In 2019, the Channel 4 investigative program Dispatches sent undercover reporters into the FOS to discover what happened behind the government-appointed Alternative Dispute Resolution service.

The service was set up primarily to safeguard consumers against the malpractices of financial and insurance institutions. It would be fair to say that UK banks over the past twenty years have proven themselves untrustworthy and have treated their customers appallingly whilst profiteering from mis-selling financial products and services unfit for purpose.

The idea of a free to consumer service to redress the balance between financial institutions and its customers is a valuable service. However, over time, the FOS has proven unreliable and untrustworthy and is often accused of bias and being unfit for purpose.

The 2019 expose of the FOS operation was a damning indictment of their service and called into question how effective their work as a fair and impartial arbitrator they are. The short video clip below is taken from the 2019 Dispatches and it demonstrates how the service operates with complaint Investigators who are inexperienced and poorly trained in the important work they undertake.

Lack of training

Dispatches sent an undercover reporter to work as trainee investigator, her job was to resolve disputes in favour of either the company or the customer.

She was placed on a recently introduced training course, where instructors told her that, whilst some staff have financial backgrounds, others do not have the knowledge to deal with complex financial problems:

Discussion between Mentor and Trainee Investigator

Mentor: “Some people have been thrown in with no training at all.”

Trainer: “There were people there who had no idea, no idea about any products, anything, anything about complaints at all.”

Staff admit to the reporter they’ve not had enough training, including an investigator she is shadowing, who says, “even after 18 months in the service, she sometimes doesn’t know what she’s doing”

“Been doing this a year and a half…went to my first investment training session yesterday and was saying to the girl who was running it, even now I look at an investment case and I don’t know what to ask for.”

“… Sometimes, I’ve not even heard of the products. I have to Google what it is first.”

Watch a video clip from Channel 4 Dispatches below

While the video clip was from 2019, the FOS still produces perverse and unfair outcomes for consumers entrusting their claims to them. When things go wrong, the FOS are the last bastion of recourse for the consumer to receive justice for any financial alternative to their complaints. The consensus is that the FOS are biased toward the financial institutions, often finding that the banks have done nothing wrong. Yet, the banks have been proven to be mistreating consumers more often than not.

Another frustrating feature of the FOS service is the unprecedented delays in resolving cases put them. In interviews before the Treasury Select Committee, which is responsible for the FOS and how it operates, it can be seen that a reoccurring theme is their questioning about the delays, backlogs, and communication between themselves and consumers. The FOS’s stock answer appears to be that things are ‘getting better’ and all is going to plan, but they are blighted with massive delays, backlogs and communications issues when dealing with caseloads.

Below is a video clip of a meeting of the Treasury Select Committee and the FOS on the ?? March 2023. They come under fire from MP Rukshana Ali about delays, backlogs and the handling of consumer claims.

 Treasury_Committee_14_03_23_11_09_00.mp4

We can conclude from overwhelming evidence that the FOS are NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE they are NOT IMPARTIAL in rejecting consumers’ claims when investigating as they can be seen to favour the financial institution to which they are supposed to protect consumers against the UNFAIR banking practices and does NOT lead to FAIR and just resolutions to consumers’ complaints.

THE FINANCIAL OMBUDSMAN SERVICE DOES NOT SERVE THE INTERESTS OF CONSUMERS