contact our technical advice desk
This is a resource for:
- businesses covered by the ombudsman service
- community and advice workers (for example – trading standards officers, Citizens Advice staff, community workers etc).
Our technical advice desk can :
- give an informal steer on how the ombudsman might view particular complaints
- help you find the information you need about the ombudsman service
- explain how the ombudsman service works.
contact our technical advice desk
open 10am to 4pm, Monday to Friday
- 020 7964 1400
- technical.advice@financial-ombudsman.org.uk
By contacting our technical advice desk to talk through what looks like becoming a tricky situation, you many be able to sort out the problem informally at an early stage – saving time, money and effort all round.
discussing specific cases
Our technical advice desk is happy to give businesses and advice workers informal help on how the ombudsman is likely to view specific issues. But it does not decide cases. The informal help it gives:
- is based on information provided by only one of the parties to the complaint and
- is not binding if the complaint is later referred to the ombudsman service.
Businesses writing or talking to consumers about a complaint should not refer specifically to any informal contact they have had with the technical advice desk.
If you have a question about a specific complaint that has already been referred to the ombudsman service, our technical advice desk will not be able to discuss the case with you. Where the case has already been allocated to one of our adjudicators, you should get in touch with that adjudicator.
Sometimes a financial business, trade association or consumer body wishes to meet us to discuss some general or specific issue. As an open and accessible organisation, we are happy to discuss the lessons to be learnt from the cases we have handled, our general approach as illustrated by past cases, and our procedures.
But like the courts, we follow the rules of natural justice when dealing with individual cases. This means we cannot accept – in private – points which a financial business, a trade association or a consumer body wishes to make, to try to influence how we should decide cases that we are considering.
If we agree to a meeting about specific cases without both sides being present, we will record any relevant points – so that we may seek the views of the other side where appropriate. But usually it will be better if points are put to us in writing, which we may copy to the other side if appropriate. We will also consider any application for a hearing, which both parties can attend.