os annual report 2013

7/24/2019 OS Annual Report 2013

1/41 Annual report and accounts 2012/13 1

Annual report and accounts 2012/13


2/41

mbudsman Services

Annual report and accounts 2012/13 3

Ombudsman Services is an independent dispute

resolution service for the communications, energy,

property and copyright licensing sectors.

Our vision:

to provide excellent complaint resolution for

consumers and participating companies;

to make recommendations for improvement orchange to companies within the sectors; and

to promote the benefits of independent complainthandling to other industries and their customers.

Our values:

CourteousIndependent

Accessible

EffectiveConsistent

Contents

Foreword from the Chair 4

Chief Ombudsman overview 5

Year at a glance 8

Timeline 10

Aim 1: Provide independent dispute resolution that is high quality, 12

proportionate and effective

Process diagram 15

Aim 2: Ensure that all sections of the community have access 16

to the service

Aim 3:Have a highly skilled, informed and motivated workforce 18

Aim 4: Work with the industry and regulators to improve customer 20service and complaints handling

Aim 5:Enhance the reputation of the company as an independent 22

and reliable commentator of effective dispute resolution

Aim 6: Ensure the business model is responsive and sustainable 24

and provides value for money

Aim 7:Seek new areas of business where there is clear consumer 25

benet and increased exibility and resilience for the company

Communications Overview 28

Complaint types 30

At a glance 32

Sharing the learning 34

Energy Overview 38

Complaint types 40

At a glance 42


Property Overview 48

Complaint types 50

At a glance 52


Copyright Licensing Overview 58

Board report The directors report 62

Customer satisfaction research 64

Service complaints 65

Report of the Independent Assessor 66

Financial statements Independent auditors report 70

Year ended 31 March 2013 71

Notes to the nancial statements 73


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mbudsman Services


his is my third year as Chair of

mbudsman Services. I am very

rateful for the support that I receive

onsistently from other board

members and from the executive

o assist me in this role.

uring the last year the company

as gone from strength to strength.

s shown in this report, we have

troduced new processes and an

nhanced IT system, and these

hanges have created a very dynamicel to the organisation. We are

moving at a rapid pace to ensure that

e provide an outstanding service to

onsumers and to our participating

ompanies. These changes have also

elped the board to further enhance

s contribution. We are now able to

monitor a wider range of information,

or example, on quality measures.

At a national level consumer policy

is developing rapidly, with all political

parties now more focussed on this

important topic. Ombudsman Services

is an important part of the consumer

landscape and the board encourages

active collaboration with these

agendas. At the same time, we are

very conscious that our role is to be

completely even-handed between

the consumer and the participating

company when we resolve disputes.

The board is pleased to seethat enhanced relationships with

companies have developed during

the year, so that we can add further

value to their operations and we can

learn from them.

I would like to offer my personal

and warm thanks to board members,

to the executive and to the employees

at Ombudsman Services for their

contributions during the year.

The quality and reputation of our

service depends totally on them.

Professor Dame Janet Finch DBE

Chair of the Board

Foreword from the Chair,

Professor Dame Janet Finch DBE

Ombudsman Services has

implemented a series of major

change programmes during the year:

the customer journey, to know and

be known, employee engagement

and business development. These

programmes were successfully

achieved, while consistently meeting

key performance indicators and

without increasing unit costs.

The customer journey

We have two sets of customers

the consumers who make complaints

and the companies who participate in

our schemes. Our product is dispute

resolution and we aim to deliver this

quickly, effectively and at reasonable

cost. We owe it to our customers to

provide the best possible service and

we constantly seek ways to improve

and become ever more efcient.

During 2012/13 we removed

non-value added steps from our

processes and rened the way we

manage complaints to make us more

efcient and exible. Our processes

are assured by strengthened quality

control and are supported by our

team of ombudsmen, who provide

advice and guidance and who make

nal decisions when necessary.

We have underpinned the customerjourney by a large investment in new

technology, which not only helps our

ofcers but makes us more accessible

to customers and other stakeholders.

To know and be known

Our to know and be known change

programme has enabled us to have

a good understanding of the context

in which we operate and the external

developments that have a direct

impact on us. It has heightened

awareness of our service with other

sectors and members of the public

and helped us to provide structured

feedback on our learning from

complaints to relevant stakeholders.

Employee engagement

Our organisation is only as good

as our people. Our employee

engagement change programme

concentrates on supporting and

rewarding our people as well as

ensuring they have forums for

debate and feedback.

Business development

Business development is a key priority

for the Ombudsman Services board.

During 2012/13 we won the bid

to become the ombudsman and

investigation service for the Green

Deal the governments agship

environmental policy that aims to

improve the housing stock and

reduce the consumption of energy.Having independent redress available

should something go wrong gives

condence to householders

considering a Green Deal plan.

We also expanded our copyright

licensing remit to cover most of the

collective management organisations.

We welcome the initiative taken by the

government in the Enterprise and

Regulatory Reform (ERR) Act,

which encourages voluntary regulation

and redress but gives the secretary

of state powers to impose this if

necessary. An amendment made to the

same act will introduce a requirement

for letting and managing agents to be

part of an ombudsman scheme.

The future of the ombudsman

European Union (EU) legislation on

alternative dispute resolution means

that each member state must ensurethat independent redress schemes are

available for all consumer transactions.

The member state must be able to

show that these schemes comply with

certain criteria, provide the facility for

complaints to be made online and be

able to deal with cross-border

disputes.

I believe passionately in the work

of the ombudsman we really can

and do make a difference. A dispute

over 100 may not seem a lot to a

global company but it makes a huge

difference for the person struggling to

make ends meet. Easy access to an

independent means of resolution not

only gives a measure of protection,

but also gives consumers condence

to engage with the market and so

brings benets to industry.

As Ombudsman Services celebratesits 10 year anniversary, we look

forward to the challenges ahead.

We are condent that we already

comply with the EU legislation and

are proud to demonstrate that we

are independent, fair, efcient,

cost effective and, above all,

customer focussed.

Lewis Shand Smith

Chief Ombudsman

Chief Ombudsman overview,

Lewis Shand Smith


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mbudsman Services


Ombudsman Services

We resolve complaints

from consumers about

companies that have

signed up to our

service. We aim to

resolve complaints

as early as possible.

We are entirely

independent; we do

not take sides and we

make decisions based

on the facts. 19,639complaints resolved in 2012/13


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mbudsman Services


umber of new contacts

We responded to 122,589

ew contacts during 2012/13,

n average of 490 per working day.

his is 6% more than the previous

ear. The gure does not include

ubsequent contacts about the

ame case.

Just over half (51%) of the consumers

who contacted Ombudsman Services

for the rst time used a telephone.

Of the 60,019 written contacts,

78% were emails and online forms,

22% were letters and fewer t han

1% were faxes.

Reasons we accept a complaint

about a participating company

Companies have eight weeks to

resolve a complaint, after which theircustomer can complain to us. In line

with previous years, the majority (77%)

of complaints we accepted were

because eight weeks had elapsed

without resolution.

Sometimes a company provides a nal

response or deadlock letter, within the

eight week period, which states that

it will no longer be considering the

complaint. The complainant can then

bring their complaint to us. A fth

of complaints we accepted were

because the company issued a

deadlock letter.

Where appropriate, an ombudsman

may use discretion to accept a

complaint that is outside of our terms

of reference. For example, a consumer

must complain to us within nine

months of rst complaining to the

service provider. If the complainant

was unable to contact us sooner,

perhaps because of serious illness,

we may accept their case.

We accepted 3% of complaints

using ombudsmans discretion.

Year at a glance

Reasons we cannot accept a

complaint about a participating

company

The main reason we cannot accept

a case about a participating company

is because the consumer has not

given the company a reasonable

opportunity to resolve their complaint.

We work with these complainants to

give them advice and signpost t hem

to the appropriate organisation.

Other reasons that we cannot accept

a complaint include the consumer

waiting over nine months to contact

us after reporting the issue to the

service provider, or waiting more than

12 months to report the problem.

These account for less than 1% of

cases that are outside our terms

of reference.

During 2012/13 we resolved 19,639

complaints, 7% more than the

previous year.

We resolved 34% of complaints

using early resolution and mutually

acceptable settlement. This is where

we contact both parties, preferably

by phone, to discuss the complaint

and its resolution and try to reach

agreement.

The remaining 66% of the complaints

required further investigation,

where we request a case le from

the participating company and issue

a report.

Awards and remedies

To resolve a complaint we can require

a participating company to provide a

nancial award, to return the customer

to the position they were in before the

problem occurred or to acknowledge

a shortfall in customer service.

We can also require a non-nancial

remedy such as an apology, an

explanation, a service or some

practical action. If we nd the

company is not at fault and hasacted appropriately, we may decide

that no further action is required.

If the complainant accepts our

resolution, it is binding on the

participating company, which then

has 28 days to implement the remedy.

During 2012/13 we required

companies to provide both a nancial

award and a non-nancial remedy in

55% of cases. We required a nancial

only award in 12% of cases and a

non-nancial only remedy in 21% of

cases. We required no further action in

12% of cases.

Key performance indicators

(KPIs)

We have key performance indicators

(KPIs) that measure the time we

take to respond to calls andcorrespondence and the time we

take to issue reports. During 2012/13

we achieved KPIs in all categories.

Number of participating

companies

We have almost 8,500 participating

companies signed up to our service.

We handle complaints for a range

of sectors including communications,

energy, property, copyright licensing

and the Green Deal.

Number of employees

As of 31 March 2013 we had 156 full

time equivalent employees, 55% were

female and 45% were male.

Income breakdown

ew contacts

122,589

49%Written contacts

51%Telephone contacts

nside and outside our terms of reference

Approximately 22% of the new

contacts we received during

2012/13 were within our terms ofreference; the rest were outside

our terms of reference. Of those

contacts that were outside our

terms of reference, 82% were

premature and likely to return,

11% related to companies or

sectors that we do not currently

cover and 7% were general enquiries

and literature requests.

22%Inside terms of reference

78%Outside terms of reference

82%Premature

11%Companies or sectors that

we do not currently cover

7%General enquiries and

literature requests

The complaints we resolved

34% Resolved usingearly resolution andmutually acceptable

settlement

66% Resolved followinginvestigation

38%Subscription fees

62%Case fees

Total operating costs: 8 million

Female

86

45% 55%

Male

70


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mbudsman Services


The customer

ourney

We are always looking for ways to

mprove the speed and quality of our

ervice. In 2012/13 we implemented

new case management system and

ith it a host of process changes to

mprove the customers journey from

aising a complaint to resolution.

We are seeing excellent results.We have resolved over 1,000 more

omplaints than the previous year,

e have consistently achieved our

erformance targets and our forecasts

re more accurate.

hief Ombudsman Lewis Shand

mith says: We have adapted our

usiness to offer a quicker, more

obust, higher quality service. We have

andled more complaints, at the same

nit cost, while introducing new

ystems and new ways of working.

his is just the beginning of our

urney.

aster processes

uring 2012/13 we resolved around

500 (34%) complaints over the

hone and we want to do this more

ften. Having a conversation is much

uicker than written communication;e can manage consumers

xpectations more effectively

nd explain our reasoning.

Working quickly and openly with

s also helps companies to retain their

ustomers. We have developed our

ommunication skills and introduced

new telephone system to support

his way of working.

Complaints can now be made

and accepted over the telephone.

Where possible we will continue to

contact both parties in the dispute

by phone that personal contact

can often lead to an agreed resolution.

We resolve disputes in three different

ways early resolution, mutually

acceptable settlement and

Ombudsman Services decision.

Where the resolution is obvious to

us from the beginning we willencourage both sides to accept it

we aim to do that within ve days,

but often can succeed within a few

hours. When the issue is more

complex then we will collect the

evidence, analyse it and propose

a resolution; the aim is to nd a

settlement that is acceptable

to both sides. If this is unsuccessful,

or it is clear from the start that this

route will not lead to resolution, then

we proceed with the more traditional

investigation and provide a report.

In all circumstances the proposed

outcome rests with us and when

accepted by the complainant

becomes legally binding on

the company.

Same high quality

We have taken our quality checking

to the next level by introducing an

independent quality assurance team.

The team sets the standards for written

and verbal work and ensures that

quality assessments are fair, consistent

and transparent. It also monitors service

complaints about us and implements

changes as a result of lessons learned.

The team makes recommendations to

help employees improve and give themcondence in their work.

Investment in technology

Our new case management system

can be adapted to meet the changing

needs of our business, now and in the

future. It includes a customer facing

portal that consumers and companies

will be able to access to get updates

on their own case.

We also have new phone and

workforce management tools that

help us get the most out of our time

and ensure that customers get to

speak to the most appropriate person

at Ombudsman Services.

Provide independent dispute resolution that

is high quality, proportionate and effective

Forecasting

Our operational support team

forecasts complaints and ensures thatwe meet the key performance

indicators set by the regulators.

Real-time analysts manage our

resource to handle peaks and troughs

in complaints and to monitor the

output of employees.

Director of Dispute Resolution

Tracey Newmansays: We are

consistently achieving performance

targets and can plan our workload

up 12 months in advance (within 5%).

We can better plan our head count

and have a much leaner, efcient

organisation as a result.

We have a tailor-made forecasting

model that looks at historical data

and intelligence to plan capacity

requirements and producemanagement information. We have

also introduced regular business

planning meetings, where managers

discuss performance, volumes and

issues that are likely to cause an

increase in contacts.

Tracey continues: It is not an easy

feat forecasting complaints, as a

number of factors can inuence the

volume of people who contact us.

We have taken measures to close

the gap between our expectation

and the reality.

Case study: Early resolution

We received a call from a

complainant at 2.50pm and by3.17pm the same day the company

and the complainant had agreed to

a resolution. The customer had

cancelled her contract but it had

mistakenly rolled over a simple

shortfall in customer service.

The complainant verbally accepted

our account of the complaint and

agreed to send across supporting

evidence. When we spoke

to the company it acknowledged

the error it had made and agreed

to the proposed resolution.

We have adapted our business to offer a

quicker, more robust, higher quality service.

We have handled more complaints, at the

same unit cost, while introducing new

systems and new ways of working


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mbudsman Services


Process diagram

Investigations

Enquiries

Enquiry comes in Verbal acceptance Possible early resolution

Case management

Evidence comes inTriage and case preparation

Mutually acceptable settlement Ombudsman Services decision

ase study: Mutually acceptable settlement

The consumer wanted to know which car parking space was allocated to his at. The issue was resolved but the

complainant was unhappy with the time and trouble it took and wanted 250 from the managing agent.

We called the complainant and conrmed our understanding of the issue that the parking allocation was resolved but

there had been some delays. We explained that the developer was responsible for allocating the parking space, not the

managing agent, and that the companys only shortfall was the delay in responding.

We recommended that the managing agent apologise and make a goodwill payment in recognition of the shortfall.

We explained that the complainant had 14 days to accept our resolution or to provide representations that showed a

signicant error in facts or signicant new evidence not previously available. The complainant agreed to the resolution,

as did the managing agent.

Head of Investigations Angela Taylor says: The investigation ofcer demonstrated good sector knowledge,

explaining where the responsibility lay, the importance of paying service charges and the consequences of not

doing so. The complainant was interested in punitive actions but we explained that is not our role and gave

reasons for the award we recommended. This is a good example of our new verbal process, and we hope to

resolve more cases where appropriate in this way.

Measuring success

good measure of our standards

feedback from the people who

se our services. We run customer

atisfaction research every quarter

o ensure we are achieving good

andards. It measures the whole

ustomer experience and gives us

n early indication of problems and

uccesses.

Looking ahead

The infrastructure we are putting in

place now will help us to achieve high

quality outcomes for many years to

come. Our new processes and IT

systems are responsive to meet the

needs of existing and new business.

Tracey says: We have many different

strands to our business and we need

a stable infrastructure around the

operation to handle those strands.

We dont want to restrict ourselves

and have made sure that our case

management, skill based routing

and workforce management systems

have the capacity to take us

wherever we need to go.

n our endeavours to lead the way in transparent communication and

ervice excellence, we continue to see real benefit from working with

mbudsman Services. The impartial lens that Ombudsman Services

pplies to consumer referrals, provides not only a route for resolution,

ut also some key learnings in terms of ways to do things better. It is

lear that both service providers and Ombudsman Services share a

ommon goal to provide workable, balanced and fair solutions for

ustomers. This continues to be the case as we move forward,

elping to shape a better energy industry for all.

ritish Gas, Ian Peters, MD, Residential Energy


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mbudsman Services


To know and

be known

Most people use the services of an

mbudsman only once and so it is

ssential that we are visible and

ccessible.

website that is easy to use

he Ombudsman Services website is

ssential for informing people abouthat we do, for offering advice and

or taking complaints. During 2012/13

received 307,000 visits, with the

ommunications, Energy and

mbudsman Services homepages

eing the most popular landing pages.

fter arriving at the website, the most

opular pages to visit were the

contact us areas and the

omplaint form.

irector of Policy and

ommunications Susan Foxsays:

We changed the websites content

nd layout to make it easier to use.

ew features include a Twitter feed

nd a report card with our latest

ublished statistics. The complain

ow button is more prominent and,

s a result, visits to the what are

ou complaining about? page

ave increased by over 700%.

he participating company tab is alsomore dened to clearly differentiate

he advice we give to consumers from

hat aimed at companies. We have

so added some useful content,

cluding details of our governance

nd credentials. Newsletters, case

udies, press statements and advice

re available to download.

Accessing our service

We make it easy for consumers to

contact us by providing a choice of

methods, including telephone,

textphone, email, online forms, post or

fax. We make reasonable adjustments

to ensure that all consumers

particularly those with disabilities or

whose rst language is not English

have access to our service.

During 2012/13 we responded toapproximately 150 requests to provide

documents in alternative formats such

as large print, braille and audio.

We also offered the services of a

translator and provided documents

in different languages.

Plain language

As part of our commitment to

improving accessibility, we have

refreshed our writing guide. It is based

on plain language principles and we

have built it into our quality assurance

process to ensure we communicate

clearly and effectively.

We have also simplied our lit erature

by replacing booklets with simple fact

sheets that explain our services andprocesses. These can be updated

quickly so that consumers and

companies always have access

to the latest information.

Ensure that all sections of the community

have access to the service

Reaching a wider audience

We now have over 1,000 followers on

Twitter (@OmbudServices), including

national journalists, participating

companies, consumer champions and

members of parliament. Social media

is an effective way to provide

information and comments and to

share links and advice. In November

2012 we launched our Facebook

page to engage with an even wider

cross-section of consumers. We useTwitter and Facebook to signpost

consumers to our website, our

contact centre or to other relevant

consumer organisations, and to keep

people informed of our corporate

events and activities.

Susan says: It makes sense to be

where people are complaining, and

increasingly this is on social media

sites. Social media enables us to raise

our prole and it gives us a great

opportunity to show our personality.

We are a friendly, approachable

organisation and our tweets and

Facebook messages reect this.

Ombudsman Services comments

have been retweeted by consumer

industry leaders, such as Citizens

Advice, Money Saving Expert Martin

Lewis and the BBCs property expert

Henry Pryor, to thousands of Twitter

followers.

Spreading the word

We attend consumer conferences

and exhibitions to share the learning

from the complaints we handle.For example, we exhibited at the

Trading Standards exhibition in

Manchester, spoke at the European

Union consumer summit in Brussels

and attended a seminar to review the

Communications Act from a consumer

perspective. These events are a

valuable opportunity to share

experiences and best

practice in helping

consumers.

Showing your commitment

We provide materials for participating

companies to show that they are

signed up to Ombudsman Services.

We encourage companies to display

our logo to demonstrate their

commitment to customer care.

@OmbudServices tweets

Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat, dont put your money in the

claims companies hats tinyurl.com/bvjm3da

Let them eat cake! Weve spied lots of our, eggs, sugar and milk in our

colleagues bags today for our @macmillancoffee event tomorrow.

Chief Ombudsman Lewis Shand Smith is attending @EnergyUKcomms

annual Parliamentary reception at the House of Commons today

Want to know more about the work we do with communications companies?

Latest newsletter and cases studies http://bit.ly/11vrzCh

Thinking about switching your energy provider? Just make sure that you are

informed, prepared, that you know what... http://fb.me/1H9wYiN8L

Social media enables us to raise our

profile and it gives us a great opportunity

to show our personality. We are a friendly,

approachable organisation and our tweets

and Facebook messages reflect this


10/41

mbudsman Services


Employee

engagement

he experience of our customers and

akeholders is driven by a friendly,

elcoming and knowledgeable service

elivered by appropriately skilled

dividuals. We have a strong

hilosophy of developing and

romoting from within, so we can put

he talents of our people to good use.

ighly skilled

uring 2012/13 our expanded

arning and development team

rranged a variety of training, from

ain English courses to job specic

nowledge and management

evelopment, to give people the

ondence and ability to do their

bs well. To support the move

owards telephone based resolutions,

e trained people in telephone skills,

egotiation skills and understanding

onict.

irector of Corporate Services

ichard Brown says: We have taken

normous strides to ensure our people

re equipped with the right skills,

nowledge and tools to allow them

o deliver a consistently high quality,

gh performing service.

We also provide opportunities

for people to develop by offering

secondments in different areas of the

business and by involving employees

in signicant projects. The project to

bring in a new case management

system required input from across the

business and allowed employees to

showcase their talents.

Richard adds: We create

opportunities for people to work

in different roles to enhance theirunderstanding of the business and

their potential. It also ensures we have

people who are exible to work as the

business requires. All of this helps to

transform a good customer

experience into a great one.

Informed

In a fast-changing environment,

it is important that employees are

informed of change effectively.

Chief Ombudsman Lewis Shand

Smith says: Our intranet provides

a central hub for news and essential

information. We publish a weekly

employee newsletter and use

managers briefs to deliver key

corporate messages face to face.

We have plans to develop t hese

tools more in the coming year

and to support managers as

communicators.

Motivated

Hard work does not go unnoticed.

In October 2012 we held an internal

event to celebrate the achievements of

our employees. We honoured people

who gained certicates and awards

in areas like ombudsman practice,

leadership and management,

re safety and rst aid.

Lewis says: It is really important that

we stop, take stock and celebrate ourachievements. Our people have

shown an incredible commitment

to the company and their own

development. The spirit in which they

do this work is fantastic and a vital

part of the success of the business.

We also have an events committee to

organise social activities and we are

putting in place a charity crew to

organise fundraising and voluntary

activities for a nominated charity of

the year.

Values and behaviours

We have completed an organisation-

wide exercise to nd out what values

and behaviours we need in the

workplace to improve performance

and help us through a period of great

change. We asked our people to think

about how they contribute to ourstrategic aims and how we can

continue to be more productive and

efcient. We developed values

passion, understanding and

togetherness that encourage

efcient working, cooperation and

positivity across Ombudsman

Services.

Have a highly skilled, informed

and motivated workforce

Richard says: We built these values

into our new appraisal process to

ensure that we recognise and promote

employees contributions to our

working environment. We have a

far better idea of what motivates our

employees and whether they have

the support they need to do their

jobs well. Those who feel valued

and motivated will provide the best

possible service to our customers and

will continue to support our ambition

for growth.

Giving employees a voice

During 2012/13 we ran an employee

survey to nd out how our people feel

about the business and to provide a

benchmark for future improvements.

The results showed that many of our

people are willing to go the extra mile

and are happy to recommend our

services.

However, there is always work to be

done. To build on the areas identied

for improvement, we have expanded

our learning and development

activities and are improving our

internal communications methods.

Richard says: We know we must

preserve the good things about the

organisation, such as its customer

focus and good working relationships,

amidst the changes we are making.

Regular opportunity for employee

feedback is important. We have a

staff consultation group which has

been involved in the signicant

developments at Ombudsman

Services, such as the job evaluation

review, establishing a new appraisal

process and reviewing employees

benets.

We have taken enormous strides to ensure

our people are equipped with the right skills,

knowledge and tools to allow them

to deliver a consistently high quality,

high performing service

Our people have shown an incredible

ommitment to the company and their

own development. The spirit in which they

do this work is fantastic and a vital part of

he success of the business


11/41

mbudsman Services


Sharing the

earning

ur work on consumer complaints

means we have a unique overview

f the sectors we cover. We use this

osition to raise awareness of issues,

omment on consumer affairs and

hare best practice.


ommunications Susan Fox explains:We are in a privileged position.

We learn a great deal from different

akeholders and have a duty to

hare this through our meetings

nd publications.

dentifying issues

customers tell us about a problem a

ompany isnt aware of, we alert the

ompany to the issue and work with

em to manage their customers

xpectations. Similarly, if the company

aware of an issue that may cause a

pike in complaints we expect them to

otify us. During 2012/13 a number of

rge service providers switched IT

ystems, causing some disruption.

ecause they alerted us to the

sruption, we were able to keep their

ustomers up to date and potentially

educe complaints further down the line.

uidance

We give guidance to our participating

ompanies to prevent problems

ecurring. For example, when it

merged that some companies were

ot always alerting consumers to their

ght to redress, we provided standard

tter templates, approved by the

egulators, for them to use. We have

so written guidance on case les

o ensure participating companies

rovide the right information to help

s resolve complaints quickly and

ccurately.

Regular meetings

Relationship Manager Sue Jackson

is the main point of contact for

participating companies and maintains

a good working relationship with them.

Sue shares information and makes

sure that different parties are kept

up to date.

Sue says: Participating companies

need to understand what we do and

work effectively with us to resolvedisputes. The better we understand

companies, the better we are at

resolving their customers complaints.

Sector liaison panels

Our sector liaison panels provide a

good way of sharing the learning and

keeping up to date with industry news.

These panels, for the communications,

energy and property sectors, meet at

least twice a year.

Susan Fox says: It is useful to have

an open forum where we can discuss

process changes, government policy

and emerging issues. These meetings

help us to understand the impact

initiatives can have on companies

and their customers, and they give

us a chance to get feedback. They

also help us to forecast complaints

and plan our resource effectively.

Consumer liaison panel

We bring together consumer groups

at least twice a year to share news

and to discuss consumer protection

issues. The consumer liaison panel

has representatives from organisations

including Age UK, Citizens Advice,

Which? and Trading Standards.

Susan explains: We use the panel

to discuss consumer protection in

the sectors we cover and to raiseconcerns. A good example of the

effectiveness of the panel is the

issue of energy claims management

companies. They have been

promoting their services to

vulnerable consumers, offering to

win compensation from energy

companies for a fee. We urged

organisations to share the message

that redress is free for consumers

and that awards are not guaranteed.

Panel members were not aware of the

issue and agreed to report back on

any experience of claims management

companies.

Kate Hobson, Service Delivery

Manager at Citizens Advice, says:

Discussions at the consumer liaison

panel offer an insight into the current

priorities and challenges of each

organisation. We have gained a

better understanding of some ofthe attending organisations.

Work with the industry and regulators

to improve customer service and

complaints handling

The relationship between the Citizens

Advice consumer service and the

Energy Saving Advice Line was

formed as a result of the panel.

Suzanne Kuyser, Service Director of

the Trading Standards Institute, adds:

We nd our membership very useful.

Sharing and networking on consumer

issues is invaluable to our planning

and policy work.

International relations

Ombudsman Services is a founding

member of the National Energy

Ombudsman Network (NEON).

This enables us to share good

practice with ombudsman schemes

across Europe and to participate

in international discussions on

consumer affairs.

Chief Ombudsman Lewis Shand

Smith explains: The European Union

(EU) asked us to set up a network

of energy ombudsmen. We work

together and share our experiences

of consumer disputes. Its one of the

few forums where we can talk about

EU legislation, nd out how others

have adopted it and provide advice

for European bodies.

Read all about it

We launched our quarterly

sector newsletters in April 2012.

The newsletters bring together

updates on business processes,

issues and discussion topics, as well

as offering case studies, statistics and

advice. They are aimed at participating

companies and are available to

everyone on our website.

Case studies and advice

To illustrate typical consumer

problems, we publish regular case

studies. We have adopted a creative

and topical approach to capture

interest in the serious messages

we want to get across.

Last summer we issued a case

study to alert people to the dangers

of using their mobile phones abroad;

it received over 3,700 visits on ourwebsite. We followed up the campaign

with a back to school article, to raise

awareness of the increasing number

of complaints from parents whose

children have extremely high bills.

This received over 2,000 visits.

For Halloween, we published a case

study about a buy-to-let nightmare in

which a homebuyer complained about

a haunted house. The story illustrated

how important it is for buyers to be

aware of the limits of their property

survey. Earlier that month we

supported the Citizens Advice Big

Energy Saving Week campaign by

publishing case studies and advice

to help consumers cut utility bills.

For our Christmas campaign we

commissioned a fun animal cartoon,which used the voices of our

employees, to highlight the more

unusual complaints we had handled

during the year.

Participating companies need to

understand what we do and work

effectively with us to resolve disputes.

The better we understand companies,

the better we are at resolving their

customers complaintsEmail @. with your name,

company and email address to subscribe to our newsletters.


12/41

mbudsman Services


Adding value

We are passionate about consumer

edress and keen to share our views

nd experience of complaints.

articipating in policy debate and

evelopment and responding to

onsultations is a vital part of what

e do.


ommunications Susan Fox says:

We have an important role to play inemonstrating the value of alternative

spute resolution, so we regularly

espond to consultations, speak at

vents and provide expert comments

or the media.

olicy highlights

o help contribute to good policy

evelopment and decision making,

e share our complaints handling

xperience. During 2012/13 we

esponded to 35 consultations.

hese included industry-specic

onsultations, such as Ofcoms

roposal to simplify switching

nd Ofgems retail market review,

nd wider consumer protection

onsultations, such as the European

nion (EU) directive on alternative

spute resolution and the Trading

tandards Institute consultation

n consumer codes.

usan says: We respond to

onsultations that affect the industries

e provide redress for, or where we

ave useful evidence or experience

hat can contribute to the debate.

We welcome proposals that increase

rotection for consumers.

Networking

We take the platform at events to give

our views and often brief journalists,

members of parliament and other

organisations on consumer redress.

A good example of this is when Chief

Ombudsman Lewis Shand Smith

spoke at the Building Effective

Markets conference, which considered

developments in the civil justice

system throughout Europe, collective

redress and individual alternativedispute resolution (ADR).

He also spoke on the importance

of trust in business at a round table

event organised by Professions for

Good, and at an Erasmus School

of Law conference on resolving

mass disputes.

Ombudsman Association

To be a member of the Ombudsman

Association the professional

association for ombudsmen and

complaint handlers an organisation

must demonstrate that it is

independent, fair, effective, open

and transparent, and accountable.

Our membership of the association

has recently been revalidated.

We attend the associations network

groups to share experience and learn

good practice from other ombudsman

schemes; these include the private

sector ombudsman group, the

editorial board and interest groups

for communications, HR, IT and law.

Channelling our views

To raise awareness of the

ombudsman schemes we run,

we provide comment for the mediaand interviewees for radio and TV

programmes.

We have featured on the BBC

programme Dont Get Done Get

Dom to talk about energy and

property complaints, we take part

in radio call-in shows to answer

consumers questions and we have

featured in the consumer pages of the

national press, including the Daily Mail

and Readers Digest.

Susan says: We want to raise

awareness of Ombudsman Services

and what we can do to help

consumers, but we dont want

to drum up complaints or cause

unnecessary calls to our contact

centre. Providing the media with

information on consumer stories is a

good way of ensuring our messages

reach the right people at the right

time, when issues are topical and

people are interested.

Enhance the reputation of the company as

an independent and reliable commentator

of effective dispute resolution

Publishing complaints data

We want to share more of the datawe hold on complaints. Our new case

management system will allow us to

access data much more easily.

During 2012/13 we launched our

rst consultation, to seek the views

of companies, regulators and

consumer bodies on the types of

data they wanted to see published.

The consultation received 200 web

visits in the rst week and around 30

responses by the end of the exercise.

Respondents, particularly the energy

sector, engaged in the debate and

supported our proposals.

Susan explains: There is an appetite

for the data we own. Publishing more

of our data means we will share the

learning with more people about the

causes of complaints and how they

are handled. This will help improve

customer service and inform thework of other consumer bodies.

We will publish data quarterly; it will

be available in different formats and

will be held on our website for threeyears. The data will cover the

communications, energy and property

sectors. We will name participating

companies in the energy sector

a radical step that the industry

supports.

Understanding perceptions

We have begun conducting market

research into public and stakeholder

perceptions of ombudsmen in

general and Ombudsman Services

in particular. The surveys will provide

information on the extent to which

members of the public know about

ombudsmen and will give feedback

on our performance from participating

companies and key stakeholders.

We have an important role to play in

demonstrating the value of alternative

dispute resolution, so we regularly respond

to consultations, speak at events and

provide expert comments for the media

Here is a sample of our

policy work:

We contributed to the development

of the European Union (EU) directive

on alternative dispute resolution

(ADR) and online dispute resolution

(ODR).

We responded to the Law

Commission consultation on unfair

terms in consumer contracts.

We agreed that some of the terms

used in consumer contracts are

difcult to understand and

recommended that the denition

of consumer should be extended

to cover micro businesses.

Proposed contract terms will now

be transparent and in plain English.

A number of the suggestions that

we made in our response to the

principles of how the Regulated

Industries Unit (RIU) should work

have been included in proposalsfor its rst year work plan. These

include the need for partnership

working, evidence based policy

making and a commitment to

share best practice.


13/41

mbudsman Services


Ready for more

The government wants greater

protection for consumers and aims

to cut the number of disputes that go

to court by providing more accessible,

more affordable forms of redress.

We are keen to help by plugging

the gaps in redress and offering

independent dispute resolution

where currently there is none.

Director of Business DevelopmentSimon Morris says: We have an

important role to play in the future of

consumer redress. Our service offers

excellent value for money and we are

experienced in taking on new sectors.

We can offer a exible service to help

companies increase their customers

condence. Expanding our remit will

make us more resilient but it must not

be to the detriment of our existing

customers growth is, and will

continue to be, controlled.

Building on success

In summer 2012 we were appointed

ombudsman and investigation service

for the governments Green Deal

initiative. With experience of handling

energy and property complaints, we

already covered two of the three areas

of redress required by the Green Deal.

We have a good working relationshipwith the Financial Ombudsman

Service (FOS), which covers the

third area of Green Deal redress

consumer credit. See page 39.

We have recently been appointed

provider of complaints redress for

collective management organisations,

building on our experience of handling

complaints about PRS for Music.

We supported the Department of

Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS),

the Intellectual Property Ofce (IPO)

and the collective management

organisations in developing

new industry codes of conduct.

These codes require the collective

management organisations (which

issue licences, collect royalties and

distribute them to their members) to

provide alternative dispute resolution.

See page 58.

In early 2013 we took on paid for TV

complaints for Sky. We welcomed the

chance to extend our remit and are

encouraging other satellite TVproviders to offer their customers

the same protection. See page 29.

In property, we struck a deal with t he

National Approved Letting Scheme

(NALS) to offer its members access to

redress at competitive rates. Following

the amendment of the Enterprise and

Regulatory Reform Bill, which will in

time require all letting agents to be

members of an ombudsman scheme,

we are expanding our services in the

letting market. We have also recently

extended our service to cover the

management of retirement homes.

See page 49.

New opportunities

Asset based nance is a completely

new area for us and one in which we

can add real value. The Asset Based

Finance Association (ABFA)approached us to supply redress

to its members.

Simon says: Ombudsman Services is

becoming a widely recognised brand.

More companies are realising the

benets of offering an independent

redress scheme to their customers

and are approaching us for a solution.

Rules prevented the Financial

Ombudsman Service (FOS) from

looking at complaints about ABFA

members so we were able to step in

and meet its needs.

A lot of smaller sectors remain without

alternative dispute resolution (ADR)

schemes. We track policy and are in

contact with government bodies and

consumer organisations to understand

movements in the consumer

marketplace.

We have a product to be proud of.

We welcome companies who want to

invest in customer care. Membership

of an ombudsman scheme shows that

a business cares about its customers;

the more services that sign up the

better the protection for consumers.

Seek new areas of business where there

is clear consumer benefit and increased

flexibility and resilience for the company

Being responsive

and sustainable

he challenge for any ombudsman

cheme is to be able to adapt to

uctuations in complaint numbers

uickly, effectively and cost efciently.

We have met this challenge in a

umber of ways.

We have a new planning team,

esponsible for controlling the owf work in the organisation as well

s predicting future workow and

mapping this against our resources.

s a growing business, we need to

make sure that we generate sufcient

nds, not only to run the business

ay to day but to provide funds

o invest in our people and our

frastructure.

This enables us to continue providing

and improving upon a service that

represents good value for money

for our participating companies.

Our pricing policy is a key element in

achieving this.

Director of Corporate Services Richard

Brown says: Our pricing gives us a

exible model that allows us to match

our capacity to demand whilst

providing a sustainable platform

for improved service delivery.

The model we have developed is

attractive to other areas of the private

sector. It is robust, scalable and

provides value for money. It enables

us to develop our business and to

offer an efcient dispute resolution

service.

Ensure the business model is responsive and

sustainable and provides value for money

Our pricing gives us a flexible model that

allows us to match our capacity to demand

whilst providing a sustainable platform for

improved service delivery

Goodbye to Dr Richard Sills

Dr Richard Sills has been at

Ombudsman Services since

its inception. In June 2002 he

helped to set up the Ofce of the

Telecommunications Ombudsman

(Otelo) and became the operations

director when the company opened

for business in January 2003. Over

the next 10 years Dr Sills was lead

ombudsman for communications

and then for energy. He was thecompanys rst director of business

development.

In April 2013 Dr Sills retired from

full duty but will continue providing

support on new business contracts.

To discuss business development opportunities, contact Simon Morris

on 01925 430884 or email [email protected].


14/41

mbudsman Services


Communications



companies that provide

communications services

to the public; this includes

phone and broadband

companies.

We are approved by Ofcom,

the UK communications

industry regulator, under the

Communications Act 2003

as an alternative dispute

resolution service.

10,331complaints resolved in 2012/13


15/41

mbudsman Services


Next generation

omplaints

We resolved over 10,000

ommunications complaints in

012/13 compared to just over

00 complaints 10 years ago when

e launched. This is no surprise,

ven that consumers are now much

more reliant on their phones and

he internet.


mith says: We have learned a lot in

he past decade and made signicant

hanges to our service, which will help

s to deal with the next generation of

omplaints.

he communications industry

he growing dependence on phone

nd broadband services, both for

onsumers and small businesses,

means that the consequences can

e serious when a service is lost.

ast year, uSwitch reported that

roadband was becoming as

mportant to peoples lives as

ater and electricity.

mbudsman Sarah Daniel says:

n the early days complaints

ere about landlines and dial up.

ow consumers have multipleevices for use on the move,

uch as smartphones, tablets

nd dongles, as well as t raditional

ndlines and broadband services.

hese devices affect all aspects of

ur lives, from keeping in touch to

atching television.

We understand the impact on

consumers when things

go wrong and how important it is

to resolve issues quickly and well.

We support measures to improve

the efciency and consistency of

complaint handling across the

industry.

Following its review of alternative

dispute resolution (ADR) schemes,

the regulator Ofcom issued a set

of decision making principles toensure a standardised approach

to resolving consumer disputes

in the communications industry.

We welcome any guidance that

improves the customer experience

for all consumers.

Sarah says: Ofcom recognised the

work we have been doing to resolve

consumer complaints and decided

to continue its approval of our service.

As there is more than one ADR scheme

in the communications sector, it is

crucial that there is consistency

for customers. We believe the new

guidelines are an important step

in improving the way that

communications complaints

are handled.

Trends

The new data roaming rules that cameinto force in July 2010 seem to have

had an effect on complaint numbers,

as fewer people are complaining

about unexpectedly high bills after

trips abroad.

However, there is a growing number

of complaints from parents whose

children have been given contract

phones to use.

Sarah says: We are aware that mobile

phone companies do not normally

allow customers to cap their usage

and that the customer is ultimately

responsible for how they use the

phone. However, some complainants

tell us the company led them to

believe that they would be able tomonitor the usage far more closely

than is actually the case.

Companies should avoid over

promising what customers can do to

manage their usage. In many cases,

parents would be better advised to

purchase pay-as-you-go phones for

their children if they want to limit their

usage.

The growing popularity and use of

smart phones presents opportunities,

but also new challenges, for mobile

phone companies. Customers are

using their mobile devices more and

more and their expectations of the

services offered by mobile phone

companies are increasing.

Sarah says: Customers need

more help operating mobile phones.

Losing a handset is potentiallytraumatic because of what is stored

on the device, such as music,

photographs and videos. Customer

service representatives need to be

able to answer queries and be

sensitive to a customers problems.

Communications overview

Emerging issues

Throughout 2012/13 national media

reported on communicationscompanies increasing prices during

xed term contracts. Ofcom ran a

consultation on whether consumers

needed additional protection from

price rises. It is our view that

consumers should be given the

right to cancel their contract without

penalty if the service provider

proposes to increase the in-contract

price. This option appears to balance

the needs of the companies to

increase the cost of a tariff while

protecting the rights of the consumer.

We have seen an increase in

complaints from customers who say

they have not received handsets

ordered from mobile phone providers.

We published guidance on these

complaints in our April newsletter.

Sarah explains: If a customer does

not receive a handset as expectedthen we consider it reasonable, in t he

rst instance, for them to contact the

communications provider to ask

whether it was delivered. We would

expect the provider to investigate.

If the courier concludes that the

handset was delivered then we would,

in most cases, expect the customer to

try to trace the delivery.

Expanding remit

We have expanded our remit to

provide dispute resolution for paid forTV. With phone lines and broadband

often linked to televisions, it has

become increasingly difcult to see

where a complaint starts and nishes.

Now all services can be covered,

making it fairer for the consumer

and easier for the company.

Lewis says: We are pleased that

companies see the value of what

we do and are choosing to place

additional products and services

within our jurisdiction. It is a positive

step towards greater consumer

protection.

We understand the impact on consumers when things go

wrong and how important it is to resolve issues quickly and well.

We support measures to improve the efficiency and consistency

of complaint handling across the industry


16/41

mbudsman Services


ustomer service

he level of customer service

ffered by companies remains a

gnicant driver of dissatisfaction.

uring 2012/13 over a third of

ommunications complaints related

o customer service. We see a large

umber of cases where the company

as misinterpreted the complaint and

ot addressed the issues that the

omplainant raised. In some cases,

he complaint has not been fullyvestigated and when we review it

e can nd a rapid solution. Common

xamples include the company not

locating a payment to an account

r customers not fully understanding

heir bills.

mbudsman Jon Lenton says:

By speaking more to complainants

nd companies, we have a better

nderstanding of what has led to

he dispute and how to resolve it.

We would encourage companies

o take the same approach.

Service and equipment

Problems occur when customers are

unable to get a reliable mobile phone

signal at home, or wherever they

spend most of their t ime. We welcome

innovations such as the provision of

signal boosting equipment to

customers in order to give them

full use of mobile services.

Contracts

In December 2011 Ofcom banned

communications providers from selling

contracts that automatically roll over

into a new contract period at the end

of the minimum term. In 2012

providers were required to move

existing customers off such contracts.

We have dealt with a number of cases

where the complainant has been

unhappy with how their provider has

interpreted Ofcoms regulations and in

some of the cases we have required

that companies release customers

from contracts.

Communications complaint types

Case study: Technical line fault

The consumers telephone line developed a fault. The company could not

resolve the problem, as it was located in an underground cable. The company

decided to provide the telephone line over ground. It arranged for new

telegraph poles to be installed to allow it to deliver the new telephone line.

The company then arranged for an engineer to visit the consumers home

to connect the line. This is where the problems started. On several occasions

the company sent a fault engineer to the property, but they did not have the

necessary equipment to complete the work required. The engineer informed

the consumer that they needed an installation engineer not a fault engineer.

The consumer informed the company but it repeatedly sent a fault engineer.

When we reviewed the complaint it seemed clear that the company needed

to arrange an installation engineer. We asked the company to arrange this,

and within a week the line was working. The company agreed a goodwill

payment to recognise the inconvenience caused to the complainant because

of the delays in completing the work.

Complaint types

37% Quality ofcustomer service

21% Billing anddisputed charges

20% Service

17% Contractissues

4% Equipment

1% Security andother

ase study: Contract dispute

The consumer said they had entered into a mobile phone contract and

understood the charges would be 48 per month over the course of the

24 month contract. The company, however, stated that the cost of the

contract was 48 per month for the rst 12 months and 203 per month

for following 12 months.

We reviewed the case. The key piece of evidence was the copy of the

contract which the complainant had signed. The contract stated that the

cost of the service would be 48 per month. There was no reference to this

being a discounted offer for a limited period or that the price would increase

to 203 per month after 12 months. The contract therefore supported the

complainants view that they had been sold the service o n the basis that

t would cost 48 per month over the course of the full 24 month term.

We required the company to ensure the package charge was reduced to

48 per month for the nal 12 months of the contract.

I am grateful for your help

and the time you have taken

to look into this matter.

Customer testimonial

Case study:

An appropriate resolution

The company sold the consumer a

faulty telephone system. There were

problems with the handset, the

voicemail and transferring calls.

The consumer reported the

problems to the company but it

was unable to provide a solution.

Within its case le, the company

acknowledged that the consumerhad experienced problems and it

offered to continue to provide help.

We did not feel this was

appropriate, as the company had

made a number of attempts to

resolve the problems and had

failed. The consumer obtained a

quote from a third party company

who they had asked to review

the issue. We passed the quote

to the company and suggested it

should pay the amount quoted to

resolve the case. The company

agreed and the case was closed as

a mutually acceptable settlement.

At BT were really proud to be able to offer our customers first

class access to alternative dispute resolution. We have been using

Ombudsman Services since the start and throughout we have worked

collaboratively with it to resolve issues and get the best outcome.

It really is a balanced approach that considers both sides of the

story. Ombudsman Services honesty and integrity in saying it as it is,

even when difficult, has been invaluable to us and we have changed

process and procedure in several areas to make things better.

BT, Brenda Cooke, Customer Dispute Resolution

I am most impressed with the service you have given me.

Your correspondence has been well written and to the point,

and agreement has been reached in a speedy manner.

All very professional. Thank you.

Customer testimonial


17/41

mbudsman Services


Reasons we cannot accept a

complaint about a participating

company

The main reason we cannot accept a

case about a participating company is

because the consumer has not given

the company a reasonable opportunity

to resolve their complaint. We work

with these complainants to give them

advice and signpost them to the

appropriate organisation.

Other reasons that we cannot accept

a complaint include the consumer

waiting over nine months to contact

us after reporting the issue to the

service provider, or waiting more than

12 months to report the problem.

These account for less than 1% of

cases that are outside our terms of

reference.

The complaints we resolved

31% Resolved usingearly resolution andmutually acceptable

settlement

69% Resolved followinginvestigation

During 2012/13 we resolved more

than 10,000 communications

complaints.

We resolved 31% of complaints

using early resolution and mutually

acceptable settlement. This is where

we contact both parties, preferably by

phone, to discuss the complaint and

its resolution and try to reach

agreement.

The remaining 69% of the complaintsrequired further investigation, where

we request a case le from the

participating company and issue

a report.

Companies have eight weeks to resolve a complaint, after which their customer

can complain to us. In line with previous years, the majority (81%) of complaints

we accepted were because eight weeks had elapsed without resolution.

Sometimes a company provides a nal response or deadlock letter, within the

eight week period, which states that it will no longer be considering the

complaint. The complainant can then bring t heir complaint to us. We accepted

16% of complaints because the company issued a deadlock letter.

Where appropriate, an ombudsman may use discretion to accept a complaint

that is outside of our terms of reference. For example, a consumer must

complain to us within nine months of rst complaining to the service provider.

If the complainant was unable to contact us sooner, perhaps because of serious

illness, we may accept their case. We accepted 3% of complaints using

ombudsmans discretion.

Reasons we accept a complaint

Awards

Both 51%

Financial 13%

Non-nancial 21%

None 15%

To resolve a complaint we can require

a participating company to provide a

nancial award, to return the customer

to the position they were in before the

problem occurred or to acknowledge

a shortfall in customer service. We can

also require a non-nancial remedy

such as an apology, an explanation,

a service or some practical action.

If we nd the company is not at

fault and has acted appropriately,

we may decide that no furtheraction is required.

If the complainant accepts our

resolution, it is binding on the

participating company, which then

has 28 days to implement the remedy.

During 2012/13 we required

companies to provide both a nancial

award and a non-nancial remedy in

51% of cases. We required a nancial

only award in 13% of cases and a

non-nancial only remedy in 21% of

cases. We required no further action

in 15% of cases.

Communications at a glance

umber of

ommunication companies

433At the time of publication we had 433

communications companies signed up

to our service. We handle complaints

about a range of services, including

landline telephones, broadband, WiFi,

SMS texting services and satellite

television. We also deal with certain

other services and products for people

with disabilities, including text relay

and free directory enquiries.

nside and outside our terms of reference

Approximately 20% of the new

contacts we received during2012/13 were within our terms of

reference; the rest were outside our

terms of reference. Of those

contacts that were outside our terms

of reference, 79% were premature

and likely to return, 13% related to

companies or sectors that we do not

currently cover and 8% were general

enquiries and literature requests.

20%Inside terms of reference

80%Outside terms of reference

79%Premature

13%Companies or sectors that

we do not currently cover

8%General enquiries and

literature requests

umber of new contacts

71,117

47%Written contacts

53%Telephone contacts

We responded to 71,117 new

communications contacts during

2012/13, an average of 284 per

working day, which is similar to the

previous year. The gure does not

include subsequent contacts about

the same case.

Just over half (53%) of the consumers

who contacted us for the rst time

used a telephone. Of the 33,763

written contacts, 79% were emails

and online forms, 21% were letters

and fewer than 1% were faxes.

Unresolved after eight weeks 81%

Deadlock 16%

Ombudsmans discretion 3%


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mbudsman Services


Working with participating

ompanies

We are keen to work with participating

ompanies to tackle the issues that

ause customer complaints, so we

old regular meetings with companies

nd publish newsletters, case studies

nd advice.

ustomer service is the most common

omplaint about communications

uppliers, so we advise participatingompanies to communicate clearly

ith their customers and keep them

formed. They should call their

ustomers back, respond to their

tters, explain if there is a delay and,

mportantly, do what they say they are

oing to do.

mbudsman Jon Lenton says:

Many cases are about a

raightforward issue, perhaps a

sputed bill or line fault, which

scalates because the issue is not

andled effectively. When the case

eaches us, we not only try to resolve

he complaint quickly, we try to explain

ow it could have been resolved

arlier, before reaching us.

Working with the regulator

We have regular meetings with Ofcom

to highlight trends and issues, to

discuss performance and to give

updates on changes to our business.

We liaised with Ofcom on our

proposals for remedy implementation,

to ensure there is consistency in the

way we resolve complaints.

We work with participating companies

to sort out systematic issues, such asfailure to provide remedies or the

querying of case acceptances. If the

issues persist we report the company

to the regulator.

Responding to consultations

During 2012/13 we responded to

ve consultations that related to the

communications industry. For

example, when Ofcom proposed

a set of measures to make changing

broadband and landline providers

simpler and more reliable, it was

our view that the proposals would

effectively tackle a number of

switching issues, but not all.

We also provided comments on the

communications consumer panel draft

work plan for the 2012/13 nancial

year. Policy Manager Mark Glover

says: The panel had concerns that

consumers may not have the skills,

condence, time or persistence to

pursue their complaints. We explained

that the process and infrastructure we

have developed overcomes this issue;

our contact centre and literature are

easy to use and accessible, and help

to level the playing eld betweenconsumers and participating

companies.

Case studies

We handled an enquiry about a

student who had his subscriber

identity module (SIM card) stolen

while charging his phone at school.

The student told us he hadnt noticed

the theft until a month later when he

received a high bill. After investigating

the case, we found that the student

was liable for the bill because he

hadnt reported the incident to his

communications provider within 24

hours, which his contract required.

To help other consumers avoid similar

situations, we published a school boy

error case study on our website.

During one of the wettest summers on

record, we urged consumers to takecare when using their mobiles abroad.

We published a directory of dangers

to help consumers avoid being hit with

unexpectedly high bills, by knowing

how to use their phone abroad and

understanding the costs involved.

Director of Policy and

Communications Susan Fox explains:

We wanted to warn people of the

dangers of data consumption, as

many people dont realise how much

data they use when downloading

music or video content.

Sharing the learning

Many cases are about a straightforwardssue, perhaps a disputed bill or line fault,

which escalates because the issue is not

handled effectively. When the case reaches

us, we not only try to resolve the complaint

quickly, we try to explain how it could have

been resolved earlier, before reaching us

BSkyB has been affiliated to Ombudsman Services since its

inception as Otelo. In that time there has been extensive growth

across the communications sector and ever-increasing complexity in

terms of products and choice available to consumers. The industry

has embraced these changes and Ombudsman Service has moved

with it, supporting consumers, maintaining close engagement with its

participating companies and providing an independent view based

on common sense and fairness.

BSkyB, Alistair Hosie, Operational Compliance Manager

In the media

We work with to the media to

promote our message to consumers.

Our coverage included a Moneywise

magazine article on how to complain

about xed price phone contracts and

a Computer Active article on phone

complaints. We are often invited on

regional radio shows to talk about

communications complaints and

answer callers questions.

Ombudsman Jon Lenton spoke on

BBC Radio York about switching

complaints. He explained that

companies are required to inform their

customers of any transfer requests, he

talked about the minimum standards

of customer service required of

suppliers and he explained when and

how complainants should contact

Ombudsman Services.

Jon says: It is great we have the

opportunity to comment on topical

issues and help a wide audience

understand what they are entitled to.


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mbudsman Services


Energy



energy (gas and

electricity) companies.

We are approved by

Ofgem, the UK gas and

electricity regulator,

under the Consumers

Estate Agents and

Redress Act 2008.

8,768complaints resolved in 2012/13


20/41

mbudsman Services


Record year

or energy

omplaints

We handled a record number of

nergy complaints during 2012/13,

esolving 8,768 complaints,

3% more than the previous year.


mith says: The rise in complaints iso surprise given the widely publicised

sues in the energy industry and

reater understanding of what to do

things go wrong. We are actively

upporting solutions to improve

omplaint handling and hope to see

he number of complaints decrease.

he energy industry

While news of energy price rises

nd regulatory nes cannot be

nored, the industry has taken some

ositive steps to improve the market

or consumers.

uring 2012/13 we welcomed

fgems proposals to reform the

dustry, to enable customers to better

nderstand what is on offer and more

asily choose the right supplier and

est deal for them.

We also submitted a detailed response

to the regulators retail market review,

which proposed to extend the

protection that is currently afforded to

micro businesses to small businesses.

Lewis says: We welcome the

simplication of tariffs for domestic

customers and share Ofgems view

that it is important that small

businesses are able to access

independent redress outside the court

process that is both quick and costeffective. We were pleased to have

our contribution recognised the retail

market review proposals document

stated we had been very useful in

identifying the key issues.

In addition to these reforms, we have

been working with Ofgem to

understand the proposed new licence

conditions that stem from its voluntary

standards of conduct. We look at

supplier responsibilities as a matter

of course so the new conditions

are unlikely to cause an increase

in complaints.

Ombudsman Debra Vaughan-Massey

explains: Regardless of whether

standards of conduct are expected or

required, we always take the principles

of customer service and best practice

into consideration when we look at

complaints.

Trends

Energy companies are getting better

at applying the billing code to ensure

consumers receive fair treatment. As a

general rule, the domestic back billing

code prevents suppliers from billing a

consumer for previously unbilled

energy more than a year old if a catch

up bill is issued because of supplier

fault. Domestic back billing complaints

remain at a steady level but the nature

of these complaints has changed.

Debra explains: Consumers usually

bring their complaint to us because

they disagree with t he suppliers

decision that the code does not apply;

they feel the code has been applied

incorrectly or they simply want money

in the hand rather than charges

withdrawn. More often than not,

the supplier has already taken into

consideration the back billing code

and withdrawn charges if appropriate.

Compliance with the code is high so

our investigations look at nuances that

we can feed back to Energy UK and

the companies, to help develop the

code further. We hope to play a similar

role in the development of the micro

business back billing code.

Emerging issues

Sometimes energy suppliers useindependent brokers to sell their

contracts. They are responsible for

the broker and any complaints about

it. We have noticed an increase in

complaints about authorised broker

sales.

A common complaint is that the

recorded part of a phone sale only

includes enough information to

demonstrate acceptance of the

contract. Yet complainants say offers

or information discussed and agreed

before the recording are not included

in the contract.

Energy overview

This is often found when the recorded

contract script is read so fast that it is

almost impossible to determine what

details are included in the contract.

Suppliers rely on the information

provided by the broker to set up the

contract and often that is a short call

recording. Some suppliers will

renegotiate or release contracts if it is

clear a customer is unhappy with the

actions of the broker but greater

awareness of the sales chat before

the recording and the speed ofdelivery is needed

We have alerted Trading Standards to

the issue and are working with Ofgem

and participating companies to see

what can be done.

Unless a provider takes responsibility

for the brokers actions, there is no

protection for the consumer.

Debra says: We strongly encourage

companies to move away from

brokers they cannot trust as it

impacts on their reputation.

We have also seen more claims

management companies target

energy consumers, offering to

win compensation from energysuppliers for a fee. Consumers have

a right to free, independent redress

and we actively discourage them

from paying for such services.

When we became aware of the issue

we published a statement on our

website and used Twitter to alert

consumers to the fact that redress

is free. Our chief ombudsman talked

about the issue on regional radio,

dismissing the claim that most

consumers are entitled to

compensation, as some claims

companies suggest. We have

asked energy suppliers to spread

the message that redress is free and

to signpost consumers to us if theyare unable to resolve their complaint.

We have also raised the issue with

our consumer liaison panel.

The Green Deal

In 2012 we won the bid to provide the ombudsman and investigation service

for the governments new Green Deal initiative. The Green Deal enables

homeowners and businesses to implement energy efciency improvements

at little or no upfront cost, with payment recouped through customers energy

bills. We are able to handle complaints about Green Deal providers who

include energy suppliers, construction groups and installers. We can also

handle complaints about property sellers or landlords who fail to disclose key

information about Green Deal plans.

Ombudsman John Baguley has been responsible for introducing the Green

Deal to our service and managing t

os annual report 2013

Documents