FSA Complaint

[EXC]

The FSA have at long last responded to my complaint after an astonishing 4 months, twice the length of time the FSA expects the firms it regulates to deal with complaints.

My complaint was mainly becuase the FSA lied to me when I first enquired for some clarification on the reasons given for the waiver.
During one of the initial calls I quoted the reasons for the waiver given on the FSA website and after being put on hold, was told that
the reasons stated were in fact incorrect and that as a result of my call the site would be updated and amended. This turned out to be complete bo***cks.

After originally being assured that ALL calls to and from the FSA were recorded, the complaints department were ''unable to retrieve'' the 2 calls in question but were remarkabley able to find all the others that wern't.

[Paule]

Re: FSA Complaint

Edited PDF Attached

[Nattie]

Re: FSA Complaint

For clarity, NS is EXC in the complaint letter.

[EXC]

Re: FSA Complaint

----- Original Message ----- From: EXC
To: complaintscommissioner@fscc.gov.uk
Cc: Independent Complaints Scheme
Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007 10:11 AM
Subject: Complaint 27492



FSA ref: 27492


Dear Sir

I wish to make a formal complaint against the FSA's Complaints Scheme.

Having waiting a staggering 4 months ( twice the time the FSA expects the firms it regulates to respond by ) the main issue of my complaint has been rejected on the grounds that recordings of 2 telephone calls, crucial to my complaint, were ''unable to be retrieved''. Remarkably all other calls that were not crucial were
retrieved. No attempt whatsoever was made to contact the FSA representative to establish what was discussed during these 2 calls.

During the first of the 2 calls in question I asked the FSA for clarification on the reasons given in their statement of 26 July 2007 as to why the complaints handling
waiver was introduced. After being put on hold the FSA representative returned to tell me that the reasons given in the statement were in fact incorrect and that
the FSA would be amending and updating their website to reflect this. The FSA Complaints Scheme have ruled that this was a ''misinterpretation'' on my behalf.
It was not. As you will see below I posted the details of the call on a consumer website just minutes after.

The second of the calls in which I made to the FSA the following day was to ask for confirmation from the FSA representative that this is what he had said. The
representative refused to speak to me. It is unfortunate in the extreme that these calls were not retrievable.

This is not the only time that the FSA has been less than honest with information regarding the waiver. On asking the FSA when the outcome of the 2 month
review on the complaints handling waiver would be published, I was told - quite clearly - that the review was in fact an ongoing review that started after 2 months
and that no outcome would ever be published except in the event that a bank had their waiver withdrawn. But during a subsequent conversation with the Chief
Executive of the Banking Code Standards Board, who had a major role in the review, Robert Skinner described this advice as ''nonesense''. Ten days later the
review was published.

When I originally made my complaint the form in which I filled out ended by asking what remedy I sought. My answer was that I simply wanted my original query
answered as to why the complaints handling waiver was introduced. This has not been answered with any degree of credibility.

''the waiver was introduced so that complaints about these charges can be dealt with in a fair and consistent way''

But this only applies to the test case itself. It does not apply to the waiver.

''the waiver was introduced to facilitate the test case''

But what does this mean? The OFT have not only made very clear that they were not told of the introduction or reasons for the introduction of the waiver but
Kate Farrow of the OFT's Retail Banking Team has explicitly told me that the waiver ''has no facilitary value'' whatsoever.

Indeed I have correspondence between dozens of Members of Parliament who have written to the FSA asking this and other specific questions about the waiver
and without exception all received the same templated response that was copied and pasted from the FSA website.

This time I would like a definitive answer please.