With the increased awareness of endowments and possible shortfalls looming, policyholders have been complaining in their droves. Norwich Union and Legal & General have been granted waivers by the industry regulator, the Financial Services Authority. Zurich is now considering applying. These waivers mean that the insurance companies do not have to provide a final response to complainants within the 8-week deadline. We understand that at least one of the waivers allows the company 16 weeks to reply. With the amount of complaints being received, companies are increasing their teams to cope. Obviously this includes training and is the reason why they feel an 8-week deadline is unrealistic. A senior actuary at Norwich Union said: "We want to deal with complaints as quickly as we can but more important is dealing with them properly and completely"