The majority (84%) of consumers reported no improvement in how financial providers treat them following the implementation of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) Consumer Duty a year ago, Smart Money People has revealed.
Customers were urged to leave reviews of their financial providers as part of the ‘Your Money, Your Voice’ campaign.
The study revealed that 7% of consumers reported worsening levels of service in the past 12 months.
Consumers’ biggest frustrations included having no access to human support (48%), untrained staff (34%), no available phone number (32%) and an over-reliance on chatbots (24%).
Despite these grievances, only 23% of customers left a review for their provider in the past 12 months and only 35% said they have given feedback directly to their provider in the past five years.
Personal loan and ‘buy now, pay later’ customers were the least satisfied with the service they received.
Over-reliance on ‘live chats’ (30%) coupled with poor customer communications (28%) were the top reasons why consumers expressed dissatisfaction.
An additional fifth (22%) of people had experienced unempathic staff members.
Analysis of Smart Money People’s platform data, which holds more than two million independent reviews, showed health insurers received the lowest reviews, followed by pension providers.
This analysis indicated that health insurance customers were more willing to review providers and loan customers were more hesitant about leaving reviews.
Jacqueline Dewey (pictured), CEO of Smart Money People, said: “The FCA’s Consumer Duty guidelines are specifically designed to put the onus of consumer communications and outcomes on the provider.
“However our data shows customers are not seeing the impact of these guidelines 12 months later. It’s particularly concerning that vulnerable customers have not seen an improvement in their experience during this time.
“This is why we are encouraging consumers to feedback on both good and bad experiences. Smart Money People works with financial services organisations to better understand and serve their customers, helping to drive better outcomes for both providers and their customers.”
