Endowment complaint rejected, what next

rescuedogs

I have two endowments which were taken out with R&SA, now Phoenix. The 1990 one has been upheld with an offer of £3300. But we took another in 1997 which has been rejected.

I am more cross about being sold the 1997 one to be honest, endowments had received some bad press and we told the advisor that we were not sure that we wanted another. She assured us that it was our best option.

In the information that she filled in at the time, the advisor states "Mr and Mrs **** would prefer to remain on an endowment basis." This is not true. She told us it was our best option although we were wary of taking another endowment.

Phoenix say they will reconsider if we can provide any paperwork to support our complaint but we can't.

Do I write to them again and tell them that she has mis-recorded our meeting, do nothing as it is our word against hers, or contact the ombudsman?

Please advise. Thank you.

dunstonh

In the information that she filled in at the time, the advisor states "Mr and Mrs **** would prefer to remain on an endowment basis." This is not true. She told us it was our best option although we were wary of taking another endowment.

Tied agents do not make recommendations. They present the possible options for you to choose. Thats how it is technically done although we all know that the tied agents position it as advice.

Do I write to them again and tell them that she has mis-recorded our meeting, do nothing as it is our word against hers, or contact the ombudsman?

Dont think that telling them she has mis-recorded it will do you much good as they would almost certainly respond by asking you why you didnt report it when you got the report as it would have asked you to in the accompanying letter you got with it.

rescuedogs

So does that mean I can take the complaint no further?

And just a note, we never realised that she was a tied agent until we raised the complaint, we thought she was independant.

dunstonh

You can take the complaint to the ombudsman if you wish although the success will depend on the quality of the documentation (or lack of).

There was a recent survey that showed most of the people who saw tied advisers mistakenly believed them to be independent.

rescuedogs

Thank you for your replies.