Iii

planteria

i thought things were going well, then badly, then well, and now i have no idea:huh:
my only real hope with iii is that they continue to be 'good value' and do put right whatever they do wrong.

andromedean

I sent my drawdown form to Interactive Investor near the start of this month, thinking this was plenty of time to meet this financial years deadline. They claim to have received it on the 10th March and there is a ten day turnaround time to return forms for signing. Then they tell me it is extended for three days more, but I still haven't received anything. I have called and messaged them on numerous occasions. They promise to get back to me, which they don't. Unless I receive an explanation or reply I will make a complaint to the authorities (for what good that does). It looks increasingly likely I won't be able to withdraw income this FY now. I can't recall any problems at Hargreaves Lansdown on tighter timescales.

le_loup

Read the whole tread and you will be enlightened about IIIs dilatory attitude.
They have no concept of service to their customers .............. but, they are cheap!

andromedean

le loup

Yes, they are atrocious.

I finally found out the problem. They claim something wasn't filled out on my form. Fair enough, however they have been telling me the delay is down to the extended turnaround time for the last week. They failed to reply to any personal mail or telephone query over the past two weeks, or else I would have had time to fix the problem (assuming they aren't making it up).

Now they have asked me to fill out the form again and send it in.

'But it won't be in time for this financial year will it?' I say

'We still have a 10 day turnaround time, so you may not wish to send in another form unless you wish to drawdown next financial year instead!

Aaaaargh

Well they are cheap in theory, this will cost me £2200 in extra tax.

andromedean

I attempted to complain through the MSE resolver, but it appears Interactive Investor are as inflexible on the complaint front as on everything else!

Resolver's aim is to make the complaints process easier and clearer for both consumer and company by bridging the gap between them, and improving the whole nature of customer service, but at this point a handful of companies are being uncooperative - Interactive Investor being one of them.

They are refusing to accept complaints from Resolver on the grounds that we are a 'third party' but, in fact, we are no different from an email client like Gmail or Hotmail (with complaint-specific features). We are working on developing a relationship with them so hopefully in future this will no longer be the case.

I am sorry that you have been inconvenienced by this. In the meantime, Interactive Investor are suggesting that you make your complaint via their website, using their secure message facility.

Do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of any assistance.

seacaitch

When I was an Interactive Investor customer I needed to raise multiple formal complaints in order to eventually get some account admin completed. It was probably the most unsatisfactory service I think I've ever received from any organisation, and most certainly by far the worst service I've ever received from any broker. Consequently, I was not a customer for long, and would never be a customer again.

Probably just unlucky though :rotfl:

le_loup

seacaitch wrote: »

Probably just unlucky though :rotfl:

Yes you were. The problem is that there is so little luck to go round. That's why we are all feeling like you.

minted_visitor

I need to switch my ISA away from Fidelity since the platform charges have become extortionate as my investment has grown. On paper Interactive Investor seems like a good choice. I read pages 1-10 and 85-95 of this forum thread ... I wasn't up to ploughing through all 95 pages! Opinion of Interactive Investor seemed positive in the first 10 pages (i.e. back in 2014) but seems distinctly negative in the most recent 10 pages. However that negative opinion seems concentrated on SIPP accounts, conversion from dirty to clean funds, and late payment of dividends.

My situation is:
I don't have or want a SIPP (already retired).
I don't want to engage in any share trading.
I buy and hold funds long-term, I've only ever had to switch one fund because of poor performance.
My funds have nearly all been converted to clean versions.
My funds are nearly all accumulation rather than income funds (so few potential issues with late dividends).

So my question is:
If my goal was to hold only clean, accumulation only, long-term funds then would Interactive Investor be a good choice, i.e. do you think I would be avoiding the problems you all have been describing in recent forum pages?
Thanks!

ctdctd

I have a similar holding already within II - so long as they don't need to do anything, then it seems to work OK.

Based on my transfer experience a couple of years ago and also II's conversion from dirty to clean, I'd consider selling the dirty funds and transferring as cash.

I haven't noticed any problems with income payments - they have all turned up, but I don't monitor due dates.

HTH

masonic

I would suggest you consider iWeb. You might be ok with II if you never need them to do anything, but why take the risk?