Ombudsman Reviews 

I was a victim of identity theft, someone set up a fake account at Tesco Mobile in my name and acquired a phone worth over £1200. Tesco Mobile refused to communicate with me in any way, just put it all through a debt collection agency. Contacted the Ombudsman, and a Lady called Natalie sorted it all out and got me some compensation as well. Five star Natalie! Thanks!

They are not helpful, not solving problems, not right decision and the fraudlents Brokers, Energy Suppliers continue to sale contracts and to put businesses in mess. In my opinion this service is useless, Governement is paying for nothing.

Minus if I can they are corupt proven council broke several laws and human rights backed with reference from organisations they sided with corupt council so they are criminals fact for endorsement of breaches of the law

The operator assigned to my case should be taken to court, but fortunately for him, he has immunity, so he's playing with me to ruin my life. He's also probably racist given the way he's behaving. I was scammed by a car dealer. He said the car in question needed recharging. Volkswagen declared a high-voltage fault, requiring a multi-stage repair not covered by the warranty. The operator doesn't want to help me reject the vehicle, which has had problems since day one. He demonstrated his bias by advising me to repair the car at my expense and then resell it, which is what the seller should do. I've been declaring financial hardship for months, but the Ombudsman isn't interested. The operator is completely out of compliance with the law in this country. I've requested a suspension of payments since the car is unusable, but the Ombudsman demands that I continue paying for the financing despite there being an open case with its own timeframes. I've asked for my case to be escalated to a manager given the operator's conduct, but to no avail. I waited four months for the Ombudsman, paying for a vehicle that was unusable, only to find myself dealing with a heartless operator who is ignoring all the evidence on my side. He asked me to prove the damages, which I did, and now he's ignoring me. This situation has caused me mental damage and panic attacks. I'm a gardener trying to fight against the finance company's lawyers, a dishonest seller, and that incompetent, lawless bastard of a little middleman. I have no power against all these people. I'm forced to contact a lawyer because the Ombudsman also told me that it's up to me to decide whether or not to pay. So they're also deceiving me, because if I don't pay, I'll be in the wrong, and I know it well. I just don't know how the Ombudsman doesn't monitor its operators, who, covered by immunity, act in violation of every human and national rule, without restraint or grace. I'm preparing a nice video to share about this story because people need to know how it works without getting into financial trouble because of those who should actually be helping the consumer. My case is ridiculous and I will let the world know, the operator thinks he is God and is playing with my life and my family's.

I don't know why people rely on these idiots they are no use to anyone anymore since being infected by the government.

I've had major problems transferring my ISA between 2 banks through no fault of my own. This has resulted in financial losses to myself. I've had to raise 2 cases, one against each bank as they blame each other. The ombudsman 'investigated' both cases (different officers) and deem neither bank is to blame! I pointed out that this isn't possible as there's clearly been mistakes by someone which have cost me money. They re-investigated one of the cases and, this time, whilst finding the bank at fault, wouldn't recommend any re-imbursement despite me incurring losses. What a complete 'fob off'. I've spent hours submitting documents, emails, evidence etc and I'm still out of pocket through no fault of my own. All been a waste of time.

I have already made a complaint about the failure of Waltham Forest Council in a separate review on Trustpilot and was instructed to escalate my complaint to the Ombudsman which I have now done.

OMG, what a waste of my time, first of all I made the complaint to the "Local Government & Social care Ombudsman" on their website on 21st April 2026.

I didn't get a response by email so I logged into my account that I had to create so I could create the complaint and found that nothing had happened to my complaint it was still in a pending status.

I telephoned the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman on 0300 061 0614 to say that my case had not been looked at yet and before the person even bothered to ask for details or when the case had been submitted they said to me, you have to wait 5 business days before anything can be done about your complaint, I said that it has gone past 5 business days and they replied, well you have to wait 10 business days for your complaint to be allocated and I said 10 business days have passed.

It was at that point that I said 12 business days have passed and NOTHING has been done about my complaint.

It was then that the woman said, OK, give me your reference number.
I gave her the reference number and one hour later realised that my case had been closed and I had received a message and a letter into my online Ombudsman account, I read the message and letter and it said that my case has only gone to first stage which was a blatant lie, that persons name was Pam Purewal.

I telephoned the next day on 0300 061 0614 and complained that I had provided lots of evidence and that the Ombudsman were wasting quite a lot of my time and then I provided MORE EVIDENCE, regarding, PDF files of emails that I had saved and even a YouTube video that I had made regarding my complaint.

That person then agreed that it was quite soon that my complaint had been closed and that it had been "Closed Prematurely" and that they would pass it on to their intake manager to investigate, the person that I spoke to was: Harpreet Chhokar.

On the same day two hours later I received a message to my Ombudsman account from the Intake Team Manager, Andrew Grice, who said that I needed to get in writing from the person at Waltham Forest Council that I was complaining about a letter from them confirming that they would not be investigating my case further and that they have agreed verbally to myself that there was nothing that they were prepared to do about my complaint?

Who in their right mind would expect somebody that you are complaining about to confirm in writing that they agree to be complained about?

That is most probably the stupidest thing I have ever heard from ANYBODY!

Andrew Grice the Intake Team Manager at the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman, really doesn't have a clue.

They have now closed my case and said that until I make another complaint to the same person at Waltham Forest Council who can then escalate it to their CEO, there is NOTHING more that they can OR will do?

I have wasted enough of my time on all parties involved and I am now 100% convinced that Councils and the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman are not really interested in solving members of the public's issues that have arisen from mal-practice from any organisation and have just been created to divert your attention from the company that you are complaining about to another service (Ombudsman) which then takes up a lot more of your time, fobs you off and messes you around.

So eventually the Ombudsman makes it as difficult as possible for you to take your complaint any further.

Save yourself A LOT of time and visit the organisation in person, DONT write emails to organisations, DONT waste your time involving a so called "Governing Body" take matters into your own hands and then come back here and thank me!!

I rarely leave reviews, but after my experience with both Clear Business and the Communications Ombudsman, I genuinely feel people should be cautious.

My business suffered a complete loss of phone line and broadband services beginning on 22nd January 2025. I repeatedly contacted Clear Business through calls, emails, WhatsApp, and every communication method available, often begging for updates or any form of resolution. I involved the Communications Ombudsman within weeks because the situation was becoming critical.

Over the following 10 weeks, I constantly explained that my business could not function properly without internet access and that I was desperately trying to keep things alive by arranging backup Wi-Fi solutions and alternative providers. Despite this, the issue was never actually resolved by Clear Business. The only reason my business eventually had working internet again was because I arranged a completely new provider myself.

What disappointed me most was the Ombudsman process itself. I supplied extensive evidence throughout, including emails, financial evidence, timelines, and proof of the impact on my business. Much of Clear Business’s “evidence” appeared to simply be screenshots of the very same communications I had originally submitted while pleading for help.

The Ombudsman accepted there were service failures and customer service shortfalls, yet after approximately £38,000 in proven losses, over £300 in disputed and excessive billing during the outage period, enormous stress, debt, and disruption to a business that had operated successfully since 1990, the outcome was a £125 goodwill payment.

I understand that Ombudsman services have limits on what compensation they can award, and I was no longer even asking for the full losses back. I simply wanted meaningful recognition of the scale of what happened and the way the situation was handled.

Instead, I came away feeling that the process heavily favoured the provider over the customer, despite the amount of evidence showing the ongoing impact and the efforts I made throughout to get the matter resolved.

This experience caused serious financial and personal strain, and I hope this review helps others understand what the process may realistically look like before relying on it to resolve major business service failures.

These guys will do everything they can to fob you off and avoid giving you a case. I was in a difficult situation with solid evidence and a lawyer behind me, yet they still did not acknowledge my evidence. It is disgusting how they treat people, and anyone who works there should be ashamed of themselves.

Well what an absolute joke, guys we’re in trouble if this is the level of it!

My bank account has been used as someone’s play thing. Dozens of transactions per day all completely suspicious ie booking 4 airbnb per day all at £99 each while I’m using the same card on holiday 6000miles away and not 1 notification sent to my phone.

Sol Armstrong was my investigator who completely failed/refused to investigate my case gave a final decision that it was me somehow as I wasn’t checking my bank regular basically and accused me of doing this to myself which is absolutely ridiculous.

I’m waiting for a radio spot which should be soon regarding the uk ombudsman because what they done to me felt like a full on fraudulent attack provoked by my mental state being frustrated at being robbed of some 28k and being told it’s my own fault! If it was me I would not be in here saying this.

Sol Armstrong is the last person you want investigating your case he is rude dismissive, constantly complaining about the other 25 cases he has on his desk at any given time, when you hear this you get this sinking feeling knowing, straight off the bat’ he is not going to do anything to help here, this man is fuming from the get go way before we spoke and no doubt still is.

His ‘final decision’ was a full admission that he has not in anyway investigated my case. It contains phrases like ‘I’ve no need to check where 20k of parcels were delivered as I’m sure no fraudster would leave such a trail??? Instead of investigating?/ saving the rest for the radio if that fails I will have no option but publically protest outside the ombudsman’s office until they agree to investigate my case. Tried leaving contact details it won’t let me @outlook.com 07818566957

Very disappointing experience. I felt the Ombudsman only listened to one side of the story and did not properly consider my complaint about Wolverhampton City Council.

In my opinion, the process felt one-sided, unfair, and dismissive. I came away feeling angry and deeply let down by a service that is supposed to be independent and balanced.

I would not recommend this service to anyone. For me, it felt like a waste of taxpayers’ money.

Usmam Ahmed and Kristina Mathews the Ombudsman

Serious Concerns About Investigation Quality and Evidence Review, and understanding and knowledge of Job.

My experience with the Financial Ombudsman Service has been extremely disappointing and raises serious concerns about the quality of investigation standards and evidential review.

After submitting extensive documentary evidence regarding a dispute with a lender, including credit report records, email correspondence, breaches, false claims and SAR disclosures, the final decision appears to contain several internal contradictions.

For example, the investigator concluded that my credit file had already been corrected earlier in the process.ths after a massive part of my complaint being the finance company tried to get away with saying my credit report had been sorted and then by sending me out my monthly credit report with them. The invistigator took a full month ignoring a massive part of my complaint. Well all of it and after seeing my monthly credit report he asumed it was a credit report. No explantion nothing. The final decision later confirms that the amendment was not actually submitted until 7 October, nearly a month after the error had been acknowledged. So wasted a month with Usman, he has no interest in his Job and it tells the moment you speak to him.

These two positions cannot logically both be correct.
During this period I was repeatedly told that the credit file had already been amended. In reality, the correction had not yet been submitted.

There were also other significant issues that were never explained in the decision, including:

• A refund that operational evidence shows could be processed within minutes, yet took around 10 days during a declared vulnerability period.

• Multiple assurances that credit file amendments had been completed when they had not been actioned.

•Evidence showing another lender successfully processing payments during the same period the original lender claimed payment failures.

• No clear explanation of how lending declines were assessed despite references to credit score impacts.

After more than three months of investigation, many of these core evidential issues were never addressed in the reasoning. I was a vunre, red flag after red flag.

The Ombudsman system is supposed to provide independent, evidence-based resolution. Unfortunately, in this case the decision leaves significant unanswered questions about how the evidence was actually assessed.

I hope the organisation reflects on the importance of transparent reasoning and thorough investigation, especially when cases involve vulnerable customers and serious financial consequences. Im left in debt, buisness away to fold and now left registered fully disabled with more long term health issues due to this

I am writing to raise a formal complaint about the poor level of service I have received during the handling of my case. The process has fallen significantly below the standards of fairness, accuracy, and professionalism that I expected from your organisation.Address my Formal Complaint to Alan Chattell which is unprofessional and rude and cowards after 2024 no one allocate me a case worker Horrendous

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is, in my experience, a complete disgrace and a shocking waste of public money. We raised an extremely serious complaint involving elderly and disabled residents who were being forced to live in absolutely vile, dangerous conditions — surrounded by piles of rotting food, bags of decomposing meat crawling with maggots, rats, and mice. The stench was unbearable, and rats were literally running over our feet.

You would think that an organisation set up to protect vulnerable people and hold councils to account would treat such a situation as urgent. But no — instead, the Ombudsman sent a generic, copy-and-paste response, brushed the whole thing aside, and closed the case without lifting a finger. No investigation, no follow-up, no compassion.

It’s outrageous that taxpayers are funding an organisation that appears more interested in ticking boxes than actually helping people in need. When the lives and dignity of vulnerable citizens are at stake, this kind of indifference is beyond unacceptable — it’s shameful. The LGSCO should be held accountable for their failure to act.

My recent phone call to the Ombusman proved to be monotonous of historic events.
Reading all the reviews about the corruption I would request that you look into this agency and where the money came from for them to be in operation. A journalist has been exposing the corruption not working for the tax payers more leaning towards the rouge companies. After my complaint that sat amongst other complaints for over three months failed to address.
If I could address and give some clarity to my own experience by this agency, their conduct is like a dog returning to its own vomit !

they dont know what they are doing, two of the staff I had to talk with have no common sense.

What a waste of time, wouldn't bother using them.

1. I have utilized the services of the financial ombudsman several times, but my experiences have been frustrating due to their inadequate service and apparent bias towards retailers. My issues primarily involved my mortgage lender, Lloyds Bank, and during my interactions, I encountered an ombudsman representative named Chris Chin, who frequently interrupted me and contradicted my statements. I believe the fundamental criteria of the ombudsman are flawed, leading me to conclude that pursuing matters through the county court is a more viable option. My previous court victory regarding a charging order demonstrated this, yet the ombudsman still requested additional written documentation from the judge, despite my clear explanation of my situation as a former service member dealing with PTSD, anxiety, and depression. Unfortunately, the ombudsman seemed disinterested in my complaints, merely relaying information from my mortgage company that I had not received. Overall, my dealings with the ombudsman have been disappointing and cumbersome, prompting me to escalate my complaint to court. The handling of my mortgage by both the bank and the ombudsman has been disgraceful, and I would advise others to avoid their services and handle matters independently. What is the point of the ombudsman unless the government need to look into the ombudsman people our been let down by a corrupt and incompetent administration the ombudsman poor poor poor . Stay away

Complete waste of my time. The Ombudsman didn't challenge the poor provider or ask the right questions.
Apparently, they have limited scope in terms of asking for evidence due to their entity status.

I am not sure what their purpose is