The amount of complaints upheld by the Ombudsman has caused concern with Which?
Latest customer complaints figures from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) could represent the "tip of the iceberg", Which? said yesterday.
The consumer group was reacting to the release of annual figures from the service, which mediates in disputes between customers and financial services firms. The report showed that credit card-related complaints had increased by 30 percent year-on-year and those related to Payment Protection Insurance had gone up by almost 200 percent.
Of particular concern to Which? was the statistic that the FOS had found in favour of the customer 57 percent of the time. The consumer group pointed out that in previous years this ratio had stood at 30-40 percent.
"It's shameful that some firms are dismissing so many justified complaints that are upheld," a spokesperson said. "This could be just the tip of the iceberg as many people give up at the first hurdle rather than going to the Ombudsman. Companies have a duty to treat their customers fairly and this means giving all complaints due consideration and, if appropriate, accepting them."
The FOS also found that a total of 127,471 new complaints had been dealt with over the course of the year.
Disputes over current accounts were found to have fallen by 65 percent - due mainly to the transition of bank charges complaints to the ongoing High Court test case on the matter.
