Concerns expressed by Walter Merricks, chief ombudsman at the Financial Ombudsmand Service (FOS), last week that the existence of the FOS could encourage an "unhealthy propensity" among consumers to demand redress for every perceived loss has sparked comment from IFAs.
Charles Seymour-Cole, IFA, says: The consumer is in a no lose situation with regard to complaining. It does not matter how slick and fair an IFA's complaint handling process is; if the consumer is in a loss position, whether real or perceived (as in the case of endowments), and they see a chance of redressing that loss position without it costing them anything to do so, why would they not want to complain just to see if they can get anything out of it? Peter R French,IFA at Troy French, says: The entire issue of caveat emptor seems to have been ignored. Our new culture is that what...
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