Questions asked by consumers

Bringing complaints to the scheme

Complaints Handing Procedures

“Why don't you have a hearing in every case? I thought this was necessary to comply with human rights law.”

What information will you let me see?

What if I am concerned that there might be other information I haven’t seen?

What if I provide some information to you in confidence?

Can I request sight of all the information you hold about me?

New information has come to light since I made my complaint

Decisions

Bringing a complaint to us

If your complaint does not meet our standard definition for acceptance the ombudsman may still be able to accept it for investigation.

The ombudsman has discretion to decide whether your complaint is within jurisdiction and should be looked at. For example, the ombudsman would usually only accept a complaint if a member had failed to resolve a complaint within eight weeks or a deadlock letter had been received. However, if it is clear that you have made every effort to complete the member’s complaints procedure and the eight week period has yet to pass, the ombudsman may exercise discretion and accept your complaint for investigation at that stage.

Equally, the ombudsman has the discretion to refuse to accept, or to terminate your complaint, if it is considered that you have no reasonable prospect of success, recovery or redress from the member being complained about.

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Complaints Handing Procedures

Members must have a written procedure to describe how complaints received about a product or service will be handled. These procedures must include:

• The full contact details to contact the member about a complaint
• Advice on what information the member will need from you to investigate a problem.
  This should be reasonable, but not require excessive detail
• Reasonable timescales the member will take to resolve the complaint, including a timescale for resolution
• Information about your right to take a complaint to Ombudsman Services; Property  if the member fails to resolve the problem
  

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“Why don't you have a hearing in every case? I thought this was necessary to comply with human rights law".

We are an alternative to the court system. Our aim is to resolve disputes as quickly, cost-effectively and informally as we can.

We can nearly always get to the bottom of complaints – and recommend solutions or make decisions – on the basis of the information, facts and arguments that each side gives us in writing and on the phone.

Some people might want their "day in court" – to personally cross-examine the other party and challenge the ombudsman in person. But we do not operate as a traditional court of law. We do not have the power to compel the attendance of witnesses, take evidence on oath or test evidence by cross-examination.
It's only very rarely that we consider oral hearings necessary or helpful. In the small number of cases where we decide to hold an oral hearing, the ombudsman who conducts the hearing decides what procedure to follow and what questions to ask. The ombudsman ensures that neither side is intimidated or disadvantaged by the process.

The costs involved in organising and holding hearings is another reason why this is not a standard part of our process.

We are satisfied that our approach to oral hearings complies with human rights requirements.

For more details see our special fact-sheet

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What information will you let me see?

We will be investigating your complaint after the member you are complaining about has had a chance to resolve it. You will probably already have seen all the information we use to take a decision, but we will refer to all the documents on which the decision will be based in the provisional conclusion (report of findings), and if you have not seen any of them you can ask for copies before a final decision is made.

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What if I am concerned that there might be other information I haven’t seen?

The ombudsman’s job is to look at information relevant to your complaint and to make a decision based on it. If you think something has been provided but not summarised in the report you can ask the ombudsman to consider providing it to you. We will usually proactively send any key documents on which the provisional conclusion relies to a party if they are not already in that party’s possession. If there is any document or information you have not seen, you can request a copy. Other requests for information will be considered by the ombudsman.

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What if I provide some information to you in confidence?

If you believe that some information should be kept confidential between you and us, you should mark that information clearly and tell us why you think we should not pass it to the other party. We will consider your request – but we may not agree to it, unless there is a strong case for confidentiality, such as security reasons.

We may publish case studies and information about complaints but we do not release the names of the individual consumers or businesses involved.
If appropriate, we exchange information with the OFT, OFT approved estate agents redress schemes, other consumer redress schemes and any other person / organisation exercising regulatory functions in relation to the activities of persons engaging in estate agency work.

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Can I request sight of all the information you hold about me?

You will always have a right to make an application under s7 of the Data Protection Act 1998 to see any personal data we hold about you.

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New information has come to light since I made my complaint

You can provide new information to the ombudsman at any time and it will be considered, so long as it relates to the issues being investigated and not to a new complaint that the member has not yet had a chance to consider. The ombudsman will decide, when reviewing your complaint whether the new information makes a difference to the provisional conclusion.

We will have regard for your rights of privacy, and we do not automatically copy to both sides all the information we have on a case. But in general, you should assume we may disclose to the other party any information you send us about the complaint. By signing our complaint form, you authorise us to exchange information with the other party about your complaint.

We will certainly need to summarise information that is central to our decision, as well as disclosing other information where we think it appropriate.

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Final Decisions

When we have all the information from the client and the Member about the complaint, our investigation process will begin. An investigation officer will look at both sides of the story and make a provisional conclusion. This report gives our initial findings and our reasons for making them. It is sent to both parties at the same time. If both parties are happy with the provisional conclusion as a binding settlement to the dispute, this becomes final and any remedy recommended will become enforceable.

If, upon receipt of the provisional conclusion, either party tells us that it has any comments, such as new information about the complaint or that we have made a significant error in fact which has a material effect on our decision, the complaint is passed to an ombudsman. Any information should be sent to us in writing so that an ombudsman can consider it when making the final decision. It may be that the ombudsman may have to seek further comment from the other party. When we have finished this process, we will send you a copy of the ombudsman’s final decision. All final decisions will be made by an ombudsman.

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