Upheld: Service failures generally complaint against Radiant Financial Planning Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs A complained to Radiant Financial Planning Limited about poor service when arranging to encash her personal pension plan in August 2023. Documents she returned to Radiant on 8 September 2023 were lost in the post, causing her significant stress and requiring her to close her bank account and report fraud concerns. Radiant incorrectly told Mrs A they send traceable envelopes for sensitive information (which they do not), failed to respond to some correspondence, and had online access issues at the critical time. The ombudsman found Radiant not responsible for the lost post but upheld the complaint regarding the incorrect information, poor responsiveness, and timing of access issues that exacerbated Mrs A's distress, awarding £150 compensation.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while Radiant was not responsible for the loss of documents in the post (as this was outside their control and they had no special relationship with Royal Mail to investigate), they did provide incorrect information to Mrs A on 18 September 2023 by stating they would ensure sensitive information was traceable when they do not send traceable pre-paid envelopes. Additionally, Radiant failed to respond to some correspondence from Mr A as Mrs A's representative, and the timing of online account access issues coincided with Mrs A's need to take her benefits. These failures exacerbated Mrs A's stress and anxiety about the lost documents. However, Radiant did provide the advisory services they were contracted to provide (annual review and amended review when circumstances changed) and began facilitating the PPP encashment, so no fee refund was warranted.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website