What has been your experience of the Ombudsman's mediation service?

[Brendan Burgess]

The Ombudsman puts a lot of effort into resolving complaints by mediation which is the right approach. But I got the impression in a few cases recently that the mediator was discouraging the complainant from progressing with the complaint. I don't know if that is because the mediator knows the Ombudsman's views on the issue or whether they just want another one "successfully resolved".

If you have direct experience of the mediation service, I would be interested in hearing about it.

1) What was the outcome of the mediation? Did mediation resolve the complaint to your satisfaction or did you proceed to investigation and adjudication?
2) In your opinion, was the mediator neutral to both sides or did he prejudge it? If so, on which side?
3) Did you come under pressure to withdraw your complaint or accept an offer which you considered unsatisfactory?
4) How long did it take? Was it a fairly efficient process or did it drag on and sap your energy?
5) Even if you did not reach a successful outcome, was the process useful e.g. in clarifying the arguments of the other side.
6) Have you any suggestions for the Ombudsman to improve the process?
7) If you were making a new complaint to the Ombudsman, would you engage in the mediation process again or would you insist on skipping it and going directly to investigation and adjudication?

Brendan

 

[NoRegretsCoyote]

1) What was the outcome of the mediation? Did mediation resolve the complaint to your satisfaction or did you proceed to investigation and adjudication? No. My complaint was technical and the mediator didn't understand it and I don't think the bank understood the mediator.

2) In your opinion, was the mediator neutral to both sides or did he prejudge it? If so, on which side? As above, he simply didn't understand the technical details of my complaint. A lot of the time people are looking for compensation but I wasn't. I was seeking a change in disclosure of specific information to customers.

3) Did you come under pressure to withdraw your complaint or accept an offer which you considered unsatisfactory? n/a.

4) How long did it take? Was it a fairly efficient process or did it drag on and sap your energy? From memory about 3 weeks with maybe 2 phone calls.

5) Even if you did not reach a successful outcome, was the process useful e.g. in clarifying the arguments of the other side. No. It was a waste of time. The subsequent adjudication was done by someone who clearly understood the finer points of my arguments (I was successful).

6) Have you any suggestions for the Ombudsman to improve the process? Advise people on technical cases that mediation is a waste of time. I suspect there is a lot of attrition at mediation stage as well which they like though, and it's a cheap way of achieving that.

7) If you were making a new complaint to the Ombudsman, would you engage in the mediation process again or would you insist on skipping it and going directly to investigation and adjudication? I made another complaint and skipped it entirely.


I think junior staff do the mediation. More senior staff with a legal background do the adjudication.

My experience above is based on technical complaints based on the Central Bank's Code of Conduct. I wouldn't generalise to more routine complaints like being overcharged credit card interest or the like.

 

[Bluefin]

1. Successful resolved to my satisfaction
2. Had the impression she was in my corner and was working on my behalf to achieve a solution for me.
3. No
4. 2 months from complaint to money lodged to my account
5. N/A
6. None - found the whole process extremely simple
7. Mediation

 

[S0@p0per@]

1.No put forward to formal process.
2. Leaning towards not neutral. Felt I was being fobbed off.
3.Yes. A totally inappropriate offer was placed on the table twice
4. 3 months min and ongoing
5.no. went around in the same circles I have been looping since August 2020
6. Quite long winded , with no outcome. Mediation left me exactly where I started. Maybe mediator could judge if they will be of help or not from the case details to save time and energy going around in circles.
7.interesting to see how it would go, but in my case a waste of time. Would probably go direct route.

 

[Thirsty]

1) What was the outcome of the mediation? Did mediation resolve the complaint to your satisfaction or did you proceed to investigation and adjudication?

Yes complaint was resolved and I got the full compensation I requested.
​

2) In your opinion, was the mediator neutral to both sides or did he prejudge it? If so, on which side?

In our conversations, I felt mediator was in agreement with the arguments I made; though in truth the bank didn't have a leg to stand on & had already offered compensation, which I rejected as less than I asked for.
​

3) Did you come under pressure to withdraw your complaint or accept an offer which you considered unsatisfactory?

neither​

4) How long did it take? Was it a fairly efficient process or did it drag on and sap your energy?

Fairly prompt; bit of to-ing and fro-ing at the start. I made my complaint online in June and I had settlement by August. The online complaint auto response says it could take up to six weeks.​

5) Even if you did not reach a successful outcome, was the process useful e.g. in clarifying the arguments of the other side.

NA​

6) Have you any suggestions for the Ombudsman to improve the process?
NA
7) If you were making a new complaint to the Ombudsman, would you engage in the mediation process again or would you insist on skipping it and going directly to investigation and adjudication?

It wasn't a complicated issue, nor for a huge sum of money (hundreds rather than thousands), so the process worked for me.​