A financial adviser has said it is considering taking self-invested pension firm Hornbuckle Mitchell to the small claims court to try to recover close to £1,900 outstanding from an invoice it submitted to cover hourly fees for time it alleges was wasted as a result of poor service.
Stuart Read, director at Sabre Financial Planning, sent an email to Hornbuckle in February, seen by FTAdviser, in which he states his firm will “be invoicing Hornbuckle for the time spent chasing errors and inefficiencies on your part”.
Sabre Financial has four clients who have self invested personal pensions with Hornbuckle. Following a series of complaints since the February threat, in particular over property transactions within client Sipps, the firm billed the provider for a “lenient” £3,740.
Hornbuckle paid 50 per cent of the sum and stated in an email sent in August, also seen by FTAdviser, that it would “hold over the balance until the end of the year, should our service proposition not improve”.
The email also told Mr Read that his clients, along with others with property holdings, have “now been migrated” over to property consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton.
Mr Read said he had complained again and restated that his firm would seek to recover the full costs of the invoice through the court if necessary, and was told the firm is “reconsidering” the case.
Mr Read said: “We invoiced for our time spent on chasing inaccuracies/errors and time wasted by them. The first invoice for £2,676 and the second for £1,064.
“I think the bill is quite lenient as we have been having problems with them for four years, since 2010. I charge, as a director, £150 per hour and our admin time is charged at £45 per hour so an average invoice figures is £129 per hour.”
He added: “Hornbuckle Mitchell added it together and just paid us 50 per cent... They said this was because they were running a campaign to improve relationships.
“If the relationship does not improve by the end of the year they will pay the balance. They are self-regulating but we have billed them for the poor service we have experienced, not for the poor service we expect to receive.”
Hornbuckle said it would not comment on individual cases in the press. In a statement it said it continuously aims to improve its service and regrets “cases where for whatever reason this is not achieved and will work with the parties involved to address the specific issues”.
The firm added: “We will be issuing an announcement in relation to Lambert Smith Hampton later this week.”
Mr Read told FTAdviser examples of “poor service” included one client who has had three commercial property transactions fall through, as well as “late payments” and unsatisfactory communicaton between different parties.
He cited one case where a property transaction had to be the day before it was due to be processed as the calculation for borrowing was thought to be wrong.
He said: “The calculation was correct and they did phone back and apologise but it is these kind of problems we have faced over the last four years.
“Service standards declined so much that we informed them that we would be invoicing for wasting our time. We also made it clear that this was no idle threat and if they did not pay we would pursue via the small claims court.”
A spokesperson for Hornbuckle said: “We continuously aim to improve the quality of service and succeed in doing so for the vast majority of our 15,000 clients and intermediaries. We regret cases where for whatever reason this is not achieved and will work with the parties involved to address the specific issues.
“We do not comment on individual cases in the press.”
Hornbuckle has been in the press over complaints about its service previously.
In one case, reported by FTAdviser in May, an adviser’s clients said they were left in an “awkward position” after her agency was terminated by the firm following a string of complaints over service standards.
