Inefficiency with AVCs

dunstonh

Couldn't agree more.The standard of customer service is absolutely diabolical.

And your experience of Chesky's administrators is?

Debt_Free_Chick

To be honest, it's not "pensions" that's the problem. Examples of poor administration and inefficiency exist in all walks of life - but especially financial services. The banks, post offices, insurers are no better ....

EdInvestor

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

The banks, post offices, insurers are no better ....

IME insurers are much worse.This might partly be because they don't deal with the general public much, but rather advisors and salesmen of various stripes who understand the horrific jargon and complex procedures.

Still, as soon as you go to an execution-only provider for a pension,who does deal directly with the public,the difference is immediately apparent.So it is possible to provide decent customer service if you try.

One wonders how much business they have to lose before they wake up.

Debt_Free_Chick

EdInvestor wrote: »

Still, as soon as you go to an execution-only provider for a pension,who does deal directly with the public,the difference is immediately apparent.So it is possible to provide decent customer service if you try.

Although this isn't an option with an occupational pension scheme. Here, the Trustees are the "policy/contract holders" and the members are third-parties. The whole process if very, very different .... but Chesky does seem to have had a raw deal here.

One thing I haven't mentioned - it is the administrators who should be paying any redress - NOT the scheme i.e. the money for the redress should NOT come from the pension scheme bank account!

EdInvestor

Who are the aministrators? The name Capita often seems to crop up.

chesky369

I don't want to name the administrators as we're planning legal action against them - not just for this but for many other problems, going back over several years. One of the reasons for becoming a Trustee a couple of years ago was to get rid of them - the other members nominated me, and it's taken me this long to get the other Trustees in agreement, but now the bit is between their teeth and they're good and mad. It's not Capita by the way.

Debt_Free_Chick

chesky369 wrote: »

I don't want to name the administrators as we're planning legal action against them - not just for this but for many other problems, going back over several years.

Interesting - I hope you're getting advice on this. Generally, you can only claim for actual loss, so you would need to demonstrate the amount of money that the scheme has lost due to their errors, omissions and maladministration. Usually, there isn't any.

Your best bet is to negotiate with them directly - legal action almost certainly won't be worthwhile. I assume the Employer will fund the cost - if not, and you lose, then the money comes out of the scheme's funding and you will have worsened the security of members' benefits.

Do you have a full-time Secretary to the Trustees? A good one? Have you taken advice on legal action from the scheme's solicitors?

One of the reasons for becoming a Trustee a couple of years ago was to get rid of them - the other members nominated me, and it's taken me this long to get the other Trustees in agreement, but now the bit is between their teeth and they're good and mad.

Bear in mind that things will get worse before they get better, as the transition is a nightmare.

Also bear in mind that your new administrators will inherit any mistakes that exist in the data/membership records.

Rather than waste money on legal action, I suggest you get your administrators and auditors to carry out a full data audit. Also get your auditors to audit the new administrators' processes - they do some checks as part of the annual audit, but I'd get them to audit all processes, up front. This is simply good risk management that goes a long way to making the scheme run smoothly in the future and minimises further administration angst.

chesky369

It's our employers who want to go to law - don't worry, I suspect in the end we won't be in court with them. It's actually our auditors who have at last recommended that we start with reporting them (they've had terrible trouble not getting info. for the end of year accounts). The trustees themselves have not been without blame I personally think but they seem to have learnt from their past apathy now.

Debt_Free_Chick

chesky369 wrote: »

It's our employers who want to go to law - don't worry, I suspect in the end we won't be in court with them.

I suspect they won't either. Was the employer a party to the administration contract? If not - no redress!

I do hope your Secretary is as good as me :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: