FSO complaint

montzarella

I made a complaint to my bank and am not happy with their response. The lady that responded to my complaint did not address the issues I raised at all. She also states towards the end of her response:

"if you remain dissatisfied with the banks response, you may take this letter as the banks final response for referral to the FSO for investigation. Please note that you have 15 days from the date of this letter to refer the matter to the FSO for investigation".

I mentioned the ombudsman in earlier correspondence to them when I had waited over 6 weeks for a response from them, i stated that if they did not respond i would be making a complaint to the FSO. They did respond to me after that and there was further correspondence between us after this, neither i nor they mentioned the ombudsman after this.

My question relates to the 15 day time limit that they have stated. I understood that if I referred the complaint to the FSO and then the bank responded with their final response letter, that I had 15 days to refer the final response letter to the ombudsman.

I dont think their 15 day limit is correct as i had not requested a final response from the bank at any stage?

It is over the 15 day mark imposed by the bank and i do want to proceed to refer the complaint to the FSO. is my understanding correct? or are they?

pauld

When you make a complaint to the FSO, they will not accept it as a complaint until such time as you have obtained a finaal response from the company you are complaining about.

In this case, the bank has furnished you with their final response meaning when you contact the FSO and show them the final response letter, they will accept jursidiction for your complaint, investigate and adjudicate on your complaint.

The relevance of you asking or not asking for a final response only relates to as whether or not the FSo will accept you complaint.

Re timeframes, if you have a valid reason for the delay beyond 15 days I would assume in the interest of fairness the FSO will acccept jursidiction.

Ring them today!

montzarella

ok, I think I will plough ahead and make the complaint to the FSO, I will explain to them the reason for the delay and hope that they proceed with an investigation. I am appalled at what the bank consider a final response letter, they did not answer my questions at all.

Anyway, off to the FSO for me.

pauld

hopefully the FSO will share your views. Just to advise, the FSO has a significant workload so it could be mid year next year before you obtain a final decision.

Best of Luck with it!

montzarella

yeah, I know it takes a while with them, but its already been going on months already and I am absolutely in this for the long haul. just want a decent response from the buggers.