The Financial Ombudsmen Service has revealed figures in its annual report that the number of complaints in the last year has risen by over 44%. The figures show that investment complaints rose by 32%, insurance related complaints were up 40% and banking related complaints up 85%. Almost 25% of all complaints were to do with Endowments.
Our view
Complaints initially are made to the company who offered the advice or service. If you are not happy with the response you have the option to take your case to the ombudsmen. So why are complaints up? We believe that this is probably due to the fact that people are becoming more aware of their rights via columns like these and publications such as Which?
Likewise, providers, because they are receiving more complaints are perhaps have less time to investigate reponses properly, even though they are required to do so. In addition, investment performance has been significantly poor over the last few years and investors are suddenly starting to understand the real nature of risk with investment decisions particularly with endowment related mortgages.