I don't see why not. Write to the Adjudicator or Ombudsman and ask for details of the Complaints Procedure. The Service Review Team which used to handle this has been disbanded, but you should now be able to complain to the Heads of Casework, they should respond within 20 days, if not satisfied by this response, you should be able to take it to the Independent Assessor. I am not allowed to post links but see the FOS web site...about us...service standards

FOS dont have an independent appeals procedure. They work on the basis that all 166,000 decisions made by the service last year are correct. But they do maintain that passing a case upwards to an Ombudsman is the FOS 'appeals' process. If the Ombudsmen have pre-empted this and already made their mind up then that drives a coach and horses through the 'appeals' process. I suggest you ask again for an Ombudsman who has not already seen any aspects of your case to review it. If FOS refuse to allow this, complain using the complaints procedure to the Head of Casework and if necessary Independent Assessor. This will be lengthy and (in my experience) won't get you very far, but its worth a try. Whatever you do dont accept the decision unless you are happy with it. Once the decision is accepted that is the end of it ...The Ombudsman's decision is final...there is no appeal.

FOS in trouble again. An MP is involved now.

BankFodder...I think you are quite right, however the Ombudsmens' discretion is so wide ranging it is apparently very difficult to challenge As far as I can see, all they have to do is make a decision that is 'fair and reasonable' and how they get to that conclusion is pretty well up to them. See http://www.practicallaw.com/1-201-0624 for a legal view.

Agatha...could you please tell me, where did you get this JR info ? Is it available in the internet anywhere ?

The chance of winning a JR against FOS is very low. The Ombudsman's discretion is so wide it is hard to challenge, especially as he is not actually required to follow the law when reaching his decision ! As there is no appeal against an Ombudsman's decision, FOS is rarely challenged and so continues under the impression that all 166,312 decisons made last year by over 1000 Adjudicators and Ombudsmen are absolutely correct, when common sense tells us that there MUST surely be many, many mistakes. Follow this link for a helpful explanation of why JR's dont succeed against the FOS PLC - Financial Ombudsman decisions: beyond challenge? Follow this link for a blow by blow account of how every level of the FOS process made mistakes for one old lady. Problems with the UK Financial Ombudsman Service Two levels of appeal are possible against FOS 'service standards'... the Service Review Team and the Independent Assessor, but there is no way of challenging an Ombudsman's 'decision'...it's a disgrace.

Moneydragon, Wait til you get your decision then complain to the Service Review Team, then the Independent Assessor if necessary. The IA has few real powers but the last holder of the post did make awards for inconvenience due to delays. The new IA may well do the same. 40% (around 600) of the FOS staff have been recruited in the last year, according to Natalie Ceeney, FOS Chief Ombudsman, so the levels of inexperience amongst the Adjudicators must be huge. FOS has always been slow, with so many inexperienced staff delays will probably continue. Perhaps delays will reduce when the FOS recruits its three new Senior Managers all on six figure salaries. See www.financial-ombudsman-problems.co.uk for comments and links about the FOS and what happened to one claimant.

The FOS and Ombudsmen don't use Court methods. The whole point of the system is to provide a quick answer based on the balance of probabilities rather than legal arguments. All the Ombudsman has to do is make a decision that is 'fair and reasonable'...he does not have to follow legal precedent, or the law itself. Make sure that you do not 'accept' the Ombudsman's decision if you want the chance to go to court. Once accepted there is no appeal and its binding on both sides and you cant go to copurt. You can reject the Ombudsman's decision and then continue negotiating with the firm, or go to court, or both. Some firms are alleged to use the FOS system as a way of weeding out weak complainants, if you reject the FOS decision and approach the firm again, they MAY listen more carefully as they know you mean business and a court case is possible. It may be months before the Ombudsman handles your case.

If you are lucky the Ombudsman will look at the case with fresh eyes, but its not guaranteed. In my case the Ombudsman made the same mistake as the Adjudicator regarding a crucial date that I had specifically pointed out as being incorrect. So no fresh eyes there. He also missed the fact that the Adjudicator had not taken any account of my Aunt's tax situation and allowed the firm to deduct £4000 tax incorrectly, just as the Adjudicator had done. No fresh eyes there either ! But he did spot that the Adjudicator had misunderstood the amount to be invested by £44,000 ( YES £44,000 ) so he was not completely blind, though this did not make him re-consider the compensation offered. There are around 900 Adjudicators, with no minimum qualifications, so many must be inexperienced, you have a better chance of a fair decision with one of the 40-50 Ombudsmen. If your Ombudsman wants further information, he may be looking a bit harder at what the Adjudicator decided, you are lucky. The Ombudsman's decision is not automatically FINAL, by the way. Its only becomes final and binding on both sides if you accept it. You may reject the FOS decision and either continue negotiations with the firm or take them to court. Don't accept the Ombudsman's decision unless you are really sure it is right. There is no going back and no appeal against a decision, even if later information shows it to be flawed. You can complain to the FOS Service Review Team and if necessary the Independent Assessor, if you think the Adjudicator has behaved incompetently or unfairly. See http://financial-ombudsman-problems.co.uk/full.htm to see what can happen at the FOS !

Don't waste you time moaning about the Independent Assessor. Do the job yourself ! The job current holder retires soon and the FOS are advertising for a replacement. £48k for 2 days a week plus various benefits, pension scheme etc, based near Canary Wharf, or can do some work from home. Apply Now ! http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/about/careers/independent-assessor-position-specification.pdf

I see mention in the forum of FOS interest rate calculations etc. Basically FOS often do not check firms calculations properly, if at all, especially if the firm has made an offer. See below my evidence to the Hunt Review of the FOS. "It is FOS policy that firms which submit offers of compensation are treated differently from those which do not make an offer. Few ordinary people will be able to understand this. This policy is not made known to claimants so far as I know, yet the professional claims managers at the firms are well aware of it. All the firms must know that if they submit an offer there is a good chance that the FOS will not check the calculations, nor will the offer be compared with the FOS in-house guidelines. In the light of this, a good tactical move would be to submit a low offer and hope the FOS lets it though without checking. A good example of the use of this policy by a firm is in the case of my Aunt. The firm proposed a reasonable offer and backed it up with its own calculations. FOS said fine, it looks reasonable, we don't need to check it. In fact the interest rate used was not reasonable ( a higher rate was available anywhere and it was 1% below the FOS recommended figure) and a tax error was not noticed resulting in an underpayment of £8000. But because the offer met the FOS's requirements to be allowed though without checking, it got though the net. I know this is definite FOS policy, I have it in writing from the Service Review Team and the Independent Assessor. It is a deeply flawed policy, unfair to claimants and biased in favour of firms. FOS should review this policy." To read more and see what really happens when you go to the FOS please see my full evidence to the Hunt Review at www.financial-ombudsman-problems.co.uk

You may not get a good result from the FOS, especially if your case is handled by an inexperienced Adjudicator (few cases reach the ombudsmen). In my case the Adjudicator wrote her first letter to me summing up what she thought were the main issues. As with your case, she missed crucial points, and mentioned two points I had not made in my complaint at all ! I had made these to the firm years before but dropped them as minor, but they were still to be found in the depths of the firm's evidence to the FOS. The Adjudicator preferred the firm's evidence to mine in making her initial assessment of the issues. She missed several other points later, misunderstood the amount to be invested by £44,000, recommended the firm's offer, then could not explain how it was calculated. If you dont like the FOS decision, don't accept it. Once you accept it there is no going back, even if mistakes are later found in the decision. There is no appeal and no one to complain to and FOS may choose not to explain their actions or reasons. The FOS Independent Assessor is too close to the FOS and has no real powers. Read Problems with FOS decisions for an idea of what can happen when you go to the FOS

Bias The whole FOS process is biased towards firms. I do not suggest this is deliberate, but it is what happens in practice. This is what happened in my case: The Adjudicator’s initial assessment of my case was based on reading the firm’s evidence, not mine, She showed my letters to the firm but I was not shown theirs, The firm used professional staff and advisers, but FOS discourages consumers from doing this, The firm knew FOS guidelines on compensation existed and ignored them. FOS did not even tell me guidelines existed so how could I know they were ignored ? FOS accepted the firm’s calculations without cross-checking them and did not apply their own guidelines even though the guideline figure and the firms offer differed by £8000 massive delays at the FOS means the firm retained the compensation funds for years, invested at inter-bank rates before paying out compensation interest at bare base rate. Even when a tax error was finally picked up, FOS re-paid the money itself rather than instruct the firm to do so. The FOS is much too powerful, and has no real regulator. There is no appeal against decisions even though the FOS's 500 Adjudicators and Ombudsmen make 100,000 decisions a year and they cannot all be correct. Its not only consumers who are concerned about the FOS's powers. IFA's feel the same way too. See what Anthony Speaight QC says about unappealable, compulsory decisions at IFAs OK - Independent Financial Advisers - Endowment Compensation? See what an ex FOS Adjudicator says about FOS procedures at FSA seeks more court dates for the diary - 12 May 2008 (Scroll to the bottom to see what Jane Sanders says) How financial firms see the FOS When I received the firm’s very first letter in response to my complaint, they concluded with the words that I should take the letter as their final response and could approach the FOS if I wished. I seemed obvious to me that they wanted the matter to go to the FOS. I have the impression that when a claimant tells the firm that they will take the matter to the FOS, the firm breathes a sigh of relief…”We’ve made it !” They know that the FOS will delay further ( thus delaying redress payments), not make a rigorous examination of the case, probably not check any calculations, not criticise the firm, not publicise any mistakes, however disgraceful. They know the award will not exceed £100,000 and that the claimant probably can’t afford to go to court. Many firms would settle for that.

There is little point complaining about the FOS. No one has the authority to examine FOS decisions, which cannot be changed. The Ombudsman are always right. The Independent Assessor is an ex FOS Board member who has no power to investigate decisions, only FOS procedures. The Independent Assessor can make "recommendantions" but FOS can ignore them, he is in any case, much too close top the FOS to be independent in the sense that most ordinary people would understand the word. Take a look at Problems with FOS decisions to see what can happen when you go to the FOS and want to complain about the decision.