According to Aptean, a complaints handling firm which conducted the user group, the concerns were centred on the FCA’s proposal to extend the ‘next business day’ time limit for informal complaints handling to three business days.
Many also felt that the new requirements for firms to report the outcome of both formal and informal complaints and send a summary resolution communication to consumers whose complaints are resolved within three days would be “logistically unfeasible”.
Duane George, respond product director at Aptean, said: “The over-riding fear from the group was that front-line staff cannot know the nuances of complaints management without significant and costly training.
“While they may be trusted to handle informal complaints effectively, firms are reluctant to allow front-line staff the final say on the more formal matters.”
The concerns relate to the FCA’s “Consultation Paper of Improving Complaints Handling”, released in December last year.
The group also suggested a widening of the definition of “complaint”, currently “financial loss, material distress and material inconvenience”, to “any expression of dissatisfaction”, in order to remove the complication of defining what is and what is not a complaint.
George added that the concern is that customers, firms and individuals will interpret the current definition differently.
“The group feared that training frontline staff to handle and respond to every complaint within three days would be too great a burden on finances and time.
“Without sufficient training, or without a sufficiently integrated and efficient system of communicating with senior complaints handling manager, it could in fact increase the risk of customer dissatisfaction and be counterproductive to the FCA’s goals.”
