Poor administration and customer service continue to be the biggest areas of complaint following the introduction of the consumer duty, according to Abby Thomas, chief executive of the Financial Ombudsman Service.
In a speech at the FCA on the anniversary of the consumer duty, Thomas discussed the impact the regulation has had on firms.
She said: “We now regularly receive complaints about things that have happened since the duty’s been in force.
“Regulatory rules are one of our considerations in deciding cases, and the requirements of the duty have had an impact on our assessment of what's fair and reasonable in the individual circumstances of each case.”
Thomas explained how the Fos has received complaints from consumers about the information they have received from firms which wasn’t clear, caused confusion or came at the wrong time.
“Overall, poor administration and customer service continues to be one of the biggest areas of complaint. This could be about poor service, lack of timely support, or broken promises,” she added.
Thomas also highlighted the ombudsman has continued to see complaints where customers have said a firm hasn’t considered or met their individual needs.
She said: “Firms can't immediately always make the adjustment the consumer has originally asked for. But in the best examples we see, of which there are also many, rather than focusing on what the firm can't do and trying to justify it, those firms focus on finding a solution to help the customer.
“The way a firm responds to when a customer asks for an adjustment or additional support is critical in making sure they don't face unreasonable barriers to communicating about or accessing a product or service.”
However, Thomas said the Fos still saw cases where firms were more focused on closing the complaint than supporting the customer or understanding the origin of the issue.
Panel discussion
Thomas also took part in a panel discussion discussing the impacts of the duty where she revealed, at the moment, the Fos was more likely to rule in favour of a business rather than the consumer, when resolving disputes.
She said: “That is more likely to be the case because we do see great examples of businesses that have sat down and thought, what is the end to end journey for this customer?
“How does it feel to learn about the product or service, to be onboarded, to start using those products or services, and then to make any of the changes they might wish to make, to renew, to upgrade, to transfer, to use the product to its full extent.
“So sitting down and mapping out that customer journey, and really trying not just to look at a picture on a powerpoint slide, but match that analysis with your real life experiences.”
Thomas also confirmed the Fos was keeping an eye out for price and fair value complaints.
“When customers talk about value, they're not necessarily talking about the sticker price. They are really talking about, did I get the service I was expecting? Did I understand what I'd really bought in the first place? There's such an important role there for good consumer understanding,” she added.
