iii introducing quarterly £20 charge

afwone

An important victory! Well done everyone.

And I am even beginning to feel better about iii. I hope this doesn't ruin them.

gadgetmind

Now, couldn't iii have made that a whole lot easier for themselves if they'd thought this through up front! I just don't think they realise how connected their customers are, and how quickly they can organise a buttload of adverse publicity.

Between the guys fighting the BOI SLO, some of the sharesoc victories, and now this, investors really are getting a better deal.

plunt

Well done all!!!!!!!

simonfitba

I'm delighted all other iii investors have finally been offered a way out. It was the sensible thing to do but should have been offered in the first place.

Thanks to everyone who emailed and phoned in their complaints and to everyone who gave advice on the forums.

My transfer form went in today. Selftrade will get my business.

Interactive_Investor

We have listened carefully to our customers since we announced the changes to our pricing structure which introduced the following:

• We will repay ALL income we get from funds back to customers - on a typical, actively managed fund you would get back 0.64% of your investment every year.
• A flat £10 charge for all investments (or £1.50 for regular investments) whether in shares or funds
• A £20 quarterly fee which includes 2 free trades (or £20 in trading commission)

We are confident that our new pricing will be advantageous for most customers, even more so for those who are able to consolidate investments they have with other providers.

However, we fully acknowledge that this new plan will not suit all people and we have made the decision to waive fees for customers who wish to transfer to other providers. We will not levy a charge for any transfer out requests we receive on or before 31 July 2012. In some circumstances it can take up to 8 weeks to complete a transfer, but as long as you instruct us in writing before 31 July 2012, the transfer will be free of charge.

In addition, if we receive your instruction before 30 June 2012 the first quarterly fee payment will be waived while your transfer is underway.
We have added a page to our site to clarify issues on the pricing change which you can get to directly from our homepage on iii.co.uk. or at iii.co.uk/landing/new-pricing
We have also updated our FAQ to cover the other most common questions that our customers have raised with our call centres. This can be found via links on the pricing and charges overview pages or directly at iii.co.uk/newpricing/faq.

Every investor has an individual situation and if you would like to talk through your specific circumstances, please do call us on 0845 200 3637.
We sincerely apologise for any undue concern or inconvenience this price change may have caused and, whilst we understand that our new pricing structure may be unsuitable for some customers, we consider our new charges fair with a pricing structure that provides great value and is highly competitive.

Optimist

simonfitba wrote: »

I'm delighted all other iii investors have finally been offered a way out. It was the sensible thing to do but should have been offered in the first place.

Thanks to everyone who emailed and phoned in their complaints and to everyone who gave advice on the forums.

My transfer form went in today. Selftrade will get my business.

Must admit Selftrade are looking the likely candidates for my and the family accounts too.

Strangely I might have stayed as with linked family accounts the charges would have been manageable. However they really irritated me with the original mail explaining how they were doing me a favour.

The end result was I believe inevitable. They were very badly advised with the presentation of these charges and then they compounded it with their complete lack of customer care and the arrogance of the responses they made to complaints.

Well done to all.

BLB53

Anyone who remains with iii after this fiasco needs their head examined!!

OneADay

BLB53 wrote: »

Anyone who remains with iii after this fiasco needs their head examined!!

Cretins have cost me shares and money - I sold mine quick (wrong or not I was not content with being associated with iii after this). Sent FSO a complaint.

gingellr

BLB53 wrote: »

Inevitable - the FSA have 'advised' them today to back down on exit fees.

I think it may have been alot to do with the BBC getting involved.

mulronie

Yet another lesson that it pays to be loud, pays to be confident, and pays to be a MSE :money:!!

Let's not forget they are waiving transfer fees not out of the goodness of their hearts, but because the tsunami of Ombudsman cases at £500 a pop would have destroyed the business case for the change (not to mention the public relations problem). I'd like to see free rematerialisation offered too, and will push them further for it, but maybe that's a stretch too far!

They deserve to have lost a lot of goodwill for failing to see this turning into a PR and regulatory nightmare - although I hope they survive to keep the marketplace crowded, maybe this is the push many of their customers need to reassess the whole III experience, particularly since the platform 'upgrade' (ahem) last year.

We will have collectively saved £1000's for countless other III users who were ready to acquiesce and take the fees on the chin, so well done all.