Not upheld: Service failures generally complaint against West Bromwich Building Society

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs P complained that an update to WBBS's online savings portal prevented her from viewing her account information in early October 2025, causing her worry about a substantial balance. The issue was resolved within approximately one day. WBBS initially failed to formally log the complaint when Mr P raised it on Mrs P's behalf but subsequently recorded and responded to it within relevant timescales. The ombudsman accepted Mrs P's account of the technical issue but found the impact too limited in duration to warrant compensation and insufficient evidence to definitively establish WBBS's fault. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman accepted that Mrs P experienced the issues she described but found insufficient evidence to determine WBBS was responsible. Even if WBBS were at fault, the impact was limited to approximately one day of uncertainty about account status. The ombudsman considered this short duration of worry insufficient to warrant compensation. Regarding the delayed complaint logging, while frustrating, WBBS dealt with it promptly once recorded. The ombudsman found Mrs P's direct involvement in the problematic call was minimal (limited to consenting to a complaint being raised), so any upset would have primarily affected Mr P, which is the subject of a separate complaint.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website