AIB offering a goodwill payment at Ombudsman stage

[Beany.xx]

1) Complaint lodged with the Ombudsman - September 2018
2) Date when put on hold: The complaint has never formally been put on hold. It is still open and we have not actively pursued it.
3) Stage reached when put on hold: Mediation had begun in December 2019 and concluded with AIB offering €500 for ‘distress’ caused January 2020. We did not accept that offer and were advised they wanted lthe case on hold pending further developments in the other cases similar to ours. We were aware at that stage that something may be in the offing and were happy to wait and see.
4) Progress since then: 2 sets of various letters from FSPO enclosing correspondence from AIB in relation to compensation following FSPO’s ruling in the ‘Karen Case’ . We have not closed our case and it still open nor have we been requested to close the case.
We have not received this recent letter from the Ombudsman, we are unsure what we should do at this point.

 

[Beany.xx]

We have just had our case opened again, they are assigning a case officer and will get back to us

 

[Beany.xx]

We are still waiting for a update and for a case officer to be assigned

 

[Beany.xx]

Hi @Brendan Burgess We now have our new case officer and have been asked to confirm, the same as your previous message;

(a) You are willing to re-engage with the Provider in the Dispute Resolution process at this time. It is a matter for you to decide whether you wish to re-engage in the Dispute Resolution process, which is voluntary. This office has had much success in resolving complaints through these informal means.

(b) You do not wish to re-engage with the Provider in the Dispute Resolution process and you wish for your complaint to be referred onwards for formal Investigation and Adjudication.

Any advice on what we should do, our case history:

1) Complaint lodged with the Ombudsman - September 2018
2) Date when put on hold: The complaint has never formally been put on hold. It is still open and we have not actively pursued it.
3) Stage reached when put on hold: Mediation had begun in December 2019 and concluded with AIB offering €500 for ‘distress’ caused January 2020. We did not accept that offer and were advised they wanted lthe case on hold pending further developments in the other cases similar to ours.

Text of recent letter from the Ombudsman

I refer to the above matter and to recent correspondence.

I note that this complaint was received in January 2020. As you know, on 03 April 2020 the
complaint was placed on hold at the Provider’s request “until such a time as the payment is
made and the complainant confirms how they wish to proceed with the complaint”.

In circumstances where it appears that the payment has now been made, we are of the view that
the complaint can now be progressed by this office.

I would be grateful if you could consider the content of this letter and please confirm to this
office whether;

(a) You are willing to engage with the Provider in the Dispute Resolution process at this
time. It is a matter for you to decide whether you wish to engage in the Dispute
Resolution process, which is voluntary. This office has had much success in resolving
complaints through these informal means.

or

(b) You do not wish to engage with the Provider in the Dispute Resolution process and you
wish for your complaint to be referred onwards for formal Investigation and
Adjudication.

I would be grateful if you would respond to this letter by email to us
within a period of 10 working days from today.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

Hi Beany

I would probably reply as follows:

"I will take Option B please.

It appeared clear to us that AIB was engaging in the Dispute Resolution Process as a matter of form only and not seriously engaging, so I see no point in delaying it further."

 

[Beany.xx]

Hi Beany

I would probably reply as follows:

"I will take Option B please.

It appeared clear to us that AIB was engaging in the Dispute Resolution Process as a matter of form only and not seriously engaging, so I see no point in delaying it further."

Hi @Brendan Burgess,

Happy New Year to you. After entering the dispute resolution process, we have been offered a "goodwill gesture" to settle/close our case, which we are going to decline. We have decided to go back in and submit your ‘template letter for formal Investigation and Adjudication’. Is there anything else or other advice we can go with at this point.

Regards

 

[Brendan Burgess]

Hi Beany
What is the nature of your complaint?

For example
1) Not included in 300 Cohort
2) Automatic compensation insufficient - if so why and how much are you looking for?
3) Refund calculated on simple interest basis

 

[Beany.xx]

Hi Beany
What is the nature of your complaint?

For example
1) Not included in 300 Cohort
2) Automatic compensation insufficient - if so why and how much are you looking for?
3) Refund calculated on simple interest basis

Hello Brendan,

Thanks for taking the time to assist.

(2) Our complaint originates from June 2019, long before we knew about (3)
Outline of our complaint:
"we utterly reject as wholly inadequate the compensation offered by AIB for this egregious breach of our mortgage contract and demand revised compensation appropriate to the financial losses, non-financial losses, inconvenience, harm, personal suffering and hardship that we have experienced as direct consequence of this breach"

We are not actually hoping to reach any figure, we just don't want to be excluded from any further judgment which awards the cohort point (3). We also feel that (3) is something we would like to complain about outright, as it wasn't mentioned directly with our initial complaint.

Kind regards

 

[Brendan Burgess]

Hi Beany

The Ombudsman has decided how the financial loss should be redressed - subject to challenging AIB's interpretation of the Compound vs. Simple issue.

So you should only be challenging the implications for you. But you will get nothing with a general rant. You will need to show how you were impacted.

And I have read a few Ombudsman's decisions. He does not award big amounts of money.

Brendan

 

[Beany.xx]

Hi @Brendan Burgess, I'm compiling documents to show how we were impacted, but it is hard due to length of time past. AIB have supplied a breakdown, but not a recalculation using compound interest, I don't see why they don't. Is there anything I should be doing or including in my letters. Thanks