Scottish Widows has again come under the spotlight with more people coming forward expressing concerns about the organisation’s service standards.
Since Financial Adviser first reported in July on a case where a client missed the deadline to exercise his guaranteed annuity rate, 16 advisers have come forward with a range of concerns, including several others who have said their clients too had missed their window of opportunity.
Keith Bush, director of London-based Keith Bush and Associates, said that four months after the GAR maturity date, a client with a private pension showed him correspondence from Scottish Widows telling him that when he returned a form extending the maturity date to 70, he had forsaken a GAR.
Mr Bush said: “I took this up with Scottish Widows, as I had received no prior copy correspondence advising him of the impending GAR.
“You can guess what happened next. They claimed that they had written to me twice. Where does the burden of proof lie? Actually in law, it is down to them to prove it, and not me.”
Mr Bush said that “in true SW style”, they refused to honour the GAR and backdate it.
“They provided a copy of the authority that the client had signed extending the maturity and declining the GAR.”
Mal Hughes, proprietor of Wales-based GIFP Financial Advisers, said that since February, with Scottish Widows there had been delays up to the GAR date. Once the deadline had gone, he said, that was it, no allowance is given.
He said: “What are the GAR rules? I thought that the date was set but expected some tolerance, and always felt taking it early would jeopardise the guarantee date.
“Surely it does not have to be on the day. Is this another example of the companies shirking TCF responsibility?”
Martyn Quantick, a Nottingham-based financial adviser, said that customer and adviser service is “very poor”.
He said: “I have just received paperwork from Scottish Widows for a pension transfer. It took five phone calls and three weeks for them to send the information and discharge forms.
“We are still awaiting the funds of course.”
In a letter, one of the original complainants, Neil Liversidge, managing director of Yorkshire-based West Riding Personal Financial Solutions, questioned the provider’s work ethic.
He said: “Who do Scottish Widows think they are kidding? We wait 40 minutes for the phone to be answered and have been quoted a 60-working-day turnaround time to process a new letter of authority, them having lost the original.
“Treat customers fairly, Scottish Widows, s’il vous plait!”
John Bloomfield, financial adviser at Tyne and Wear-based Bloomfield Financial, cited an instance when a client surrendered an endowment policy, and was not warned by Scottish Widows that he had only one more premium to pay.
Scottish Widows claimed the client was told in a phone conversation and a letter. This was denied by both adviser and client.
Mr Bloomfield said: “Scottish Widows have come back to IFAs with their protection products expecting us to do business with them but why would we?”
Right of Reply
A Scottish Widows spokesman said: “Like most of the industry we have seen an increase in calls and requests for information following recent pension and savings reforms. We recognise our recent service levels have fallen short of our normal high standards and have increased our staffing levels and will continue to do so, with training programmes in place.”
