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Wealthify withdrawal warning
fanheater
Posts: 107 Forumite
I started an ISA regular saver with Wealthify in October last year and kept up monthly payments until August this year when I put in a request to withdraw.
I got email confirmation of the request on 24 August which stated "it can take up to 10 working days to get everything sorted - it might be quicker, but we can't promise. We will send any remaining money in your own, plus any dividends you are owed, to your nominated bank account. We'll notify you as soon as it's all done."
I heard nothing from them after this and followed up on 10 September, when they told me "we apologise for the delay in closing your account it seems that we have a system error. We are now in the process of selling down these funds for you and this will be issued to you within ten working days."
I replied to them that they should really make sure the amount I received would be as it should have been if they had started selling the holdings when I first asked to withdraw.
Which they did confirm: they said they would calculate the difference and then pay it to me.
It's their bad luck that the value of the fund fell, and markets generally were falling, in the time between when they should've processed the withdrawal and when they actually did. So they'll have to come up with the difference from their own pockets.
They did manage to process the withdrawal the second time round, so I got back most of my money by the 21st September. But I had to chase them to ask when I would receive the difference.
At that point, so on the 21st, they said they would be able to calculate and pay the difference in the following week.
Of course I wouldn't be writing this if they had actually paid me back. But it seems like they've managed to give themselves an impossible calculation. The Wealthify investment plan has a bunch of assets in it including cash, different funds, government and corporate bonds, and possibly a few other bits and pieces, I can't remember now. And they're trying to do the calculation manually.
I got a tiny credit in my account from them on the 5th October so at that point I went back to them to say they must owe me more than that and they said yes yes we're still trying to work it out but we expect to make the payment next week. That 9p was just money left in my plan or something.
The next time I followed up was on 12 October in a live chat. At this point the agent told me that "you are not the only client subject to this error".
Wow. What a balls-up.
The agent again said they would be in touch in the next week (so this week just gone) with the payment but I finally registered a complaint with them and asked for compensation. The agent told me "our complaint process involves the relevant team reviewing your complaint and contacting you back within 3 working days".
But I heard nothing from them last week so it's time for me to chase them again.
I wonder exactly how big a problem this is for them behind the scenes, how many clients have been affected, and possibly how many payments, investments and so on have not been made when they should.
Clearly, not being able to get your money back is disconcerting, and probably about the worst nightmare for a new investment platform to suffer.
Anyone on here had the same experience?
I got email confirmation of the request on 24 August which stated "it can take up to 10 working days to get everything sorted - it might be quicker, but we can't promise. We will send any remaining money in your own, plus any dividends you are owed, to your nominated bank account. We'll notify you as soon as it's all done."
I heard nothing from them after this and followed up on 10 September, when they told me "we apologise for the delay in closing your account it seems that we have a system error. We are now in the process of selling down these funds for you and this will be issued to you within ten working days."
I replied to them that they should really make sure the amount I received would be as it should have been if they had started selling the holdings when I first asked to withdraw.
Which they did confirm: they said they would calculate the difference and then pay it to me.
It's their bad luck that the value of the fund fell, and markets generally were falling, in the time between when they should've processed the withdrawal and when they actually did. So they'll have to come up with the difference from their own pockets.
They did manage to process the withdrawal the second time round, so I got back most of my money by the 21st September. But I had to chase them to ask when I would receive the difference.
At that point, so on the 21st, they said they would be able to calculate and pay the difference in the following week.
Of course I wouldn't be writing this if they had actually paid me back. But it seems like they've managed to give themselves an impossible calculation. The Wealthify investment plan has a bunch of assets in it including cash, different funds, government and corporate bonds, and possibly a few other bits and pieces, I can't remember now. And they're trying to do the calculation manually.
I got a tiny credit in my account from them on the 5th October so at that point I went back to them to say they must owe me more than that and they said yes yes we're still trying to work it out but we expect to make the payment next week. That 9p was just money left in my plan or something.
The next time I followed up was on 12 October in a live chat. At this point the agent told me that "you are not the only client subject to this error".
Wow. What a balls-up.
The agent again said they would be in touch in the next week (so this week just gone) with the payment but I finally registered a complaint with them and asked for compensation. The agent told me "our complaint process involves the relevant team reviewing your complaint and contacting you back within 3 working days".
But I heard nothing from them last week so it's time for me to chase them again.
I wonder exactly how big a problem this is for them behind the scenes, how many clients have been affected, and possibly how many payments, investments and so on have not been made when they should.
Clearly, not being able to get your money back is disconcerting, and probably about the worst nightmare for a new investment platform to suffer.
Anyone on here had the same experience?
0
Comments
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At least they are willing to pay the different back to you, they just need time.
Also, you should also ask for compensation for the time you've spent on resolving the issue.0 -
I've had a similar issue before (with another investment firm). I'd allow 6-8 weeks for them to sort it out.0
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I am still waiting for Wealthify to setup our new accounts from last week. They had a problem confirming our address but have not been in contact yet. I just sent them a message asking what's happening and when the initial and regular contributions would start. Of all the Robos (and I also have tried Nutmeg, Moneyfarm and Moola) they seem the worst so far.
Alex0 -
I am still waiting for Wealthify to setup our new accounts from last week. They had a problem confirming our address but have not been in contact yet. I just sent them a message asking what's happening and when the initial and regular contributions would start. Of all the Robos (and I also have tried Nutmeg, Moneyfarm and Moola) they seem the worst so far.
Alex
They must have gone downhill as had no issues signing up and dealing with initial contributions but that was about 15 months ago.
My biggest gripe with them so far is that they have only just this week sent out the 2017-18 tax statements which is pretty late (too late for us as I filed the tax returns ages ago - luckily the amounts involved are negliable) and there are no reports that can be run on adhoc basis to check if there is any interest or what total dividends are.0 -
Shedman are you still with them if so why? The fees look high and the investment asset allocation doesn't seem to be anything special. We are just doing them for a bonus.0
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Shedman are you still with them if so why? The fees look high and the investment asset allocation doesn't seem to be anything special. We are just doing them for a bonus.
They were doing OK until this recent market wobble. Its only the £500 each and I guess I was curious to see how they performed especially as we chose different risk profiles for each. I did think about taking it out about 4 weeks ago when we were up about 8% and 5% respectively but of course thought that as they were doing OK I'd leave it...oh well isn't hindsight wonderful
. Anyway still up more than if we'd shoved it into easy access account plus weve had the bonus so not unhappy. 0 -
Just to close the loop on this thread, wealthify have paid me the money they owed me and in terms of compensation they went from offering me a month of investing without their fee, which I turned down since it would've been a laughably small saving, to offering me £12 in cash, which I also turned down. They've now offered me £50 which I'll accept.
Performance wise they've been pretty meh in the year I used them. Not bad but not especially brilliant and pretty hard to justify the cost.0
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