An ombudsman has determined that a man, known as Mr W, contacted the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) “outside of the normal time limits”, meaning that any part of his complaint occurring more than six months previously could not be considered.
The ombudsman cannot investigate a complaint if it is more than six months after the final correspondence, unless the company at the heart of the complaint agrees.
Mr W contacted Aviva in February 2016 about taking a tax free lump sum out of his pension.
Following various delays, a failure on the part of Aviva to tell Mr W all available maturity options and difficulty using his online account; Aviva sent him a letter in July 2016 offering him £100 in compensation.
A second letter was sent in September offering an additional £100 in compensation. Both sums were accepted by Mr W in October 2016.
Waited too long
The delays in 2016 formed part of Mr W’s complaint, which included the subsequent investment loss he claims to have suffered as a result of the delays in taking the tax free lump sum and investing the remainder.
The compensation letters sent to Mr W by Aviva both outlined the dates before which he would be able to take a complaint to the ombudsman. They were 28 January 2017 for the first letter and 29 March 2017 for the second.
Mr W’s complaint, however, was not made until 17 August 2017.
The ombudsman wrote: “I haven’t seen any reasons why My W wasn’t able to refer his complaint in time.”
As a result, he was “only able to consider Mr W’s complaint about what happened in 2017 and his request for investment loss due to delays”.
