We often have a good moan, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t happy when things go our way. From the PPI Judicial Review to more notice on energy price hikes, here’s our round-up of things to celebrate.
I’m not sure if I’m feeling particularly rosy after a week on leave, or if Wills & Kate’s big day is making me feel fuzzy, but I feel a few happy moments have passed us by that haven’t been celebrated sufficiently.
So, for a change, I thought I’d draw attention to the things we’ve got to celebrate…
British Bankers Association lose court case
A particular highlight for me is the outcome of the Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) Judicial Review where the banks lost their case against the FSA. If you weren’t following it closely I’m delighted to summarise – the banks lost and the consumers triumphed!
I appreciate this doesn’t affect everyone (although thousands of consumers have used our free online PPI tool to get their money back) but the result marks real progress in our collective push for fair financial services. I really hope the outcome prevents other unnecessary financial products from creeping their way into the market.
Ash crisis compensation victory
It’s also not often that I come back to work and enjoy wading through my inbox. But I was delighted to come across an email detailing two success stories of individuals who got their money back after claiming for compensation following the ash crisis.
You’d hope this would be a given, but many consumers were left out of pocket and at logger-heads with their insurance provider after the eruption.
The beauty of these cases – one Which? member Clive Tucker the other known just as Ms B – was that the Ombudsman ruled that the ash crisis counted as an ‘adverse weather condition’. Some insurers have tried to argue that the crisis did not count as a weather condition and have rejected some requests for compensation.
Although neither decision creates legally binding precedent, it should give other consumers added incentive to pursue their claims should they want to escalate them with the Financial Services Ombudsman.
30 days notice if energy price rises
And last, but by no means least, Ofgem’s new rule came into effect on 28 April forcing energy suppliers to give customers 30 days notice of price rises. We’ve campaigned for this for years so we’re chuffed this has finally come into effect.
As Harry’s unlikely to mention these in his best man’s speech, I hope you’ll join me in celebrating these victories here. Feel free to add your reasons to celebrate too and I’ll be sure to raise a toast to them this weekend.
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