poorexperience.co.uk has been designed by JSK Solutions as part of its research into financial services.
Kevin Dilton-Hill, chief executive of JSK Solutions, said: “We have launched the website for people to complain about financial service standards, in response to consultation work and personal experiences. The problems we came across ranged from the mundane, such as being put on hold for longer than they should be and diverted across different parts of a call centre, right through to the people getting ripped off.”
He added that information would not be sent to the Financial Services Authority (FSA), but individual firms would be contacted and told about the complaints.
He said: “If the information we received centred around one company, or one area then we would contact the firms in question, telling them about where they had fallen down. I don’t think we would go to the FSA as it is then part of a formal complaint, but the things that the website may highlight would certainly fall under ‘Treating Customers Fairly’ (TCF). We hope the companies will act on our research.”
Andy Young, managing director at The Business Mortgage Company (TBMC), said: “Anything that highlights how companies can improve their service has to be welcomed, and in the past few months lenders have made great innovations in improving customer relations. However I would have thought it would be better to strike up good working relations rather than through a web-based site to list concerns.”
Robin Gordon-Walker, spokesperson at the FSA, added: “The site is more for people to have a general moan, rather than help the FSA stay informed. We do not have the resources to look at sites like these, although we obviously have people looking at the internet as part of the Financial Promotions team.”
