Pension Advice

RokerP

Thanks MASP. Here is the Ombudsman version just for reference - I wasn't implying SIB was the way forward as such.

'Generally speaking, if the ombudsman upholds a consumer’s complaint – and agrees that the consumer has lost out – the aim is to put the consumer in the position they would now be in, if the problem leading to the complaint had never happened in the first place.'

expatinformer

there are so many complaints agains this 'adviser' how does he manage to convince the likes of inter Alliance, HM and others to do business with him?

jmsjt

Hi, I have just stumbled across this thread; it looks as if I am not the only one caught up in this
situation. When this first kicked off the PCD salesman told me that this was just a misunderstanding
between PCD and HM and that PCD would resolved the situation at no cost to myself. Judging by the
comments in this thread that seems highly unlikely.

MoneySav_3

Like many others, I too was a victim. It was only brought to my attention when I contacted another financial adviser for help. He promptly notified me of the huge fees that were taken out of my fund. What was so surprising was that during the meetings I had with the adviser, there was no mention of fees. Indeed he convinced me that they derived their fees purely from the bid-ask spreads (which we had to pay anyway, he said) refunded to them by the fund providers. Little did I now that 4% in commision was discretely inserted on the application form - without me ever seeing it! To me, this is pure and simple fraud! These conmen should be stopped and punished!

beejay41

FYI: today I contacted the FOS for advice on the complaints procedure. They are currently unable to advise me as they have no records of PCD/IAWIAA on their system, despite the FSA entry for IAWIAA.

They are sending me some forms to complete, so that they can investigate and advise what options are available, should PCD/IAWIAA not resolve the situation.

RokerP

We don't seem to be getting many more people on here - maybe they don't use the internet or have not found this thread. Most of us found it by accident probably. Has anyone thought of more publicity? I see BBC's Working Lunch this Friday has a Pension theme. This situation is probably too complicated for them to cover. But I think it would help others to know we are looking for a solution. I'm just not sure what to do next. If PCD-IAW are not regulated in the UK maybe we can only act through Hornbuckle Mitchell. I have raised a compaint with them.

SteF_2

I nearly got snared. A guy called Neil Whitehouse cold-called me. I assumed it must have come through Equitable Life and at first, I was not too worried. I signed forms to allow Equitable to issue a fund value to IAW, but stated then I wanted to know exactly how they got my contact details. Neil claimed to not know about that as he was just fed the leads to follow up, but promised to find out.

I was contacted to set up a funds transfer form signing meeting, and again I stated I wanted to know how IAW came about my contact details. A first meeting was canceled by Neil and a second date was canceled by me as I was away. Then it went quiet.

That is when I did some further digging and found this forum thread. No further contact has been made by IAW. I would not have transferred anyway as the fees they listed in the handout I received were, in relation to the fund size \ monthly contribution, too high.

Lucky escape? After the Equitable debacle, any pension providers \ salespeople always get a rough ride from me anyway as I am so sick of the hassle and deceit, and people \ organisations \ governments using my pension fund as a piggy bank to raid at their convenience. Were insurance salesmen once used car salesmen who have "gone bad"? I know I ought to save more but I just don't trust 'em anymore.

T3615

Well done SteF but we got snared. Interesting that you mention a handout that listed fees. We were offered no such thing, just some rather beguiling patter about how the investment would perform much better when managed by investment managers rather than lying unmanaged in Equitable Llife. We are in the process of drafting a letter of complaint.

SteF_2

T3615 wrote: »

Interesting that you mention a handout that listed fees. We were offered no such thing, just some rather beguiling patter

It was quite a wad of paperwork, maybe 20 pages, with the fees on the last page. I binned it before I picked up on this thread so can't post the details on here. There were set-up fees of several hundred pounds and a management fee that was far more than what I currently get charged.

I suppose they key to finding more "victims" is finding a wider outlet \ exposure for this story.

For my part, I am pretty :mad: that, somehow, my details were released by Equitable. I'd have thought the Data Protection Commissioner might be a starting point.

Steve

anonLDN

Been following this thread and see that the story has now been picked up by the Financial Times' FTAdviser.co.uk, so hopefully more people will be warned against dealing with this company.