Complaint Against Barclays, FOS adjudicator sided with Bank, now going to actual Ombudsman for review - Case handler refusing to give copy of my file case unless I submit a SAR?

[altosbestos]

Hi there,

 

Have a complaint against Barclays. The case handler already ruled in favour of Barclays (quelle surprise), and I requested an Ombudsman to review this.

 

In the meantime, I also asked her to give me a full copy of my file case, because I think a lot of her reasoning is flimsy.

 

She has refused, saying that I need to make a SAR to have access to that data.

 

Now, in my opinion, this is an act in bad faith, because the SAR can conveniently avoid including communications between the FOS and Barclays, which a genuine copy (with the appropriate deletion of sensitive data) of my case file would contain. 

 

Moreover, the Independent Assessor has, historically, said that: 

 

In a small number of cases I found that the Ombudsman Service had caused avoidable loss. In mid 2010, when complainants asked for copies of documents held on the Ombudsman Service’s case file, they were often told they needed to make a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act and pay the standard £10 fee. Under the Ombudsman Service’s policy of natural justice and transparency, complainants are entitled to copies of evidence that the Ombudsman would rely on in order to reach a decision and I recommended that the £10 fee should be refunded. (From the 2010/11 IA Report)

 

So... two questions:

 

1.- Am I right in assuming that this is a deflection tactic to deprive me from key information about my case? This would merit a serious complaint with the IA, and -hell- even my MP if this is being done systematically to shield the banks.

2.- What should I do now?

 

Thanks!!

 

Edited March 24, 2021 by altosbestos

[dx100uk]

i've moved you to the barclays forum as we have lots of better experts here

 

what is your dispute over please?

[Good Sister]

You could always send a SAR to Barclays as well, see how they've been recording details of your complaint on their systems and see what they've forwarded to FOS. You can then see if the case files match up and flag up any discrepancies.

 

There are no fees attached to sending SARs these days and the timeline for response is shorter than it used to be too (within a month now).

 

That timeline is set by the GDPR and there is little room or excuse to go beyond that.

 

For those reasons, sending your request for your case file via a SAR gives you some more protection.

[altosbestos]

Hi there,

Interesting option, yes. As I said my only concern would be the FOS conveniently leaving out Barclays/FOS communications during a SAR, but I think Barclays cannot do the same. 

This complaint relates to an ATM (from Barclays) stealing money from me and Barclays being useless in the subsequent processes to recover my money. 

 

[dx100uk]

The atm did not steal from you neither did Barclays

I will guess that the machine failed to dispense  money to you?

 

Dx

[slick132]

Hi Alto,

 

Can you give us a brief, bullet point summary of events to date, with the date first and brief narrative.

 

I would simply send the FOS  an SAR now anyway.

 

I assume you already have a SAR from Barclays but, if not, get one off to them too.

[altosbestos]

Hi dx100uk, yes. I guess you could say it failed to dispense, yes. 

Slick132,

 

06/04/2020: ATM retains my cash

07/04/2020: I bring this to the attention of Barclays, they say they will investigate

May 2020 & June 2020: Radio silence

July 2020: I pressure Barclays, they say they are still looking into it

August 2020: Radio silence

September 2020: I get fed up and I complaint to the Ombudsman without a final response letter

January 2021: My claim is formally acknowledged and lodged into their system / assigned an investigator

11/03/2021: My claim is rejected by the investigator

14/03/2021: I reply to the investigator and tell her that her that she has presented no evidence whatsoever to support her notion that the cash was actually dispensed

17/03/2021: She says she can assure me she has seen convincing evidence but does not elaborate

18/03/2021: I ask an Ombudsman to review this and also for my case file

19/03/2021: Refusal to provide a case file 

 

----

 

I will then fire off SARs, but I still wonder about my original questions -- whether the SAR really will contain exactly the same information that a vanilla case file and whether this is a strategy to shield the big boys. 

 

Is there any point in writing to the Treasury Select? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dx100uk]

26 minutes ago, altosbestos said:

Hi dx100uk, yes. I guess you could say it failed to dispense, yes. 

Slick132,

 

06/04/2020: ATM retains my cash

 

can we refrain from playing secret squirrel here please..?

 

I guess you could say it failed to dispense, yes. - the machine either dispensed the cash you requested or it did not.?

 

ATM retains my cash.... - so did the metal letterbox open revealing the dispensing slot but no money came out 

or did the slot fail to raise at all?

 

most machines now have external and internal video cameras in addition to 100's of sensors that can easily tell if cash was dispensed or got caught although i will say some barclay ATM's are the oldest in the whole ATM system. dating back to the early 1990's which have never had these fitted.!!

 

the barclays sar should get you everything you want 

how much was requested from the ATM to be dispensed.?