Aegon subjected an adviser to repeated delays in dealing with a client who wished to get cash out of his executive pension plan.
Steve Osbiston, adviser for Surrey-based Michael Robinson Associates, said he has been subjected to a series of 10 working day delays by Aegon, which left him and his client feeling "totally frustrated".
He said: "We were starting the process of withdrawal of cash from an executive pension plan (EPP).
"Initially the EPP had to be assigned to the member. Having carried out a similar exercise 12 months earlier with Aegon, we thought we knew the requirements.
"In actual fact, what we provided was not acceptable, although it mirrored what had been provided 12 months earlier to Aegon.
"The two cases were compared and we were advised the first case had been processed incorrectly. Of course this held up the process, but Aegon agreed to accept the paperwork with some minor amendments made by us."
Response timescales can obviously vary depending on the type of request, but our aim is to resolve all complaints as quickly as possible.AegonMr Osbiston thought the issue had been resolved, but a few months later, when the client was ready to draw the tax-free cash and take the balance as taxed income, he claimed Aegon refused to discuss the policy with the advisory firm as it was no longer the servicing agent.
"When the policy changed from being owned by the employer to being owned by the individual member, who owned the business, they advised we would need authority from the member."
At no point, Mr Osbiston claimed, had he been informed that his firm would have been removed by the provider as the clients' adviser because of the withdrawal request.
He said: "We agreed to obtain a new authority from the member. After 10 working days, Aegon wrote to say the letter was not acceptable because the client had not included our full company address on the authority letter.
"It took another 10 working days for Aegon to confirm we were the appointed adviser to the policy and the process of withdrawal could begin.
"This process took a further two weeks [a further 10 working days] to complete. So each time the provider touched this case, it took 10 working days to deal with that issue before moving onto the next stage."
When asked, Aegon said it does not have a standard 10 working days turnaround.
According to the provider, the average turnaround time is approximately four days.
A spokesman for Aegon said: “We’re sorry for the frustration we’ve caused to the adviser in this particular case.
"There isn’t a 10 working-day completion time in place; in fact the majority are concluded within four working days.
"Response timescales can obviously vary depending on the type of request, but our aim is to resolve all complaints as quickly as possible as part of the robust process we have in place."
The issue came to light after advisers expressed concerns to FTAdviser over the length of time large providers have been taking to deal with requests.
Last month, Legal & General came under fire for its lack of communication with advisers.
simoney.kyriakou@ft.com
