Partially upheld: service failures, complaint handling, failure to provide call recording, inadequate notification complaint against Barclays Bank UK PLC

Decision detail

Summary

Ms N complained to Barclays about multiple issues with her current account, including cancellation of the Blue Awards scheme, failure to receive a callback in 2022, lack of notification when a loyalty scheme ended in 2024, unwanted changes to statement preferences, and poor complaint handling. Barclays paid £75 in compensation, but Ms N escalated to the FOS seeking additional compensation. The ombudsman partially upheld the complaint, finding Barclays failed to provide a requested call recording and did not adequately explain the lack of notification regarding the loyalty scheme discontinuation, but upheld most other aspects of Barclays' handling. The ombudsman ordered £100 compensation, finding this fair and reasonable for the identified issues.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while Barclays failed to provide a call recording when requested and did not clearly explain why Ms N was not notified of the loyalty scheme discontinuation, most of Ms N's other complaints were not upheld. The ombudsman determined that Barclays provided adequate notice before cancelling the Blue Awards scheme, that Ms N should have contacted Barclays again after the 2022 disconnected call, that the single email about statement preferences included a clear opt-out option, and that Barclays followed the agreed reasonable adjustments. The ombudsman concluded that £100 compensation was fair and reasonable to reflect the identified issues.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website