The Financial Ombudsmen Service (FOS) has recently published research into how different financial companies deal with customer complaints. However, instead of helping consumers, we at the ABI think that the results could potentially mislead people over which companies handle complaints most effectively. We believe that consumers are entitled to accurate and meaningful data on the performance of companies.

In order to get a realistic impression of how different companies treat their customers, complaints data must be put into context. For example, it would be unfair to highlight one firm for receiving the most complaints, if they also sell the most policies. Complaint’s data should not only show how many complaints are made, it should also illustrate how many policies are sold without complication. We at the ABI have published our own complaints data which showed that the number of complaints handled by the FOS equates to only 1 per 4,100 motor policies, 1 in 12,700 travel policies and only 1 in every 14,700 annuity contracts. This is the sort of detail that is useful for consumers as it provides a rounded picture of how common complaints are. Consumers need to be given as much information as possible, which could  involve providing information on how often complaints occur, how quickly they are dealt with and how often transactions are made without any problems. The FOS data would be of more use to the public if this approach was adopted. By putting the figures into perspective, consumers would get a fairer representation of the facts, and firms would be given the right incentive to improve their performance.

Tags: abi, Complaints handling, financial advisers, FOS statistics, Insurance