FinancialOmbudsmanService

I have dealt with this bunch of misfits a couple of times, and I have to agree with everyone else, the financial ombudsmen are biased, completely useless, dishonest, and unethical and have no interest in helping the general public at all it seems. Judging by all the feedback from other victims, it certainly seems like the whole thing is a big sham and not fit for purpose.

They ignore irrefutable facts and evidence and side with the financial institution and completely refuse to speak to you, just making up excuses.

I also believe they use fake names as well, with each employee having multiple identities.
When I disagreed with the decision the investigator (Alfred Vincent) referred my case to the ombudsmen (Terry Woodham), yet every time I replied to Terry, it was Alfred who responded to me.
I was never actually able to speak with this Terry person, not once. In the end the excuse I got was that he was out of the office... every single day it seems.

The personal conduct of the staff and telephone manner are without fault. To make that clear first.
As a regulator it's a complete and utter failure, it fails so many AP scam victims.
This is publicly funded and a regulator d that's very worrying

I took a case to them for a friend who was being conned by AXA insurance over a subsidence claim. I provided EVIDENCE to the FoS, they totally ignored it, they came down in favour of the insurers AXA, they then want to publish a report on how good they are which is full of lies and totally inaccurate information. They are a waste of time, I wonder how much the CEO gets paid to run this bunch of know nothing, cant be bothered pen pushers with no idea what they are doing. I suggest go straight to Court and use the reviews on here to support the reason why using them is pointless and wastes your time. They are funded by the very people they investigate, why would you get an HONEST decision? I have written to the Chair Baroness Manzoor, lets see if this lady can instil some honesty and work ethic into them. Perhaps the time has come for the person at the top to be accountable, without a golden handshake! Have they all missed the appalling reviews, it is not a coincidence.

UPDATE 04/03/2024: As suspected, the FoS refuse to re look at the case, this is despite pointing out to them they have ignored the FACTS of the case. The Baroness I communicated with has ALSO ignored everything, so one must assume the lady is just a face on the board who takes remuneration for no input or clout. In order to show the case for what it is, I have been pressing the insurers myself (AXA) and the first work they undertook was literally putting filler in the large cracks that appeared in my friends home, then painting the walls. They also charged him his £1,000 excess (I doubt if the total job of filling the cracks and painting even came to my friends £1,000 excess) They made him replace his drains and guttering at HIS OWN EXPENSE (hard job for a pensioner) some £3,800, they then were done they said. After pushing them and starting Court action, they re looked at the case, they then decided in a 6 page report on the work they would undertake to do the job properly. To show the extent of the work, they are going to have to move him out of the house for at least 16 weeks and put all his possessions into storage, does that demonstrate just how serious the damage was? So, in summing up, the FoS decided that AXA were an excellent insurer, they took no notice whatsoever of the facts of the claim, and they refused to look at their findings, then they want to publish how well they acted for the claimant. They really should be shut down, they do nothing that is worthwhile. They are funded by the people who they are reporting on, how would a reasonable person expect them to be honest and faithful towards the claimant. They all need sacking. Take my advice, just issue a County Court order if you want to get your case heard fairly.

STRAIGHT AWAY = over 8months!
I have had a complaint about the non existant service my letters email and/or phone going on for over 2 years with pensions firm ReAssure. The 1st year thru' my complaint to the Ombudsman I received compensation £150, the 2nd complaint the next year £150, I'm now on my 3rd complaint with the Ombudsman = 3rd time 3rd year, and today after my request/complaint was started on September 20th 2021, 8 months ago the Ombudsman says and I quote 'We're helping a lot of customers at the moment, so I'm sorry we won't be able to reply straight away'. STRAIGHT AWAY = MORE WHENEVER. Below is an example.
Today I eventually after 20 mins got thru' to your so called help by phone.
When asked Fay told me I have been paying 100's of pounds each year to my non existent financial adviser.
She gave me the address as
Smith Consulting Ltd
Shropshire
Telford
It does not exist so I phoned again, holding on for 30 mins, without an answer.
Which leads me to believe you have illegally deducted money from my account for many years. I demand a full refund of all fees taken from my income immediately.
I knew nothing about this until my latest statement arrived. Never before have you notified me of this.
I need an explanation, FAST.
I want the balance transferred quickly with a written explanation.
Also I'm still waiting responses from 2 previous emails.
They are a joke.

I filed a complaint against a financial institution that took money from my account for no reason. The platform was operated by 2 companies. One of them was from UK, the other from Canada. For the EU, all terms and conditions were guided by the company from the UK. After a year or reassignments from one inspector to another and many phone calls, the service finally decided to look on my complaint. So they asked the UK company to explain. The UK company blamed their Canadian business partner that was basicly the same company, which in turn send a PDF file to the service with some terms and conditions made on the fly and nowhere to be found on their website. At the end of that document there was a phrase saying "Signed by: <My Name> ", my IP and my browser id which they collect at every login. The service said that signature was my digital signature and those were in fact the agreed terms and said that I should take my complaint to Canada. If such signatures would actually be valid then I could be the owner of Buckingham Palace. Think twice before you use services offered by UK companies. The only way you can get your money back is in court. I lost $770. That's about the cost of a two way ticked to UK. Unfortunately I can give a minimum of 1 star, but that's way too much for the kind of scams these $#*!s are pulling.

Hi Viewers,

I really don't like making complaints about any establishment but in this occasion l cannot keep quiet. I came to F.O.S or O.B.S as l like to call them as it is a abbreviation of Ombudsman. Anyway l came to them with two issues with two high street Banks that my deceased father banked with and the money what was in my late father accounts was not the amount l have received. So you know when this happens there is a possibility that you know that the Banks are robbing you out of your dead relatives money. Anyway to cut long story short OBS which is not a surprise to many viewers, they were useless in both cases that l complaint about. The first case with the first Bank, there was a few questions l have raised that l wanted to get to the bottom off, but OBS wasn't capable of dealing with those questions, that is why they couldn't come up with professional answers which made sense to solve the problem that l had a issue with regarding this Bank, so they ruled it in favour of this first Bank. Now during this time when dealing with this case with the first Bank they dragged on the case for so long well over six months, till they overlap with the second issue with the second Bank which l had to deal with, within six months period, so when l put my second complaint in, it was a risk l was now taking based on the time period of each case, which the overlapping time period with two cases was not my fault to begin with. Anyway when l mentioned this during my second case, while it was progressing it dragged on for so long, no different then the first case with the first Bank and the case-handler who supposed to be dealing with the second issue with the second Bank did not keep me informed throughout this case based on the feedback of the Establishment l had issue with. So l didn't know what was the second Bank feedback based on this case from month to month and l wanted to know really if this Bank knew about the case l was going through with them through O.B.S, because at this point l was getting concerned as they were dragging this case on much too long and no feedback from O.B.S and the Bank l had a issue with. Because O.B.S should inform there customers of what is happening in each and every case they handling especially after four months since l submitted my case and they were not doing this. Anyway l decided to make a serious complaint based on the appalling service l was receiving from O.B.S and after that l cc copy the email to the second bank l had second issue with on the 7th October 2022. After l sent my complaint to O. B. S within a few hours later, l received a letter from the Director of O.B.S or F.O.S which l never expected and he just fobbed it off to protect O.B.S arse, by using excuses for the delay of my issue. Then just today out of the blue l decided to double check my emails based on O.B.S because it has gone past six months and have not heard any response from them, just so happens l saw a email from them that was posted on the 21st of November 2022 which l did not sincerely see this email on that date, so it obviously been misplaced within my emails from the time they sent out this last email. Anyway when l read the verdict of the case with this second issue with the second Bank they rule again in the favour of this Bank by giving me an excuse for this, by saying l have gone pass the time limit on the case regardless that l mentioned to them months ago during the case, that was not my fault and did said my reasons why. So now two cases of mine with OBS turn out to be a waste of my time because it has produced zero benefits, people F.O.S or OBS l always call them are not worth your time or energy, they are not fit for purpose as far as any customer who has issues with the Banks or any Financial Services or Establishment. Any firm or businesses who rules any cases in favour of any greedy establishment especially like the Banks, that has ripped people off with money, are definitely are in bed with these businessess, they are naturally sleeping partners. They definitely licking each other backsides and OBS is one of those companies. Look at the genuine negative reviews on here and on Google from past to present about OBS and they not even concerned about there reputation of there business, as long as they get there wages or pay check there reputation is second to money. So it just shows what OBS is really all about and where there true priorities are. O.B.S. Or F.O.S. You should be ashamed of yourself, your reputation of services says a lot about you through your customers negative reviews and it shows you won't leave any room for improvement. People if you are reading this comment for the first time and you are planning to use there service now or in the near future, that being said if you can help it, if can truly help it, please avoid OBS or F.O.S as you know them by there fruits (meaning character) by reading these negative reviews, if you do have any problems with any Banking services, please if possible go and take your cases through a proper reputable legal organisation that can handle your case professionally with an actual solicitor or lawyer who take real cases on with financial services that has robbed people out of there money through goods or services, even through deceased customers who are your next of kin or relatives who have left money in the bank that is rightly yours. Because in these situation, justice has to be served. Also people bear this in mind, never trust a bank completely with your money not even with your savings, because they will one day rob you when you least expect it, one way or the other especially through bail ins when your alive or if your deceased or through deceased relatives who are customers of the bank and l am talking from experience and l have evidence to prove it too. Please take your money out of the banks because you cannot trust the banks at all with your money and don't invest too much money in your bank account just small amount or enough for convenience to do online shopping. Keep most of your money or savings at home in a security safe hidden away from preying eyes or do your research on the pros and cons on investing in financial services that is not a bank who won't rip you off in your money especially your savings and won't rip your relatives off in situations to do with bereavement. Banks are a very greedy establishment and you cannot trust them at all with your money or your savings for that matter, because when you have a medium or a large amount of money in the bank they will always think they own your money instead of you the customer, if the economist over the years from the past to the present can warn people on social media how Banks are crooks and thieves in disguise because they steal money from customers, through the ways l have mentioned in my comment and l have experience these type of mis-treatment myself, you must know, what l am talking about. If any banks steal your money especially like your savings for example god help you, if your relying on it because your poor or living on a low income. Because what sort of legal support do you have to get your money back as soon as possible, as you can't rely on companies like F.O.S or O.B.S to support you in this situation regardless of any time period given by them to sort out Financial Cases. So please viewers please take heed to these negative feedback of O.B.S. And my comment on this website so you can avoid disappointments in the coming future like what we have experienced which we have mentioned in our feedback on OBS and the Financial Services we have issues with. As they always say prevention is better than cure. Anyway goodbye for now and happy new year for 2023.

From Miss Maria Allen

Lloyds bank, when I was with them, conned me out of a fraud claim, to which I went to the Financial Ombudsman. Despite all the evidence, that is a BCOBS 5. 1. 11 guideline by the FCA that Lloyds was ignoring, even though Lloyds claim they are regulated by the FCA, the FOS found nothing wrong. They claimed or claim that they find a solution which is fair to both parties. It was not fair to myself though, as I had provided evidence that I had already repeatedly done what Lloyds had asked for, but the FOS just claimed 'do it again'. Did you realise that only 1 out of 4 claims are found in favour of the issuer of the complaint at the FOS, and that they are funded by the Banks through the dealing with complaints on behalf of the banks - the FOS is a cheap way for the banks to deal with a complaint in the banks favour. And why shouldnt it be like this if the shoe was on the other foot and the FOS was given money from taxpayers through the government the onus would be to find in favour of the taxpayer - would it not. A law unto themselves. They operate with impunity. It is their own fiefdom.

I have since discovered that when they are producing a verdict, they not only use what is fair, but they use what is fair in relation to the terms and conditions of the financial company. They also claim they use FCA rules - but there is a problem with that. The FCA rules do not apply to individual account holders. That is if you have a current account with a bank then you are not covered by the FCA. Also the terms and conditions of the bank does not need to include anything about the FCA. This means that should the individual sign up for a current account and the FCA is not included, in the terms and conditions then you as an individual are not covered by the FCA. So how can the FOS use the excuse that they use the FCA rulings in their deliberations; I ask you? Only I suppose, if the terms and conditions include mention of the FCA; if not, then lets move on.

Due to this even I agree that Lloyds have done nothing wrong; at least legally.

I have now have more info after receiving the SAR documentation. I noticed that what Lloyds Bank had provided was scant. Plus there was no mention of listening to the recordings I had made of Lloyds Bank telephone staff. But focusing upon the scant information, made me thinks of three questions to put to the financial ombudsman. The first is do you bother to check that the information given by the financial institution is correct? The second question - do you bother to check the information is complete, and the third question do you check to see if the information supplied has not been 'cherry picked' by the financial institution to influence your decision? I called them this morning and the FOS do not check - period.

Update - As it happens the SAR that was promised by the FOS would answer my questions did not. So I was cheated out of £10.00. I keep contacting them asking questions and now they are stonewalling. I contacted the ICO about this whole situation. The ICO contacted by email the FOS and the FOS responded to the ICO almost simultaneously. But any replies to myself take at least five days to be responded to if I am lucky.

Its quite clear that the recorded conversations I had with Lloyds was not listened to at all by the FOS. The recordings are a vital evidence, so vital that it would determine a decision.

Upon further scrutiny, the FOS have admitted that they ask for information from both sides then select what the FOS think is relevant. In other words, because of this practise they conduct an investigation for themselves - as it turns out just like the ICO do.