Not upheld: Service failures generally complaint against Barclays Bank UK PLC trading as Barclays

Decision detail

Summary

Mr C complained about service issues from Barclays following his report of being a victim of a romance scam on 11 January 2025. After the scam, Mr C experienced delays in receiving a new card, PIN, and online banking access, poor communication, incorrect information, and broken promises from Barclays, which limited his account usage to branch visits and telephone banking for weeks and left him reliant on family support. Barclays accepted it made errors and offered £300 compensation, which the Investigator found fair. Mr C disagreed, arguing the amount did not reflect the impact of the errors. The ombudsman upheld Barclays' £300 offer as fair and reasonable compensation for the repeated small errors made over several weeks.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman considered the repeated small errors made by Barclays over several weeks, the impact on Mr C's ability to undertake day-to-day spending, the poor communication that added confusion and worry, and the time Mr C spent addressing the problems. The ombudsman concluded that £300 was a reasonable amount to reflect these errors and their impact, considering FOS compensation guidelines for distress and inconvenience.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website