Bear With Us When Battling Financial Company Delays

Published / Last Updated on 06/02/2021

Bear With Us When Battling Financial Company Delays

We are in the midst of the 2nd Coronavirus wave and 3rd time in full lockdown.  Whilst, our firm continues to function 7 days a week and all staff were already working from home remotely before the 1st lockdown started, there are still many pensions and investment companies that have offered atrocious service and continue to do so.

We battle delays everyday and when any existing or new client chases us for a progress update, know that whilst our telephones are usually answered within 3 ‘rings’, we are shielding you from the administrative chaos out there.

To help you understand what we are shielding you from, we have listed below example dealings with branded, well known firms that you will have heard of:

Company X – the worst

3 hours holding in call queues and then the call just cuts off.  If it does get answered, they tell you to email or book in a call back, to which no call backs are ever returned and emails are ignored.  We have one client who requested online access (at the pension provider's prompt) in October 2020 and 6 months later still does not have online access.

Company Y

Usually we are in a call queue for 1 hour and then when you get through, staff are obviously working from home whish is not a problem in itself but they have no online access and so cannot answer our queries.  They then request a 48 hour call back to help us which usually happens after 5 working days i.e. 1 week later.

Company Z

We are usually on hold for 45 minutes and then cut off or when answered it then cuts off.  This usually happens 2 or 3 times for each enquiry.  When you finally get through, many of their staff have no access to systems.  This firm, now that we are in the 3rd lockdown, has only finally just ordered 2,000 laptops for its staff.

Company A

Staff do not answer calls and when they do they have no access to systems and suggest email only with response times usually after 10 working days.

Company B

When sending them client authority letters to allow them to release information to us about your pensions or investments.  Bearing in mind we usually send important documentation by 'Signed for Special Delivery', so that we know they have arrived at their destination, this firm then suggests they have not received the authority letters.  They have clearly destroyed them without dealing with them.

Company C

Averaging 1 hour on hold and then 2 days before you receive a call back.

General Responses

When we send in detailed information requests, many financial providers have taken to only sending back 1 page A4 valuation statements with no answers or details for the questions that we raised in our enquiry so we have to start again and make yet more requests for the same.

What to Expect

In a normal working environment, we would expect to secure all the information we need to advise you in 6-8 weeks.  It is now averaging 3 months i.e. 12 weeks meaning some are taking even longer.  We have one client that has now been waiting since July 2020 (that’s 6 months) and one last year that waited 10 months for advice to be completed.

Please Bear With Us – We Are Fighting Your Corner Every Day.  It Is Why We Are Working 7 Days A Week At Present To Make Up For Lost Time On Hold Waiting For Answers.


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