Ombudsman Services:Property / Livewell Southwest Ltd. (558)

To the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Secretary
For Clarity - Attempt 558.

558) Complaining Is A Difficult Process.

Dear Mr Clark,

Consumers once had the right to know just how many complainants were very dissatisfied with the final decision they were handed by the Ombudsman Services:Property Ombudsman because DJS Research told them.

DJS Research were replaced and we no longer know how many complainants are very dissatisfied with the outcome of their investigated complaint because complainants are no longer asked.

This information is not made available by Livewell Southwest Ltd either.

Naomi Creutzfeldt and Chris Gill's research continues,
"Participants felt strongly that the current overall system for complaints, of which ombudsman schemes were a part, could have serious negative consequences for complainants in search of justice. One participant said that part of the problem was that the initial from the body complained against was often very dismissive but that this set the tone for subsequent investigations. Complaining was described as a difficult process, which required significant persistence, often at a time when complainants were in an emotionally fragile state." (page 7)
(Naomi Creutzfeldt and Chris Gill www.law.ox.ac.uk/critics-of the-ombudsman-system-understanding-and-engaging-online-citizen-activists)

In short - the system fails the individual (in droves) so they complain about the system that fails them and then about the cover-up that passes for an investigation of their complaint, all at a time when they are at their most fragile and emotionally vulnerable.

And still they get nowhere.

The system we confront has it rigged from beginning to end.

Q. Mr Clark, when are you are going to step up, challenge the vested interests of the RICS and the NHS and right the wrongs of illogical decisions and maladministration?

Yours sincerely,
Steve Gilbert - The Ombudsmans61percent Campaign.