Ombudsman dispute

[Quovadisuk]

I have been in dispute with an ombudsman in regards their conduct in handling the complaint . They have upheld all the complaint(s) by one. My issue is that an investigator gave wrong information to formulate the complaint wasting much time, effort and causing a considerable amount of stress and anxiety in trying to collate the information to meet his ( ombudsman) requirements. It transpires that the information was totally wrong and was acknowledged by another investigator as being so as it never met with their (Ombudsman) own guidelines and codes of reference in dealing with complaints. In raising this in my complaint the ombudsman are refusing to action on this point as they state they are unable to challenge or question the decision of an investigator. To me, this surely cannot be right, or am I out of touch as to what is now acceptable these days ?

[Pezza54]

The purpose of the case investigator is to collect all the evidence about the dispute, writing and speaking to both parties if necessary.
The investigator then makes a "provisional" decision which both parties can accept or not. If either party is unhappy with this decision they can ask the dispute be referred to the Ombudsman.
The ombudsman disregards the investigator's decision but uses all the evidence collated by the investigator to come to his or her decision.
Sometimes, not often, the ombudsman does not agree with the investigator's decision and provides a different provisional decision. Both parties are then given one last chance to provide further information before the ombudsman makes his or her Final Decision.
This final decision is legally binding on the company but the individual may reject it and start a court claim.
A party can raise a complaint with the FOS but even if the complaint is upheld the final decision still stands

In my case when the ombudsman reported the case and decision on their website, an important and crucial term in the contract was misquoted, to suit the final decision

[Quovadisuk]

The purpose of the case investigator is to collect all the evidence about the dispute, writing and speaking to both parties if necessary.
The investigator then makes a "provisional" decision which both parties can accept or not. If either party is unhappy with this decision they can ask the dispute be referred to the Ombudsman.
The ombudsman disregards the investigator's decision but uses all the evidence collated by the investigator to come to his or her decision.
Sometimes, not often, the ombudsman does not agree with the investigator's decision and provides a different provisional decision. Both parties are then given one last chance to provide further information before the ombudsman makes his or her Final Decision.
This final decision is legally binding on the company but the individual may reject it and start a court claim.
A party can raise a complaint with the FOS but even if the complaint is upheld the final decision still stands

In my case when the ombudsman reported the case and decision on their website, an important and crucial term in the contract was misquoted, to suit the final decision

Thank you so much for your time and consideration in replying . My issue is not the decision the ombudsman has made, but how the investigator appeared to not know the terms of reference that a complaint could be considered. Our complaint raised 10 areas of concern, We were advised by the investigator we would need to collate all the evidence to meet the required scope of the ombudsman. Over the months we formulated titles of the complaint areas along with compiling all the evidence to support the areas . This took months to achieve . We then had a change of investigator, and the new investigator informed us that the titles did not comply with the scope of the ombudsman and couldn’t be used . I raised complaint to him advising we had been following the requirements of the past investigator to the letter . The response was again the complaints as they stood could not be used and he will be making aware that what was happened was an internal matter, and he had contacted the previous investigator advising the same .

A lot of water went under the bridge since then, but ultimately we were misled by the ombudsman along with four other areas, which they have upheld , The issue in regards to addressing the mis -information from the investigator they will not even comment on ? To me this surely cannot be right ? How can you have an investigator that does not know the areas of scope that he can investigate, and senior management not prepared to consider to investigate ? Isn’t this a clear case of closing ranks ? For me this is like doctors and nurses seeing a surgeon do something wrong, but as he is a surgeon, they are unable to report it or comment ? Am I over reacting ???

[Pezza54]

You are not over reacting. I am sorry to read about your case.
There is no point in making a complaint with the ombudsman. It will rub salt into the wound if the complaint is upheld, the final decision was legally incorrect but the decision has been cast in tablets of stone and can't be changed

In my case the investigator spent months chasing information from the other party and when they were unable to produce it, obtained legal advice and decided the other party had breached the contract
The ombudsman decided that the inability to supply the document was not a breach of contract.
After time taken to appoint the investigator and then the ombudsman plus sickness and holidays, the whole process took nearly a year