I registered a complaint with the PHSO concerning what I considered to be 'maladministration' by Ofcom, and the ICO only to find that the maladministration at the PHSO is far worse than that complained of simply because the PHSO are the end of the line in out of court terms and litigation seems to be the only way forward.
I complained that Ofcom were not acting in the best interests of consumers under the ADR Regulations, specifically Statutory Instrument 2015 No. 542. For those who are not aware the ADR Legislation was introduced in 2015 with the sub heading 'Consumer Protection' and to be honest I can find no protection available either from the Competent Authority or under the Legislation when, in my opinion, maladministration is used as reasoning non involvement and consequently no protection for the consumer invalidating the entire purpose of the ADR Legislation, at considerable cost to us as consumers both in terms of the original complaint not getting a fair and honest review and the legislation which was funded out of the 'public purse'.
When I entered an evidence based complaint against my Internet Service Provider (ISP) who deleted my entire address/contact list and 9 years worth my emails and subsequently failed to restore the emails back to my webmail. I had notified Ofcom of my concerns and continued to notify Ofcom throughout the handling of my complaint by the Ombudsman Service Communications (OSC). I had worked for 20 years as Advocate and had limited prior knowledge of the OSC which made me suspicious of their independence and ability which is why Ofcom were kept informed as 'Competent Authority' for the OSC and responsible for their appointment.
From what I can gather Ofcom have had several complaints lodged with them about the OSC and their complaint handling procedures during which the OSC seem to prefer to ignore the complaint as submitted by the complainant and instead make up their own complaint which is answered with irrelevant assertions leaving the original complaint unanswered and unsatisfied. My complaint went to the Independent Assessor (IA) who found in my favour on a considerable number of issues and was returned to the OSC for a further review which was conducted in exactly the same manner as the first attempt and ignored the IA report.
Whilst dealing with the PHSO I became aware that Ofcom were conducting a review of the ADR Scheme administrators and this appeared to be being conducted under the Communications Act which I understood was replaced by the Statutory Instrument 2015 no. 542 and the Communications Act no longer applied. The review by Ofcom failed to mention the new ADR legislation or refer to it in any way giving the impression that Ofcom were abdicating their obligations to consumers implied by the new legislation. At this point I became concerned that the PHSO had done nothing to put things right and contact Ofcom accordingly.
This is the point when the PHSO stated that they could not assist me with my complaint, in fact the PHSO did nothing to offer assistance or offer correct advice regarding my complaint which has done nothing more than waste a considerable amount of time. I decided to contact Ofcom direct regarding my concerns and find that subsequent to my conversation and emails on the subject Ofcom issued a revised 'preamble' to their review statement and now included reference to the above ADR Legislation, albeit after the Ofcom review has ended.
For the first 18 months or so the PHSO also made reference to the Communications Act whilst trying to deal with my complaint eventually agreeing that the ADR Legislation was the correct Legislation to be used or attempted to be used.
I will be more than grateful if somebody can offer advice on what is reasonable for a complainant to expect when dealing with 'regulators' including the PHSO who have done nothing more than express apathy and in my opinion, incompetence in addressing the issues complained of. I am also keen to hear form other who have encountered similar problems, regardless of the Ombudsman used.
I complained that Ofcom were not acting in the best interests of consumers under the ADR Regulations, specifically Statutory Instrument 2015 No. 542. For those who are not aware the ADR Legislation was introduced in 2015 with the sub heading 'Consumer Protection' and to be honest I can find no protection available either from the Competent Authority or under the Legislation when, in my opinion, maladministration is used as reasoning non involvement and consequently no protection for the consumer invalidating the entire purpose of the ADR Legislation, at considerable cost to us as consumers both in terms of the original complaint not getting a fair and honest review and the legislation which was funded out of the 'public purse'.
When I entered an evidence based complaint against my Internet Service Provider (ISP) who deleted my entire address/contact list and 9 years worth my emails and subsequently failed to restore the emails back to my webmail. I had notified Ofcom of my concerns and continued to notify Ofcom throughout the handling of my complaint by the Ombudsman Service Communications (OSC). I had worked for 20 years as Advocate and had limited prior knowledge of the OSC which made me suspicious of their independence and ability which is why Ofcom were kept informed as 'Competent Authority' for the OSC and responsible for their appointment.
From what I can gather Ofcom have had several complaints lodged with them about the OSC and their complaint handling procedures during which the OSC seem to prefer to ignore the complaint as submitted by the complainant and instead make up their own complaint which is answered with irrelevant assertions leaving the original complaint unanswered and unsatisfied. My complaint went to the Independent Assessor (IA) who found in my favour on a considerable number of issues and was returned to the OSC for a further review which was conducted in exactly the same manner as the first attempt and ignored the IA report.
Whilst dealing with the PHSO I became aware that Ofcom were conducting a review of the ADR Scheme administrators and this appeared to be being conducted under the Communications Act which I understood was replaced by the Statutory Instrument 2015 no. 542 and the Communications Act no longer applied. The review by Ofcom failed to mention the new ADR legislation or refer to it in any way giving the impression that Ofcom were abdicating their obligations to consumers implied by the new legislation. At this point I became concerned that the PHSO had done nothing to put things right and contact Ofcom accordingly.
This is the point when the PHSO stated that they could not assist me with my complaint, in fact the PHSO did nothing to offer assistance or offer correct advice regarding my complaint which has done nothing more than waste a considerable amount of time. I decided to contact Ofcom direct regarding my concerns and find that subsequent to my conversation and emails on the subject Ofcom issued a revised 'preamble' to their review statement and now included reference to the above ADR Legislation, albeit after the Ofcom review has ended.
For the first 18 months or so the PHSO also made reference to the Communications Act whilst trying to deal with my complaint eventually agreeing that the ADR Legislation was the correct Legislation to be used or attempted to be used.
I will be more than grateful if somebody can offer advice on what is reasonable for a complainant to expect when dealing with 'regulators' including the PHSO who have done nothing more than express apathy and in my opinion, incompetence in addressing the issues complained of. I am also keen to hear form other who have encountered similar problems, regardless of the Ombudsman used.
Comment