If you’re unhappy with the service you got from your bank, financial adviser or any other financial company, it’s often easy to sort out. If talking things through doesn’t work, there’s always a formal way to complain – and if you’re still not happy, you can ask an independent service to investigate.
In 2016-17, the Financial Ombudsman Service resolved 336,381 complaints.
Source: FOS Annual Reviewopens in new window
Often you can sort out a complaint quickly just by talking to the firm.
Tell them why you’re unhappy and what you’d like them to do to make things right.
If they can’t give you a reasonable explanation of what’s wrong and don’t try to fix things, you might be able to take your complaint to an ombudsman service such as the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
All financial firms ought to have a formal complaints procedure to follow when you complain.
It tells you:
You should be able to find their complaints procedure online – but if you can’t find it, ask for it.
If the complaints procedure involves something you’ve already done, like visiting your bank, make sure that the person you spoke to understands that they need to treat your complaint formally.
Try to put everything in writing, rather than talking over the phone.
You should get a final decision within eight weeks, explaining exactly how the firm will deal with the problem.
After making a formal complaint, if you think the firm’s answer is unreasonable, or if you don’t hear from them within eight weeks, you have the right to take your complaint further.
You can get free, official help from an independent complaints service, who can often order the company to pay compensation.
The services include:
The company’s complaints procedure should tell you which you should contact.
There are time limits for complaining to the Financial Ombudsman Service. You must complain:
Find out more about using an ombudsman:
As a consumer, you have a right to complain about your bank, or financial services firm using the Consumer Rights Act (CRA).
This might be the case, if for example, a financial services company falsely told you they were the cheapest mortgage adviser in town.
In this situation, you might be able to claim breach of the CRA and request a financial remedy.
Different payment methods can lead to different problems.
We’ve put together a list of tips to help keep you problem free regardless of how you choose to pay.
With scams getting more and more sophisticated, it’s worth reading A beginner’s guide to scams.
A simple, straightforward way to pay.
But, always ask for a receipt – otherwise there might be no record of the transaction if there’s a problem and you need to prove payment or get a refund.
If someone pays you by cheque and it bounces, you might find it difficult to reclaim your money.
When you get a cheque, don’t hand over the goods right away.
Pay the cheque into your account first and wait for the funds to clear – it should take less than six working days.
Make sure you draw a line through any unused space on the payee and amount lines, and don’t leave any space before you start writing.
That way the names and the amount of money can’t be altered.
Also, make sure you keep enough money in your account to cover the full amount of the cheque – otherwise it might bounce, or your bank might charge you a fee.
If you buy something for between £100 and £30,000, both your credit card company and the seller are responsible for your purchase.
This is true even if you only pay for a small percentage of the item by credit card, i.e. £1 on a £100 purchase.
If something goes wrong – for example, if the seller goes bust or if the goods are defective and the seller won’t refund them – contact your card company to get your money back.
Debit cards aren’t covered by the Consumer Credit Act, but most cards come with a chargeback scheme.
These schemes allow you to get a refund if the goods you bought don’t work, don’t arrive or if the seller goes bust.
Contact your bank if you need a chargeback on a debit card purchase.
If something goes wrong with a Direct Debit payment – either because the organisation you’re buying from or your bank made a mistake – you’re covered by the Direct Debit Guarantee.
Once you notify your bank of the error, you should get a full refund, immediately.
However if the mistake turns out to be your fault the bank might ask you to repay the refund.
If you or your bank makes a mistake with a standing order, there’s no guarantee that you’ll get your money back.
So, it’s doubly important to make sure the payment dates and amounts are correct when you set up a standing order.
If something goes wrong when you send money overseas from the UK, the first step is to contact the firm that helped you with the transaction.
They can usually help you sort out the problem.
If you’ve lost money because a UK bank or financial firm has gone out of business you might be able to claim compensation through the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.