its remit only entails complaints about regulated activities, and complaint handling isn't one of those.

For the sake of this thread then - who regulates complaints handling?
Is it at all possible for mere mortals to report any issues with that and prevent the current trend of drastically reducing customers' ability to complain?

The FCA defines which are regulated activities in their handbook, and choose not to include complaint handling within that (thereby taking it out of scope for FOS), but the same handbook also dictates that institutions must handle complaints, so any failure to do so would be a matter for the FCA rather than FOS.

https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/glossary/G974.html

https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/DISP/

Yorkshire_Pud

A strange thing while I was chatting/ messaging Barclays CS was I couldn’t take in process screenshots of it?! Funny that.

I propose a new itv drama Mr Bean versus The Barclays Bankers 

masonic

Ulrich said:

masonic said:

Ulrich said:

eskbanker said:

WillPS said:
My technique so far has been to open a complaint about the deliberate ignorance of the instruction to open a complaint, but sometimes they then open another 'feedback which you won't hear back about'(!!). I've got one complaint which I've insisted goes before an ombudsman where I had to ask 7 times for a complaint to be opened.

I will update the thread when I hear back from the ombudsman, but the investigator didn't really seem to pick up the ball with this aspect of my complaint (despite me repeatedly pointing back to it) so I'm not too optimistic.

It'll be interesting to see if FOS reject your case as invalid, as there have been previous threads about them doing so on the basis that complaint handling isn't a regulated activity and is therefore outside their remit.

Could you share a link?
If it's true, all banks are free to close all their complaint channels, get rid of their complaints departments (and part of customer service department as well) and stop reporting number of complaints to FCA as there is none?

I've seen a couple of threads here where this was the case, although I probably wouldn't be able to find them again now.

Complaint handling processes are a matter for the FCA and the FOS cannot award punitive damages for non-compliance. They can only award compensation for the overall impact the matter has on the consumer. If the substance of the complaint is that there was a technical breach, then there may be nothing in the complaint the FOS can consider. FOS can flag concerns to the FCA, but this won't influence the outcome of an individual complaint.

Hmm.. still can't wrap my head around - if one complains about the bank limiting their options to complain and the bank refuses to do anything about that, one can still escalate to the FOS but they cannot do anything about it, is that what you're saying? Sounds like Catch 22 then.

The FOS is not a regulator so it cannot make the bank set up new complaints channels. If the failure to let you complain through a particular medium hasn't in itself caused you financial loss or distress and inconvenience beyond the frustrations we can all reasonably expect in day to day life, then there wouldn't be any substance to the complaint that they could address.

You would be entitled to ask for the cost of a first class stamp, a couple of sheets of paper and an envelope to be added on to your compensation for whatever it is you are complaining about, but the necessity of incurring these costs to put your complaint to Barclays isn't itself a complaint the FOS can hear.

As I mentioned earlier in the thread (I think), whether or not Barclays accepts you have complained by expressing a dissatisfaction through an electronic medium, you have made a complaint and could escalate it if it isn't addressed within 8 weeks.

masonic

Yorkshire_Pud said:

A strange thing while I was chatting/ messaging Barclays CS was I couldn’t take in process screenshots of it?! Funny that.

I propose a new itv drama Mr Bean versus The Barclays Bankers (substituting the

Screenshots are often blocked within banking apps for security reasons, but a picture can be taken of the screen using another device.

eskbanker

Ulrich said:

eskbanker said:

It'll be interesting to see if FOS reject your case as invalid, as there have been previous threads about them doing so on the basis that complaint handling isn't a regulated activity and is therefore outside their remit.

Could you share a link?

masonic said:
I've seen a couple of threads here where this was the case, although I probably wouldn't be able to find them again now.

Found some!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6394462/fos-remit-excludes-complaint-handling
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6409670/whats-the-point-of-a-complaints-procedure-if
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6379932/shock-at-fin-ombudsman-decision
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79209846/#Comment_79209846

Ulrich

masonic said:

Ulrich said:

masonic said:

Ulrich said:

eskbanker said:

WillPS said:
My technique so far has been to open a complaint about the deliberate ignorance of the instruction to open a complaint, but sometimes they then open another 'feedback which you won't hear back about'(!!). I've got one complaint which I've insisted goes before an ombudsman where I had to ask 7 times for a complaint to be opened.

I will update the thread when I hear back from the ombudsman, but the investigator didn't really seem to pick up the ball with this aspect of my complaint (despite me repeatedly pointing back to it) so I'm not too optimistic.

It'll be interesting to see if FOS reject your case as invalid, as there have been previous threads about them doing so on the basis that complaint handling isn't a regulated activity and is therefore outside their remit.

Could you share a link?
If it's true, all banks are free to close all their complaint channels, get rid of their complaints departments (and part of customer service department as well) and stop reporting number of complaints to FCA as there is none?

I've seen a couple of threads here where this was the case, although I probably wouldn't be able to find them again now.

Complaint handling processes are a matter for the FCA and the FOS cannot award punitive damages for non-compliance. They can only award compensation for the overall impact the matter has on the consumer. If the substance of the complaint is that there was a technical breach, then there may be nothing in the complaint the FOS can consider. FOS can flag concerns to the FCA, but this won't influence the outcome of an individual complaint.

Hmm.. still can't wrap my head around - if one complains about the bank limiting their options to complain and the bank refuses to do anything about that, one can still escalate to the FOS but they cannot do anything about it, is that what you're saying? Sounds like Catch 22 then.

The FOS is not a regulator so it cannot make the bank set up new complaints channels. If the failure to let you complain through a particular medium hasn't in itself caused you financial loss or distress and inconvenience beyond the frustrations we can all reasonably expect in day to day life, then there wouldn't be any substance to the complaint that they could address.

You would be entitled to ask for the cost of a first class stamp, a couple of sheets of paper and an envelope to be added on to your compensation for whatever it is you are complaining about, but the necessity of incurring these costs to put your complaint to Barclays isn't itself a complaint the FOS can hear.

As I mentioned earlier in the thread (I think), whether or not Barclays accepts you have complained by expressing a dissatisfaction through an electronic medium, you have made a complaint and could escalate it if it isn't addressed within 8 weeks.

Sounds like anything that didn't cause me financial loss or serious distress can be ignored by the bank in a hope I won't escalate after 8 weeks.

Ulrich

eskbanker said:

Ulrich said:

eskbanker said:

Ulrich said:

eskbanker said:

WillPS said:
My technique so far has been to open a complaint about the deliberate ignorance of the instruction to open a complaint, but sometimes they then open another 'feedback which you won't hear back about'(!!). I've got one complaint which I've insisted goes before an ombudsman where I had to ask 7 times for a complaint to be opened.

I will update the thread when I hear back from the ombudsman, but the investigator didn't really seem to pick up the ball with this aspect of my complaint (despite me repeatedly pointing back to it) so I'm not too optimistic.

It'll be interesting to see if FOS reject your case as invalid, as there have been previous threads about them doing so on the basis that complaint handling isn't a regulated activity and is therefore outside their remit.

Could you share a link?
If it's true, all banks are free to close all their complaint channels, get rid of their complaints departments (and part of customer service department as well) and stop reporting number of complaints to FCA as there is none?

No, that's not a valid conclusion - all financial institutions are required to handle complaints, so don't have the leeway to ignore that, but the point is that the legislation defining the role of the FOS specifies that its remit only entails complaints about regulated activities, and complaint handling isn't one of those.

For the sake of this thread then - who regulates complaints handling?
Is it at all possible for mere mortals to report any issues with that and prevent the current trend of drastically reducing customers' ability to complain?

The FCA defines which are regulated activities in their handbook, and choose not to include complaint handling within that (thereby taking it out of scope for FOS), but the same handbook also dictates that institutions must handle complaints, so any failure to do so would be a matter for the FCA rather than FOS.

https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/glossary/G974.html

https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/DISP/

The thing is mere mortals cannot complain to FCA, they should use FOS.
Yes, the FCA handbook dictates how institutions must handle complaints but at the same time that is out of FOS scope.
Apparently FOS can "flag" to FCA institutions that do not follow the letter of their handbook BUT the only way to learn about that for FOS is from unresolved complaints.
The only way to achieve that stage is with an unresolved that is related to a regulated activity AND is aggravated by the way the institution handled the complaint.
Is that it?
I'm not an expert but don't see any other way how FCA would learn that they handbook's rules are being broken.