Ombudsman Services - And Its, "Proportionate" Financial Awards. (658)

To the Business, Energy and industrial Strategy Secretary / Chair, Ombudsman Services.

For Clarity - Attempt 658.

658) Ombudsman Services - And Its, "Proportionate" Financial Awards.

Dear Mr Clark and Lord Tim Clement Jones,

The company's literature informs the complainant that financial awards are: "proportionate," designed not to punish the Member Firm / Participating Company and miraculously able to return the aggrieved complainant happily to a point before all the nonsense happened.

It is a fairy-tale for grown-ups involving a peculiar form of time travel..

The word, "proportionate" is hard to define.

MacMillan Dictionary states;

"Proportionate - correct or suitable in size, amount, or degree when considered in relation to something else."

Many other dictionary definitions immediately offer the enquirer another word - "proportional."

It's a slippery word.

Q. Lord Tim Clement Jones, when in 2010 the vast majority of property complainants further complained that £1.511.75p went nowhere near compensating them for the significant losses incurred as a result of RICS' incompetence, how can a 50 quid financial award in 2016 be considered - correct or suitable?

Q Lord Tim Clement Jones, is the, "when considered in relation to something else" not directly related to the, "expressions of some concern over" the, "apparent recent rise in the levels of award" which led the Property Ombudsman to significantly reduce the levels of financial award paid by RICS surveyors to their clients?

The MacMillan Dictionary goes on to provide synonyms and words related to, "proportionate." These are; relevant, appropriate and applicable.

This private redress scheme and the RICS monitors of its executives' performance in, "effectively resolving disputes" not only consider a 50 quid financial award to be; relevant, appropriate and applicable but also seemed unfazed that the Independent Assessor should also find significant failings in cases and instances of maladministration in this particular ombudsman organisation.

Q. Mr Clark, your department has a close and continuing relationship with this private redress scheme, wouldn't a far more suitable word for a 50 quid financial award be - "disproportionate?"

The EU Directive 2013/11/EU of the European Parliament of the Council May 21st 2013 at 31) states;

"The Member States should ensure that ADR entities resolve disputes in a manner that is fair, practical and proportionate to both the consumer and the trader, on the basis of an objective assessment of the circumstances in which the complaint is made and with due regard to the rights of the parties."

Q. Mr Clark, when the majority of complainants were forced - unsuccessfully - to resort to this company's Further Representation Process in order to attempt to gain justice how does that meet the company's requirement, as determined by the EU Directive, to resolve disputes in a fair, practical and proportionate manner? 

Since Mutually Acceptable Settlements MAS were introduced to replace the catastrophic Provisional Conclusions, over 90% of property complainants consistently reject them. One catastrophe seems to have been replaced with another.

One party - RICS Surveyors - continue not to complain.

Q. Mr Clark, why haven't the government monitors of this government approved scheme intervened to protect consumers from this MAS failure to objectively assess cases in a fair, practical and proportionate way?

Q. Mr Clark, why have the rights of one aggrieved party - property complainants - been totally subsumed by those of RICS surveyors?

Q. Mr Clark, how does this carefully organised on-going injustice meet the requirements of the EU Directive for fair and proportionate redress?

Yours sincerely,

Steve Gilbert - Workstock Number - 510458.

The Ombudsmans61percent Campaign is at: www.blogspot.com and www.facebook.com - Ombudsmans Sixtyone-percent.