Not upheld: service quality and complaint follow-up complaint against TSB Bank plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mr L complained about discourteous treatment by a TSB staff member during a branch visit and requested the branch manager call him after 4.00pm to discuss his complaint. The manager attempted to contact Mr L twice at the requested time, leaving voicemail messages, but Mr L was unable to answer due to other commitments. TSB took no further action after these two unsuccessful attempts. Mr L argued TSB should have made additional contact efforts. The ombudsman found that the manager's two contact attempts with voicemail messages at the requested time constituted reasonable service within standard business practice and did not uphold the complaint.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman determined that the manager's two telephone contact attempts at the time Mr L requested, combined with voicemail messages, constituted reasonable and fair service within the range of usual business practice. The ombudsman noted that it is standard practice for businesses to leave messages requesting callback and not to continue pursuing customers after leaving such messages. While acknowledging TSB could have done more, the ombudsman was not persuaded it was reasonably required to do so in these circumstances. The dispute about whether contact details were provided was given less weight as it was only raised in later submissions.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website