Not upheld: poor service and complaint handling complaint against Bank of Scotland plc trading as Halifax

Decision detail

Summary

Mr H complained about a rude gesture made by a Halifax branch staff member and the subsequent poor handling of his complaint, which was initially closed without escalation. Halifax later reopened the complaint, accepted that its service fell short, apologised, and paid £150 compensation. Mr H sought £500 compensation instead. The ombudsman found that while Halifax's initial handling was poor and contributed to loss of evidence, the firm's ultimate response including the apology and £150 payment was fair and proportionate, and did not uphold the complaint.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman accepted that Halifax's service fell short of expected standards and that the premature closure of the complaint contributed to the loss of evidence. However, the ombudsman considered that Halifax's response—including an apology, upholding the complaint despite lack of substantiating evidence, and paying £150 compensation—was fair given that this was a one-off incident without ongoing impact beyond the complaint handling itself.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website