Complaints down 3% across general insurance despite rising sharply for PPI
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), which settles disputes between consumers and financial firms, said it received 327,035 new complaints between January and June – 15% more than the previous six months.
The number was pushed up by a 26% increase in complaints about payment protection insurance.
FOS chief executive Natalie Ceeney said: “Disappointingly, we are still seeing cases where businesses are not following our long-standing approach to PPI, resulting in long waits and unnecessary delays for consumers.
“But, more positively, we are seeing encouraging signs that some major businesses are starting to recognise the value of getting things right for their customers – with an increased focus on sorting out problems and concerns as quickly as possible.”
For financial products other than PPI, the total number of complaints referred to the ombudsman reduced by 15% from 71,366 to 60,807. There was a 22% decrease in the number of banking complaints and a 3% drop in general insurance cases.
An FOS spokesman said the small reduction in complaints about general insurance reflected a new focus on customer service in the way complaints were dealt with across the financial services industry.
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