Tuesday, 12 September 2017

The Ombudsman – The route to fair complaints handling

The ombudsman visited the London region on the 14 March 2017; the attendance level was very high with over 50 members. One of the most popular meetings so far, the speakers were Ian Woodman and Derek Dunne.

Ian started the presentation with some information and statistics about the ombudsman; how it functions day to day, updated processes and motor complaints. The Ombudsman currently employs some 4,000 staff, who are independent and impartial. 397 of the employees are investigators/adjudicators and they will try to settle any claim in a fair and reasonable way taking into account current industry standards and the possibility of litigation. A number of changes have now been introduced into the process to speed up the overall process. One of the biggest changes surrounds the initial call process; the call will now go through to an investigator and will stay with this person until a conclusion has been reached. Currently the ombudsman can award up to £150,000 in compensation plus costs, a fee of £550 is charged to each case - not to the customer but to the company the complaint is against. Overall the ombudsman receives around 9000 complaints relevant to the motor industry each year, this would cover manufacturers, sales, parts, after sales and body shop etc. Considering how many transactions there are the number of complaints is very low.

Derek then proceeded to discuss the process from an adjudicator's point of view and what is required from an engineer when writing his or her report. In order to reach a decision the adjudicator requires very clear and factual information in all reports. The emphasis is on including any information you have no matter how insignificant you think it may be. Be accurate, independent and impartial as this will allow the adjudicator to come to the correct decision. Images are helpful, they must be clear and informative and always add comments to justify what you are reporting/ Make comments clear and to the point, note any back ground stories and include them as they may be valuable and helpful when making a final decision. List unrelated damage and back up your findings with images. Finally, always have good clear conclusions - this is crucial. It became very clear during the presentation that the adjudicator may have limited knowledge of the motor trade and is very reliant on the accuracy of a professional engineers report.

Dan Manning.