It said: “We have unfortunately been receiving increased numbers of complaints which has significantly impacted the length of time to respond to clients.
“Our aim is to treat all our clients fairly, and we are putting processes in place to maximise the number of complaints that we can investigate, without jeopardising the quality of the investigation.
“Unfortunately, this takes a little time. I appreciate that this is frustrating for you, but we are doing everything we can to work through our volumes as much as possible, including large scale recruitment and training.”
Most recently, Mr C received another email on August 20, where SJP said it was still experiencing high volumes of complaints.
“We will endeavour to respond to you within the next four weeks, however if this is not possible we will contact you again with an update,” it added.
SJP’s response
Mr C had attempted to contact his adviser in relation to the complaint, who forwarded his email to the client liaison team.
In the email, the adviser also pasted a link to an SJP article titled ‘Understanding our commitment to ongoing servicing’, which he hoped would answer some of Mr C’s questions.
A spokesperson for SJP said: “As has been reported previously, we saw an increase in the number of complaints received, beginning of last year, and we’re doing everything we can to work through these as quickly as possible.
"By putting in place processes like training and increased recruitment to maximise the number we can complete without jeopardising the quality of the investigation. We apologise for any delays clients may experience during that time.”
In terms of its refund programme aimed at refunding clients for historical ongoing servicing claims, the spokesperson said SJP has started contacting clients to establish any refunds due.
“The planning phase is now well underway, however an initiative of this size and complexity will typically take time to complete.
"We are keen to deliver the right outcome for clients as soon as possible and we must also apply the necessary attention to detail.
"Clients do not need to take any action – we will be contacting all impacted clients to establish any refunds due to them as we complete a thorough review of our central records going back to 2018.” they added.
alina.khan@ft.com
