According to the Financial Ombudsman Service, endowment companies are not dealing with complaints from policyholders correctly.
The head of communications at the Financial Ombudsman Service said he was concerned that too many complaints were getting to them, without being properly investigated by senior management at the endowment companies.
He said that some companies saw the Ombudsman as a cheaper alternative to investigating the complaints themselves.
Our View
The Financial Ombudsman Service is inundated with complaints, but not just about endowment policies. We have noticed that some of the bigger institutions do not investigate complaints properly, sending very standardised letters to complainants.
The specific points raised by claimants are generally not answered. In the endowment companies defence, there are also many complainants just jumping on the bandwagon for the chance of some compensation.
At least one organisation has produced standardardised letters for people to use when complaining. We know that at least one provider rejects the majority of complaint letters received on that standard format.
These people are slowing down the necessary investigations of the genuine complainants.