Amass Ltd..

solchain

atush wrote: »

Not sure if you are aware of the Immediacy of her situation. I'd be calling her old pension place, and the IFA who is operating the transfer immediately. Like now. Lik ASAP.

I would record a conversation if you can using your phone, and I would send any covering documents immediately by email so you have a evidence trail, and by snail mail using both special/recorded delivery to stop this transaction in its tracks.

I now you are worried which is why you came here. Not sure you are worried/acting fast enough.

Good luck and let us know what happens.

I would immediately start a complaint by the transferring IFA scheme by recorded letter.

You are sort of right, I am fully aware of how serious this is, but its so hard to get someone to do something who doesn't want to hear it, I don't live near my mum, so today I had to make a trip across to get the paperwork.

I don't know who to make a complaint about, because I don't really know what has happened, or if what has happened is an issue - I know everyone has said that its not right, but they don't have all the facts yet.

I have confirmed it is with Amass, so a few days sitting back and working out a plan isn't going to make much odds now.

People here have been really helpful, I am just getting stuff ready to post here, then I can work out what to do next.

atush

You should have driven to her house, called the people on the phone and stopped it. WOrth the drive and a day off work for that amount of money esp if you have to support her when she loses all.

Who you speak/write to are-

1 the original pension company the scammers talked her out of transferring from. With her policy details. call/fax/write immediately. I mean all 3 not one, and should ahve been done yesterday.

To the receiving IFA/Sipp the same (just in case they are not part of the scam).

To the scammer, write/call fax she does not want to proceed.

Start a complaint by letter to all 3. The proceed with the regulators should they either not listen to you, or not reply.

My feelings are, that you are worried and with reason. But not worried enough to take the bull by the horns with enough speed as it may cost you time/money. I would say the money and time are better spent taking care of this asap?

solchain

atush wrote: »

You should have driven to her house, called the people on the phone and stopped it. WOrth the drive and a day off work for that amount of money esp if you have to support her when she loses all.

Who you speak/write to are-

1 the original pension company the scammers talked her out of transferring from. With her policy details. call/fax/write immediately. I mean all 3 not one, and should ahve been done yesterday.

To the receiving IFA/Sipp the same (just in case they are not part of the scam).

To the scammer, write/call fax she does not want to proceed.

Start a complaint by letter to all 3. The proceed with the regulators should they either not listen to you, or not reply.

My feelings are, that you are worried and with reason. But not worried enough to take the bull by the horns with enough speed as it may cost you time/money. I would say the money and time are better spent taking care of this asap?

What can I expect them todo? if mum requested the transfer then is she able to reverse all this?

I think Avalon are a genuine provider, so is it safe to request it goes back to them? you are talking to someone who knows nothing about pensions, I even had to look up what sipp meant

Here is the most recent statement from Avalon..


http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk194/bluetba/avalon%20statement_zpsszgvw6x7.jpg

atush

SHe would have/could have had a much better chance had you take action on the 12/13th after you first acted/asked here. Every day you waited twiddling, made her chances less

Do not delay further and pull your finger out.

I know you feel you didnt' know what to do. Several of us have said what to do. Every day/hour you wait now will lead to a poorer outcome for your mum so get on it.

atush

A brief look at the statement looks like the money left in Jan. Getting it back now will be hard, but start with the current provider.

Have her start a formal complaint. Now.

solchain

atush wrote: »

A brief look at the statement looks like the money left in Jan. Getting it back now will be hard, but start with the current provider.

Have her start a formal complaint. Now.

I appreciate how frustrating it must be for you, because its so simple, but I don't get what I am complaining about, surely they have just done what they have been asked to do?

when you say the current provider do you mean Amass?

I have written to Avalon asking them how I can get the fund back to them, do I need to tell Amass that I want to transfer the fund back, or can Avalon just take it?

Sorry I am asking such simple questions, I am trying - honest.

jamesd

To determine what to do with a complaint we need to know what she asked for and what she was sold as a result. The paperwork from her original discussions should tell us that.

If she was just asking for access to the money there was no need for any of this because back in November 2014 it was possible to get 25% out as a tax free lump sum, around 6% of the rest a year (all payable at the start if she wanted) and was also known that all of the rest would be available from 60 April 2015. So no need for this if that's what she wanted.

So, how did she end up with the money being sent to AMI/EPS and whatever they have put it in, the Amass investment I assume? What was the purpose other than getting money out of her?

We do see one purpose in the statement: an "Initial Commission" "Introducer Initial Charge" that was paid out to whoever got her to Avalon. That could be some sort of adviser that pays the people who called her a cut or it could be those who called her directly. The £1985.63 for that is far higher than would have been required just to get at the money. At 3% of her pension pot size with the SIPP provider called Accenture it's something like the charge a fairly costly financial adviser might make when one wasn't really required.

There's a firm called Accenture that offers a range of services including pensions management for employers, so they may have been administering a work pension that she had. You've mentioned privately that this all started well before 14 Jan 2015, so that wasn't the first activity in the whole timeline.

If there is an adviser it's very likely that this is at least a product mis-sale if not outright fraud. That's because foreign investments are a high risk product and it seems that her risk tolerance and capacity for loss aren't anything like high risk level.

Because the transfers happened some time back we're now not in urgent get it stopped mode but instead sorting out what your mother asked for and seeing how that compares to what she got, then working out the basis to complain if she wasn't sold something she should have been sold. Which is almost certain given the investment made.

It would also be useful to see all of the emails so we can see what was said by various people.

Keep_pedalling

Accenture manage my indexed linked final salary pension, so I really hope your mum has not moved her funds out of something as rock solid at that.

solchain

Just to finish this thread, Ammas and Avalon are NOT scam company's, BUT Ammas are based in Cyprus and so you are offered very little if any protection should they give bad advice, Avalons funds are very expensive.

We have now moved the Pension to somewhere more local, invested in something that mum happy with.

And yes she had moved it from a place that offered a final salary pension, and no they wouldn't take it back.

Thanks for the help and advice though, it really was appreciated and got me moving to get things sorted.

Has been an expensive lesson, but not as expensive as it could have been.

atush

Who was the IFA who helped moved the funds? WEre they in the UK? As to have advised her to move a final salary pension is generally something advisers advise against. And it would not matter how bad/expensive the new funds were as they would be worse than the old FS pension.

So if there is a UK agent in the chain here, you may have room to make a formal complaint and get her some redress.

Glad to know she has at least some of her money back.