Want to make a financial complaint? FOS, FCA, OFT, MoJ? Argh!

Until the regulation is changed from the Hampton principles, it matters not one jot what a regulator is called, which areas they cover, etc.
If a regulator or enforcement body’s actions are deemed to be of detriment to the business, they will not act, as by law they have to consider the “economic needs of the business” before they can act in the interests of the consumer.

As things stand (and have stood for a long time), the oxymoron of regulators having to consider “consumer protection” vs “market confidence” has made a mockery of any chance of a legitimate hearing for a legitimate complaint. Market confidence wins hands down every time and this has allowed serious irregularities, not to mention criminal activity, to go unchecked and unpunished repeatedly.

The myth that retaining market confidence will improve the economy, has a lot to answer for as it has merely allowed a lot of naked Emperors to parade about and pontificate while feathering their nests and destroying the social structure of the country. And all the horror stories of how our financial sector was really running amok, are now coming out anyway. For example the stunning report the FSA released about HBOS last week. But why has it taken so long for the regulators to come clean about what was happening in the banks? The answers can only be a) the regulation was inadequate and negligent b) the banks have been able to lie with impunity to the regulator or c) Government restraints on the regulators to protect their own interests have meant any regulation of real significance was curtailed and reduced until it became as effectual as a limp lettuce leaf. I suspect it’s a bit of all three scenarios. And I can’t see that moving the chairs around on the Titanic is going to change that – what ever new acronym we have.

From experience personally encountered as to an ombudsman
service adverse decision -argh!- shall now go straight to the
law every time but make sure have a strong legal case.
BTW that same case I lost shall now go to the
Court that shd have been done in the first place and what a
complete waste of time I’d suffered!

Anything the subject of a (serious) dispute is best dealt with by
a court of law and don’t settle for anything less like mediation.

Best to get a definitive decision in the first place in Court
subject to a possible appeal thereafter.

It is not only redress via an enforcement body that is failing, regulation or lack of, is causing “Rip off Britain” syndrome.
One look at the ONS figures on energy prices for the consumer, shows clearly that the Hampton report is published and accepted in full by the then government coincides with consumer bills shooting up and continuing to do so, confusing billing practices, etc.

What disturbs me more is that there tends to be a closed shop as regards regulators and enforcement bodies.
They will happily answer a business question, yet when a consumer asks a basic, non business sensitive question, they meet the request with ignorance.
What are regulators afraid of?

Look at the which? case with orange over their contracts – try asking OFCOM if orange continue to have a “compliant” status with the regulator – no answer.
Ironically, I don’t think the public have ever had a greater chance to have their say, yet are listened to/answered the least.
It is only going to get worse, with October 2011 white paper looking at ways for business openings being found within government departments and the information they have about all of us.

As regards the Financial Ombudsman Service – The FSA state cases should not be judged “with hindsight” (RBS failure report) but the FOS are openly using hindsight to explain bizarre judgements in favour of business.
The FSA have worded the HBOS and RBS report findings very differently, RBS report clearly shows that the “risk based assessment” approach failed completely and was deemed to be “flawed”
The HBOS report makes no mention of it.

Until government gets a grip of the problem, which will take a monumental effort to get them to open their eyes and see what’s happening in the real world, nothing about regulation/enforcement will change.
The only sensible option will be, as has been said, to take the matter to small claims and bypass government mediation. This will not help anyone as regards the damage being done through lack of regulation and ever increasing prices.

In Feb this year I won what is being discribed as a landmark ruling through the FOS which has resulted in becoming one of the hottest debates in the insurance industry. I fought for nearly three years winning 3 FOS decisions but my insurance company either ignored their advice or appealed. It took three attempts to get in a position where the company could not appeal and to be honest I have no complaints with the FOS. My complaint is the hoops you have to jump through to get to the point where you can complain because the insurer passes your information between departments delaying you getting answers. I would always suggest you have all the information you need before going to the FOS as in my case when I made my first complaint with the FOS the information held by my insurer was incorrect.

It took my nearly a year to get the correct information from the three hospitals and when I presented this to the FOS I was then told this information could not be used as it was not available to my insurer when turning down my claim but the FOS advised my insurer to look at my case again. As I was very ill during my second FOS claim I was advised that they could fast track my case which they did twice. Overall a stressful experience as I was no expert in how to get the information and what was best to give the FOS but they did keep me informed and were very understanding.