A New Variety of Dead Parrot Sketch
I liked this comment from The Times on Thursday.
“I wish to register a complaint.” Britain’s financial services industry heard this refrain nine million times over the past three years, according to new figures from the Financial Services Authority.
This sounds like an awful lot of unhappiness. Dissatisfied customers are now returning their dead parrots at the rate of more than 8,000 a day.
This is the first two paragraphs and it continues in the same vein.
But doing simple maths says that we complain about 3,000,000 times a year about the financial services industry. That probably means it’s about one complaint for every six or seven houses in the UK. As probably only half the houses do anything governed by the FSA, that’s one hell of a level of complaints. So it’s nearer one-in-three!
I could add my complaints too. About excessive paperwork for a start. It seems that every time you move or breathe anywhere near any financial company they need everything in triplicate down to your inside leg measurement. You need certificates for this, documents for that. Surely, the fact that I pay my taxes and I only bank with reputable UK banks should be enough and they should guarantee my probity.
Job done!
How many complaints are of this nature?
But just imagine this level of complaints on cars. No-one would ever buy one. So perhaps this is why people don’t buy pensions.
After all if you want to make a small fortune, give a large one to a financial adviser.
The Anonymous Widower 
Banks here in America have earned their place on my Public Enemy list; #3. They just don’t see us as people like they use to. Insurance Companies and Lawyers are worse and, of course, my list is exclusive of government, but Banks look at us and see no heart, no soul, no face. It makes me glad that they bombed and sad that we saved them.
http://splashinthepacific.wordpress.com/2009/09/05/public-enemy-3-banks-by-a-thumb/
Comment by Splash | September 6, 2009 |
It’s why increasingly, I’m moving my savings to Zopa. I get a sensible five percent and a bit of fun and manageable risk. It would appear that entities like Zopa and Prosper are having a hard time in the US. I wouldn’t know if this is because they want to protect the established dinosaurs.
I think though we differ here on lawyers. OK, so we have our ambulance chasers and nasties, but because we have the barrister/solicitor split, I think you get rid a lot of the “dripping roast” syndrome. You could say I’m biased here in that my late wife was a long-servig barrister, but my son is also a well-respected solicitor.
Our problems here are mainly with incompetent lawyers and trying to get compensation. But then every profession has its dunderheads. I’ve met an awful lot of useless software writers for a start.
Comment by AnonW | September 7, 2009 |