any point complaining to a CEO?

donmaico

The question possibly doesnt need asking for i have just sent Jackie Hunt ,who is Prudential's CEO a strong email of condemnation for their atrocious customer services .I have never been fobbed off so much in my life and it has been constant .At first i thought i was dealing with a bunch of incompetents who lost documents, told me different things every time I phoned , stopped one of the DD(premiums) back in October and denied having done so( I mean why would I when I didnt even know the amount I was paying was split in two??),told I would not be eligible for an enhanced pension then told I would, told I was sent a quote for enhanced pension in august which i did not receive so last Monday I phoned and they said they would send me another 1st class . It has not arrived .I am so bloody angry with these clowns:mad:but I cannot understand what they are playing at .Do they think I am just going to give up? They even ignored a complaint I sent via email
Next stop will the ombudsman followed by a letter to the Daily Telegraph if I dont receive a satisfactory reply with backdate payments plus interest
I always though Prudential were a reputable company and I cannot find any similar complaints online but cannot see why they should single me out .Is my Scottish Amicable guaranteed rate pension not to their liking? Are they waiting to see if Scottish independence becomes reality and the rules changing .No that does not make sense either

SomeUser

It's unclear to me what your complaint is.

You appear to have a Guaranteed Annuity Rate (GAR). Is that correct?

There appears to have been a problem with your Direct Debit, so you never paid some contributions. Is that correct?

It appears as though they continued to take some contributions by direct debit but not all of them. Is that correct?

It appears as though you are asking them to pay the contributions that you should have, plus interest, on the basis that they should have taken them from your account. Is that correct?

It also appears that your annuity quotation didn't include the GAR rate. Is that correct? (an enhanced annuity is something different).

They have said they would send you another quote that includes the GAR rate but you've not yet received it. Is that correct?

donmaico

SomeUser wrote: »

It's unclear to me what your complaint is.

You appear to have a Guaranteed Annuity Rate (GAR). Is that correct?

There appears to have been a problem with your Direct Debit, so you never paid some contributions. Is that correct?

It appears as though they continued to take some contributions by direct debit but not all of them. Is that correct?

It appears as though you are asking them to pay the contributions that you should have, plus interest, on the basis that they should have taken them from your account. Is that correct?

It also appears that your annuity quotation didn't include the GAR rate. Is that correct? (an enhanced annuity is something different).

They have said they would send you another quote that includes the GAR rate but you've not yet received it. Is that correct?

Sorry if I have not made myself clear but:

a) correct yes
b) The direct debit payment were split into two premiums paid into two different accounts ,which is something i was not aware of .One of those DD was stopped in November but not by me , after all i did not know there was a split and anyway it would not have served my interests
c) i only became aware the DD was stopped in May when they sent me a letter telling me of the shortfall.In the meantime the DD for the other policy had continued.I subsequently sent a cheque to cover the shortfall
d) in june I stopped paying the other DD as well and a new Quote was worked out based on the total amount of the pot which had increased by small amount since the quote in april

e) I am not asking them to pay any contributions , that was for me to do

f) I think the GAR was about 9.6% and I believe that was what the quote was based on

g)Its the enhanced annuity where i am confused because the word implies an increase in value based on health issues .I have one such issue which i included on the relevant form and from that, I was told I would be eligible for an enhanced annuity and would receive a quote within week .That was back in August 7th .I still have not received that.

h) today they informed that the enhanced annuity does not enhance a GAR pension and in fact would amount to less, which begs the question what does it enhance and if it doesnt enhance the GAR, why send it to me in the first place ? Why not tell me that right from the outset as it would saved me a great deal of time

i) they are now going to send me another quote which is based on the GAR alone .Presumably it would be a replicate of the one they sent me in June

Hope thats clearer:)

JMW00

I thought Tidjane Thiam was Prudential's CEO?

I used to work for a FTSE100 company in the finance sector and at that time (pre2003) all letters addressed to the CEO were read by him.

Don't know whether that happens now at that company or elsewhere.`

donmaico

JMW00 wrote: »

I thought Tidjane Thiam was Prudential's CEO?

I used to work for a FTSE100 company in the finance sector and at that time (pre2003) all letters addressed to the CEO were read by him.

Don't know whether that happens now at that company or elsewhere.`

so did i but then i read this and assumed there was a change , unless, of course, i am misunderstanding something
http://www.prudential.co.uk/who-we-are/our-leadership-team/executive-director/jackie-hunt

JMW00

donmaico wrote: »

so did i but then i read this and assumed there was a change , unless, of course, i am misunderstanding something
http://www.prudential.co.uk/who-we-are/our-leadership-team/executive-director/jackie-hunt

I see now. Jackie Hunt is CEO of, and I quote: "UK & Europe" not the whole international group.

Fair enough, she'll probably do in this case. Be interesting if you get a personal response from her.

dunstonh

Most of them have a secretarial pool that intercept the public email address and they will deal with the mail/email and in most cases just acknowledge them and forward them to the relevant department. Although sometimes they will track progress.

As the regulated complaints process has to follow the defined process, the CEO will not be authorised to deal with them.

Also, insurance companies and emails dont go well together. It is better to use the phone or post and deal with the complaints team directly.

donmaico

dunstonh wrote: »

Most of them have a secretarial pool that intercept the public email address and they will deal with the mail/email and in most cases just acknowledge them and forward them to the relevant department. Although sometimes they will track progress.

As the regulated complaints process has to follow the defined process, the CEO will not be authorised to deal with them.

Also, insurance companies and emails dont go well together. It is better to use the phone or post and deal with the complaints team directly.

Must admit i did wonder about that as they probably get deluged by emails.I shall post it tomorrow

donmaico

JMW00 wrote: »

I see now. Jackie Hunt is CEO of, and I quote: "UK & Europe" not the whole international group.

Fair enough, she'll probably do in this case. Be interesting if you get a personal response from her.

none so far but its early doors.I will send her a copy of the email by post.Whether she can be bothered to reply is another matter

jamesd

donmaico wrote: »

f) I think the GAR was about 9.6%

It is highly likely to be in your interests to accept that unless your life expectancy is greatly reduced.

donmaico wrote: »

g)Its the enhanced annuity where i am confused because the word implies an increase in value based on health issues .I have one such issue ... today they informed that the enhanced annuity does not enhance a GAR pension and in fact would amount to less, which begs the question what does it enhance and if it doesnt enhance the GAR, why send it to me in the first place ? Why not tell me that right from the outset as it would saved me a great deal of time

An enhanced annuity would pay more than a standard annuity because or the reduced life expectancy and number of years to pay out. Both current standard and enhanced annuities would be based on current life expectancy and investment returns data. A guaranteed annuity rate is based on life expectancies and investment returns anticipated, sometimes very optimistically, when the product was initially purchased. Since life expectancies have increased and investment returns for much of what an insurance company must use have declined, it is normal for a GAR to be higher than all standard annuities and most enhanced annuities, though not all. They couldn't be certain of this without getting information about your health and using that to work out what your enhanced annuity rate from them would be.

Also, enhanced annuity rates vary form provider to provider and it would not normally be the case that the firm where the money is invested gives the best enhanced or standard annuity rates today. This is irrelevant for a standard annuity when a GAR is involved because the GAR is almost certain to be higher than a standard annuity. Not so for an enhanced annuity, where full market search might turn up a rate that bets the GAR sometimes, depending on health.

Because you have some apparent reduction in life expectancy it is likely to be in your interest to obtain enhanced annuity quotes from a range of providers, with IFAs being likely to obtain the best deals. If you tell the IFA about the health condition and your age they will have some idea of whether it is even worth checking, from their own experience.

SomeUser

It's worth getting an open market quote, but I'm not convinced on the GAR vs. enhanced annuities rates. I doubt you'll exceed 9.6% unless you you get it through an impaired life quote, rather than enhanced, but it's all semantics really.

Get one quote from the Pru with your GAR and then use a whole of market broker to get other quotes. TOMAS (the open market annuity service) immediately springs to mind, but there are others too.