“I heard there are new regulations concerning complaints procedures at banks. Apparently they will have to respond to them within a month and if they do not, it will mean that the complaint is accepted. So far, this has not worked very well. I myself have been in a situation where financial institutions extended their investigation into a complaint,” writes Konrad.

Until now, banks have had no top-down statutory time limits for considering customer complaints. The institutions were in fact free to set their complaints handling procedures. And that led to the frustration of the interested parties who faced different rules at different banks. There were even cases where different time limits for responding to complaints were established for customers of different parts of the same bank. Besides – and more importantly – there was no simple way for customers to make sure that banks handle their reservations efficiently.

The Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) tried to rescue the situation and, to ensure the correct functioning of the market, developed guidelines on handling complaints by financial institutions. It is obvious, however, that non-binding guidelines are not the same as legislation which must be complied with unconditionally.

So the good news is that starting from 11 October 2015, the law will provide better protection for consumers, or the weaker party in a dispute with a bank. The date marks the coming into force of new legislation which established top-down rules for considering complaints at financial market institutions, meaning not only banks but also cooperative savings and credit unions, insurance companies, investment fund companies, and open pension fund management companies.

A complaint may be made at any customer service point. Such a regulation is necessary as there have been cases where staff have referred unhappy customers to the head office or made the complaint process difficult for them.

The law provides for three ways to complain: in writing, orally or electronically. Of course, this is the standard we know today. What is truly revolutionary is that there is a maximum time limit for the complaint to be investigated. A bank or any other financial institution will be obliged to provide a written response (with the customer’s consent, also electronically) within 30 days or, in particularly complicated cases, within 60 days of receipt of a complaint. Choosing the latter option, the institution must inform the customer of the reasons for the delay. The most important of the new regulations is that if the above deadline is not met, the complaint will be considered accepted (see Expert Opinion).

For example, if the customer believes that the bank charged an incorrect account fee and the bank fails to make a decision in this regard within the time limit, it will be assumed that the bank has admitted its mistake. This in turn can constitute grounds for pursuing claims against the financial institution.

The legislator has thus put an end to the behaviour of such institutions as banks and cooperative savings and credit unions involving extension of procedures associated with consumer affairs.

Another important change is the indication that a complaint may be made not only by an existing customer but also by a consumer who has not entered into any agreement with a given institution. Those people too can have reservations about the services provided by a financial market entity and from now on banks and other institutions must treat their complaints just as seriously as a letter from their customer. ©?

Legal basis

Articles 1-10 of the Act on considering complaints by the financial market entities and on the Financial Spokesperson, dated 5 August 2015 (Journal of Laws of 2015, item 1348).

EXPERT OPINION

Agnieszka Skrok, lawyer at FKA Furtek Komosa Aleksandrowicz law firm

Financial market entities who do not respond to the complaint in the period specified in the Act will pay a high price. The Act states that if the entity does not provide the customer with a response to the complaint in the period specified in the Act, the complaint will be considered resolved in accordance with the customer’s demands. It seems that this provision was based on a similar solution applied in the Act on consumer rights. However, in the Act on consumer rights, claims of the customers are limited to demanding replacement of goods or removal of defects (a customer may also submit a statement requesting lowering of the price with a simultaneous specification of the amount of decreasing the price), but in the case of the Act there are no limitations in this regard. It is therefore possible that a customer will submit an absurd claim (for example demanding payment of PLN 1 million) and the entity will not provide a response in the period specified in the Act, which will mean automatic acceptance of the complaint.

Similarly, it is unclear how to calculate the period of 30 days for granting a response to the customer if the customer’s claim is imprecise. In such situation it seems reasonable to assume that the entity should ask the customer to describe the demand in more detail (because as a rule, if a complaint is considered justified, it should be resolved according to the customer’s wishes). However, it is unclear whether the period of waiting for the customer’s response should be included in the maximum period of 30 days for responding to the complaint or not. Although it seems reasonable, the Act does not specify such procedure in such situation.