I did think about contacting the financial ombudsman or similar to recoup the fees or something, but I thought hopefully an article that gets a few thousand readers might do more financial damage than a hushed away small claims court ruling.

> but I thought hopefully an article that gets a few thousand readers might do more financial damage

Once upon a time I shared this sentiment about PayPal, but history has shown me that people continue using them anyway. I mean, every person I talk to has personally experienced a PayPal horror story or knows someone who has experienced one first-hand, and they continue using PayPal anyway. Some feel they don't have a choice, others just don't care, but I no longer feel like making noise about the PayPal horror stories is going to have any impact on them, so I encourage you to contact the ombudsman/FCA regardless.

Contact the FCA in any case, I used to work for a bank and believe they charge the organisation per complaint whether upheld or not so can cost them time and money.

Edited to correct to FCA - https://www.fca.org.uk/