Platforum has called on the pension industry to speed up transfers between providers after their figures showed it was taking over a month in a fifth of cases.
The figures showed that, although 80 per cent of investors were very or somewhat satisfied with the transfer process, it took much longer than expected in many cases.
Investor satisfaction dropped sharply when the process took more than a month to complete.
The figures showed that 66 per cent of investors expected transfers to be completed in under two weeks, but only 38 per cent experienced this.
Only 7 per cent of investors expected a transfer to take over a month but more than a fifth (20 per cent) found their transfers took at least that time.
Arun Shrestha, senior quantitative researcher of Platforum, said: "In today's digital world, consumers expect everything to happen instantly and investors are no different.
"On average, investors expect investment transfers between providers to take around two weeks – but it turns out that the average time is three weeks.
"With over a third of investors considering transferring investments, providers should work to make the transfer process much quicker and smoother. It will make for much happier customers."
Financial advisers agreed that pension transfers often took too long, and this could have an impact on customer satisfaction.
Alan Chan, director and chartered financial planner at London-based IFS Wealth & Pensions, said although most transfers take two weeks, dealing with providers that are not on Origo means the process can take longer.
Mr Chan said: "This means that discharge forms must be completed from the ceding scheme which can prolong the process to four weeks or so.
"The most important part is to manage the client's expectations. As long as you keep them in the loop, we have never had any issues with client satisfaction.
"But clearly, for those clients who are wanting to access their tax-free cash quickly (usually new clients who have been set the wrong expectations by providers, websites, etc) then this can be an issue and will lead to customer dissatisfaction."
Neil Liversidge, managing director of West Yorkshire-based West Riding Personal Financial Solutions, said the length of time it takes to transfer depends on the platform being used.
He said: "Anything that upsets our clients is likely to make us more likely to use an alternative."
