MARTIN LEWIS - SHARPER TEETH: THE CONSUMER NEED FOR OMBUDSMAN REFORM. Questions raised by the Report's conclusions/Recommendations. Pt 4 (96)

MARTIN LEWIS - SHARPER: THE CONSUMER NEED FOR OMBUDSMAN REFORM. Questions raised about the Report's Conclusions/Recommendations. Pt 4 (96) Martin you say, "There are too many ombudsmen with too few powers." Q. Would you give a CO who needed to take an "honest" look at what he was actually achieving MORE power? Q. Or a property ombudsman who arrived at decisions in an illogical manner - more power? 2. Martin, you say that substantial reform is necessary so that consumers can have the confidence to go to an ombudsman and be sure of "a fair hearing." Yet your report doesn't clearly say why that isn't so at present. It glosses over DJS Research's CSRs for Ombudsman Services. 3. Martin, if you had analysed DJS Research's CSRs more carefully wouldn't you have arrived at a far different set of conclusions/recommendations? The CO and property ombudsman at OS didn't need MORE powers - they needed to investigate consumer complaints fairly and diligently. 4. Martin, despite evidence to the contrary you say, "We like ombudsmen. We think they're a good thing." Q. Is an Ombudsman Services:Property ombudsman who "arrives at decisions in an illogical manner" a good thing? Q. What is there to like about such a person? 5. Then there's the matter of the instances of maladministration at Ombudsman Services. Q. Would you seriously give such people MORE powers? Q. What is there to like about such people and why are they a good thing? 6. You say "...based on the evidence used in this report, we take the opportunity to make policy recommendations that the APPG may wish to consider." Based on the evidence we have provided would you with would you like to amend those recommendations and if not why not? 7. Money Saving Expert must surely get its expertise from a careful appraisal of the very best data available. The Ombudsmans61percent Campaign has attempted to provide you with that. We have provided you with evidence and criticised; The OFT, The RICS, The OA, The BEIS and OS. 8. Yet you still insist that you stand by your report and its conclusions and recommendations to the APPG on Consumer Protection. Should your report's recommendations be put into effect we believe consumers would even worse off in terms of protection than they are now. 9. When all has been said and done it comes down to one simple rule: consumers need to be protected from the cowboys - and not the cowboys from their consumers. We believe that without a shadow of a doubt that the cowboys have the sheriff riding with them. Riding roughshod. 10. The scandal is not that ombudsmen don't have enough power but that the power they do have has been abused. The scandal is that governments - and now MSE it would seem - have known about this endemic injustice and still refuse to do anything about it. Things will get worse.