Complaints handling problems at UK banks

Finance Articles | June 12, 2011

More news recently of fines in the banking sector points to lessons that need to be learned about complaints handling.

Did you head that the Bank of Scotland has been fined £3.5m for mishandling complaints. They have been ordered to pay £17.5m compensation. Apparently this is largest ever fine for complaints handling levied by the Financial Services Authority.

The complaints these fines relate to are now rather old. They are for complaints between 2007 and 2009. One has to wonder why it has taken so long for this to be resolved? What is happening to speed this up? We know that one of the key essentials of good complaints handling is speed.

Interestingly that the Bank of Scotland rejected 45% of complaints. It got these wrong. There is a lesson here: the best chance you get to deal with a complaint is when it is first mentioned. Rejecting it then being forced to reconsider is not going to help you. Even worse is then having to acknowledge it as a valid complaint.

We see that the Financial Service Authority puts much emphasis on discovering the root causes of complaints. That is a good idea because if something goes wrong you don’t want to keep getting it wrong. However, speed and great people skills are essential. At Reduce Complaints we wonder if enough attention is being paid to the people in the process? The customers will need effective handling from personnel skilled and trained in complaints resolution.

Article Tags: Complaints Handling

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gordon Miles of Reduce Complaints has had a thread throughout his career on complaints handling. With NatWest in the 1980’s and 1990’s he led his teams to champion customer service and handle complaints well. After leaving NatWest he has held a number of senior Director and Chief Executive posts. He led the Dental Practice Board team that won the Customer Service Excellence Award. He has worked with organisations to achieve International Complaints Handling Standard. He set up and ran the Dental Complaints Service.