Jonathan Livingstone
I am publishing Jonathan’s story so that the powers that be have another piece of evidence from ordinary leaseholders of the way they are treated. Thank you Jonathan for sharing
Jonathan Livingstone is someone trying to sort out a claim as a property leaseholder. He is in that line of business but I share his frustration as someone who happens to be a leaseholder. We have spent two years and huge amounts of money fighting the establishment who seem institutionally against the rights of the individual leaseholder.
Here is the latest in Jonathan’s story
Hi Henry – see below the latest instalment of my leasehold insurance saga; I’ve decided to try and get the attention of senior leaders and my MP on LinkedIn
Grateful for any support you might give the post – I really do feel that every interaction helps and my customer journey is utterly absurd 🙏
A big thank you to the front-line staff at the Financial Ombudsman Service for trying (but unfortunately ultimately failing) to help me make sense of what a member of staff termed as “quite a unique situation”.
The complaint on my retail financial services product clearly meets all required eligibility criteria but the service is currently refusing to review it. Jenny Simmonds as the recently appointed interim CEO I wanted to make you aware of the matter so that future customers can have an improved experience.
As background in July 2024, I escalated a complaint on the refusal of my insurer to tell me whether insurance policies they sold me in 2018 and 2019 included hashtag#leasehold legal cover.
The refusal of a regulated insurer to confirm policy details is not understood, in particular given Colm Holmes (a senior leader at my insurer Allianz UK) representing to Harriett Baldwin at the Treasury Select Committee in April 2024 that “There was never an issue for us in terms of being contactable” and “The policy limits would be the policy limits.”
I escalated the matter to the FOS, but in a signed provisional decision ruling there is a refusal by them to even to review the complaint, on the grounds that this would “otherwise seriously impair the effective operation of the Financial Ombudsman Service.”
The underlying reasons given are threefold
(i) that the complaint has already been looked at which is clearly false given I have never previously escalated a complaint about this company to the FOS;
(ii) that I was in breach of a time limitation given the period that has elapsed due to my insurer’s stonewalling; however, this is clearly false as a final decision notice was issued in June 2024 which is less than 6 months preceding my July 2024 escalation; and
(iii) that my complaint did not relate to a core regulated activity as the insurer claimed it did not need to respond to me, but clearly my query is on the sale of an insurance policy and not on the complaint handling.
However, perhaps the most concerning issue with the signed notice refusing to review my complaint is that there is no attempt to rebut my point that reviewing it will unblock my customer journey with DAS UK – Part of the ARAG Group being the underwriter of my insurance policy and which is currently blocked due to their reliance on a previous FOS decision report which was published despite my unanswered concerns on incorrect and misleading information.
The FOS themselves have told me of the requirement to exhaust all avenues before commencing legal proceedings and so it is incumbent on the FOS to make my current complaint the subject of a two stage FOS review.
Rachel Blake as my new MP I would be grateful for any thoughts you have on the matter, noting the FOS confirmed Tulip Siddiq – my previous MP – made a previous intervention to them.
You have my support Jonathan