Transfer Nightmare

dunstonh

Where has it stalled?

Did you sign the discharge forms of the old provider and send them to the new provider? (that is the most common area where a transfer will stall as I mentioned higher up)

Cotta

Just some feedback today. I got an official response from the pension company that I was transferring from, they have advised the transfer is now complete and have made the following points:

1. There was a data protection breach back in January on their side that I was not informed about where some sensitive information of mine was sent to the incorrect address and has subsequently been lost. This is something I was unaware of.

2. The company have held their hands up and said they have failed throughout the process and were unhelpful at key points.

3. Company have admitted that almost one year is too long for a pension transfer.


4. Company admitted to not completing forms when requested and not returning information that it was asked for.


Company have offered me £100 compensation, is this acceptable?

xylophone

I got an official response from the pension company that I was transferring from, they have advised the transfer is now complete

And you have checked with the receiving company? I would!

Company have offered me £100 compensation, is this acceptable?

Given the inefficiency, incompetence, DP breach (and only just admitted, at that), this seems to me to be an ungenerous offer.


Have you consulted TPAS for guidance?

Cotta

xylophone wrote: »

And you have checked with the receiving company? I would!




Given the inefficiency, incompetence, DP breach (and only just admitted, at that), this seems to me to be an ungenerous offer.


Have you consulted TPAS for guidance?

Just checked with my work pension pot and this sum of money has made it's way across so that part can now be closed off.
I have an email address to provide further feedback on the amount offered but I am not sure what a suitable level of compensation would be.

I have not went to TPAS as of yet.

Cotta

I reverted back asking for an improved offer and indicating that the Data protection breach should be treated as a separate complaint.

dunstonh

Cotta wrote: »

I reverted back asking for an improved offer and indicating that the Data protection breach should be treated as a separate complaint.

There is no reason for them to separate the data protection issue as a separate complaint. They should still address the issues whether the issue is 1 of 5 things in a single complaint or 5 individual complaints.

There should be no change of outcome or how it is looked at.

Cotta

dunstonh wrote: »

There is no reason for them to separate the data protection issue as a separate complaint. They should still address the issues whether the issue is 1 of 5 things in a single complaint or 5 individual complaints.

There should be no change of outcome or how it is looked at.

They will probably respond as you have.


I just hoped that in light of the data protection violation and the fact that the response was littered with mistakes - there might be more leverage in getting them to improve upon their offer.

dunstonh

I just hoped that in light of the data protection violation and the fact that the response was littered with mistakes - there might be more leverage in getting them to improve upon their offer.

one off clerical errors where there is no systemic issues are not considered a major breach. The Information commissioner doesnt fine for that sort of thing. It just reminds the firm to be more careful in future and review things to reduce the chances of it happening again. If there has been no financial loss or problems from that data being given out incorrectly then the typical award (going by the FOS publications) is £300.

Cotta

£200 more than what I have been offered then?

dunstonh

Cotta wrote: »

£200 more than what I have been offered then?

Yes.

If they dont up it, you can go back to them and say ..."that you can see from the FOS complaint publications that they have awarded £300 for a data protection breach and you feel that figure is more reasonable and you are sure the FOS would agree if you were to refer your complaint to them"

http://www.ombudsman-decisions.org.uk/viewPDF.aspx?FileID=35473

And that is a case that you can keep a reference of to support your comment.