An ombudsman is a consumer’s secret saviour - Martyn James

It doesn’t have to be that way. Millions of people are missing out on an incredibly simple way to get a complaint sorted out definitively – and best of all, it’s completely free. Welcome to the world of the ombudsman.

An ombudsman service is a free and impartial alternative to the courts. These schemes were created because successive governments were concerned that only the wealthy could afford access to justice. Yet despite the vital lifeline these organisations provide during exceptionally challenging times, research from the Energy Ombudsman and the Communications Ombudsman found the majority of people in the UK don’t know about how these schemes can help. That’s despite the fact that regulated businesses are legally obliged to tell their customers about the ombudsman if they fail to sort your complaint out.

Worryingly, the research found that a third of people didn’t know about the Energy Ombudsman – despite rocketing bills and wonky meters. Even more alarmingly, well over half of people (52 per cent) did not know about the Communications Ombudsman, even though they have powers to sort out complaints about mobile phones, broadband and pay TV contracts.

So what exactly is an ombudsman? Well the concept goes back over 1,000 years. ‘Ombudsman’ is actually a Scandinavian word, meaning ‘man of the people’. Back then, a representative of society would sort out a dispute impartially with a practical, fair solution.

Flash forward to the present day and the ombudsman decides cases in much the same way. They must follow the law – the courts remain the highest authority in the land – but they can also factor in things like whether a business has acted ‘fairly or reasonably’. This means you can sometimes get a much better result from an ombudsman than the courts which can only consider the letter of the law, not whether a business is acting fairly.

You don’t need to pay someone to help you bring a complaint to the ombudsman or act on your behalf (unless you want to). Ombudsmen schemes are designed to be accessible, so you communicate with the ombudsman in your own words. All you need to do is explain what’s gone wrong and what you want the business to do to sort things out.

In the UK, we have two types of ‘official’ scheme you can go to if there’s a problem. Ombudsman and Alternative Dispute Resolution schemes (ADR).

Ombudsman schemes tend to have more powers to ‘compel’ businesses to follow their final decisions. ADR schemes may be slightly more informal but in almost all sets of circumstances, they are also free.

By my estimation, just over half of all the business sectors in the UK are covered by ombudsman or ADR schemes. This includes businesses covering; energy, finance, telecoms, legal services, motoring, airlines and more. However, there are some notable exceptions. Outrageously, there’s no dispute scheme for the most complained-about sector in the UK: retail. And the most consistently loathed sector – package delivery – also has no ombudsman scheme, despite being regulated by Ofcom.

Ombudsman schemes are the best and, in many cases, the only way for your voice to be heard. But there’s quite a lot of variance between all the different schemes and their powers. That’s why I’m campaigning for a standard model for all ombudsman services – and I’d love your thoughts:

• A set, maximum timescale for businesses to investigate a complaint before you can automatically go to an ombudsman.
• · The same legal powers compelling every business to pay out if it loses a dispute.
• One single ombudsman scheme for each sector​​​​​​
• Every business in the UK must have a single ombudsman scheme.

So if you feel that your complaint hasn’t been heard, don’t give up, take it up with an ombudsman.

​Martyn James is a leading consumer rights campaigner, TV and radio broadcaster and journalist. Visit martynjamesexpert.co.uk