In reaching an assessment of an individual complaint, the ombudsman needs to take into account all the circumstances of the case. This will include:
any relevant circumstances particular to the individual consumer and sale; and
where it appears that the sales process used by the financial business is designed and delivered as a standardised process, the features of that sales process.
To assist in the process of assessing the sale, we will take into account all the evidence available. This might include:
the documentation produced at the time;
the consumer's (or the financial business's) recollections of the sales process;
recordings of relevant phone conversations;
sales scripts and staff training-material;
the typical outcomes of the sales process at the time;
and information from regulatory authorities.
We need to consider the overall picture, not specific issues in isolation. So, for example, a piece of information given to a consumer during a sales process cannot be read in isolation. Instead, some consideration needs to be given to:
the point in the process at which the information was provided;
the way in which the information was communicated; and
the issues facing the consumer at the time.
If a standardised sales process is found to have been inadequate, it may be difficult to avoid the conclusion that most complaints about sales made under that process should be upheld.
