Each week the mystery shopper seeks advice from independent advisers in the UK. The aim is to find out whether advisers are delivering the goods when it comes to the all-important initial telephone contact between client and adviser. It is only intended to evaluate this first interview, and it is understood that further meetings would be necessary before final decisions could be made. The purpose is not to expose poor selling practices, but to show constructively any weaknesses in the advice process.
This week, the mystery shopper visits Oxfordshire. After recently getting back into full-time employment as a graphic designer, the caller wants to find out what her options are for getting life insurance and income protection. She is married with two young children, and has a joint repayment mortgage with her husband, which has 22 years left on the mortgage term.
Adviser: Shaw Gibbs Financial Services (independent)
Address: 264 Banbury Road, Oxfordshire, OX2 7DY
Speed of response: 2.31pm. After two rings, the shopper was put through to the adviser. 5/5
Telephone manner: Friendly, helpful and polite. 5/5
Relevant qualifications: Cert PFS and Cert CII for mortgages and equity release. 5/5
Payment method: Fixed fee or hourly rate, and commission. 4/5
Guidance: The adviser said following an initial free face-to-face consultation, he would be able to assess what the shopper needed. He asked some questions to get a broad idea of the shopper’s circumstances, and advised her that one of the key things she needed to do was to protect her mortgage, and that she could get a decreasing term life insurance policy. He also advised that she could get income protection to cover 60 per cent of her gross income, which would be paid out monthly. 5/5
Knowledge: The shopper felt the adviser was very knowledgeable and was able to give her a broad idea of her options, even though she would still need to come and see him in order to take the conversation further. 5/5
Website: www.shawgibbs.com
Email: info@shawgibbs.com 5/5
Verdict: Shopper’s Choice. The adviser was very knowledgeable and helpful on the phone, and the shopper felt very comfortable speaking to him about her circumstances.
34/5
Adviser: Optimum Solutions (independent)
Address: 2 Buckland Road, Buckland, Aylesbury, HP22 5LQ
Speed of response: 3pm. The shopper was put through to an adviser after two rings. 5/5
Telephone manner: Polite. 4/5
Relevant qualifications: CII Cert in equity release, mortgages and financial planning. 5/5
Payment method: Commission on the products sold. 4/5
Guidance: The adviser said there were options, such as a decreasing term life insurance cover. As the shopper suffers from chronic back pain, a pre-existing condition, he told her it was unlikely that an income protection policy would cover that. The shopper was keen to find out the next steps, but the adviser told her to confirm the benefits available at her office first. He also suggested she go online to find cover as he did not think her case was complex enough to require an adviser. 4/5
Knowledge: The shopper felt the adviser seemed knowledgeable, but was surprised that he recommended she go online and buy directly from a provider as her enquiry was not complicated. 4/5
Website: www.optimumifa.com
Email: info@optimumifa.com 5/5
Verdict: The shopper was able to get a lot of the information from the adviser, but his keenness to encourage to seek the online route left her feeling a bit confused.
31/35
Adviser: McGrath Rathbone (independent)
Address: 2 The Quadrangle, Woodstock, OX20 1LH
Speed of response: 3.15pm. The shopper was put through to an adviser after two rings. 5/5
Telephone manner: Friendly and polite. 5/5
Relevant qualifications: CII Certificate in Long-Term Care Insurance, CII Advanced Financial Planning Certificate, and Dip PFS. 5/5
Payment method: Commission on life insurance. 4/5
Guidance: The adviser suggested a range of options, and said the shopper could get individual policies for life insurance and income protection. 4/5
Knowledge: The adviser was knowledgeable, but did not go through the conversation in huge detail as he wanted to meet up with the client to structure a suitable plan for her. 3/5
Website: www.mr-ifa.co.uk
Email: info@mr-ifa.co.uk 5/5
Verdict: The adviser appeared to be quite knowledgeable, but the shopper did not feel they had gone through enough detail with her to take the conversation any further.
31/35
Provider: Vitality
Speed of response: 3.25pm. The shopper was put through to an adviser after just one ring. 5/5
Telephone manner: Very helpful and friendly. 5/5
Relevant qualifications: CeMap-qualified adviser with R01 and R05 in protection advice. 5/5
Payment method: Part of the premium for the type of product sold. 5/5
Guidance: The adviser was very enthusiastic on the call, which lasted almost 25 minutes, and which the shopper felt was too long. He asked the shopper about her personal circumstances and that of her husband. She was advised to prioritise looking for life insurance that would cover her mortgage. One of the options the shopper could get was £250,000 life cover over 25 years, which would reduce over time and which would cover around 174 conditions. 4/5
Knowledge: The adviser had knowledge of specific areas and, where he had gaps, he used a script of questions to find out more about the shopper and advise her. 4/5
Email: www.vitality.co.uk 5/5
Verdict: It was a long and detailed call. Although the adviser was very enthusiastic, the shopper felt she had been overloaded with information.
33/35
