endowment compensation

sikipoo

can anyone help . we took out an endowment in the early 1990's and now find that it is underachieving.

Can we claim compensation and if so , is it advisable to go through one of these companies that advertise. I notice some dont charge unless you are sucessful in your claim.

Thanks

smartsaver

You may be able to claim. It takes quite a while to get an answer as they have a huge back log. It is simple to do yourself. This site with it's complaint letter generator may help. Any company that helps you will want a percentage.
http://www.which.net/endowmentaction/complaint/write_a_complaint_letter.html
We are going through the process by ourselves at the moment. Good luck

FOSman

Hello. Whilst the Which letter can be useful, as I've said here a number of times, if you want your complaint to be taken seriously, then you need to tailor the letter to your specific complaint. This way, it will sound much more believable.

Complain to the original seller, and if you're not happy with what happens, you can take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

EdInvestor

FOSman wrote:

Hello. Whilst the Which letter can be useful, as I've said here a number of times, if you want your complaint to be taken seriously, then you need to tailor the letter to your specific complaint. This way, it will sound much more believable.

Hi Fosman

I am not sure why you think a complaint submitted according to the Which template might not be "believable" and might not be "taken seriously". The Consumers Association/Which is a very respectable organisation which has been around for many years and its efforts to help people who have been missold endowments have received wide publicity in the media.

I am sure in your job it must be commonplace - indeed almost automatic - to suspect that the providers and salesmen have been cheating.After all, that's what you're supposed to put right.

But are you saying there has been widespread attempted cheating by policyholders using the Which letter? I don't believe I've seen anything about this reported. Perhaps you could elucidate.

dunstonh

The Consumers Association/Which is a very respectable organisation which has been around for many years and its efforts to help people who have been missold endowments have received wide publicity in the media.

This is the same Consumers Association that was recommending endowments in their publications but conveniently chooses to ignore that now.

I wonder how many consumers have lost out because they chose to do execution only when going to an IFA saying "I want this one because its the best buy according to the consumers assocation"?

I am not sure why you think a complaint submitted according to the Which template might not be "believable" and might not be "taken seriously".

Template letters can give all sorts of reasons, many of which are either not applicable. This can give the impression that you are not complaining based on your circumstances but just trying it on using the common reasons. The problem with that is, if you are found to be telling lies in a some areas of the complaint, it could be held against you in areas where there isn't clear documentation proving something one way or the other.

The Which template is a good way to get started but then personalise it to suit your situation.

EdInvestor

dunstonh wrote:

Template letters can give all sorts of reasons, many of which are either not applicable. This can give the impression that you are not complaining based on your circumstances but just trying it on using the common reasons. The Which template is a good way to get started but then personalise it to suit your situation.

OK, here's the relevant page of the Which letter:

Complaint template


So what you're saying is that some people are ticking all the boxes, instead of just the ones applying to them, and that providers - and the FOS - are assuming that these people are "trying it on"?

They don't think that people might just be confused?

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

I done 1 complaint for myself and wrote my Father in Laws complaint with the Which letter generator.

As dunstonh says, it will need tayloring a bit at the end to suit your specific needs.

I'm currently waiting for my payout.