Pension mismanagement, advise needed

debrabird

This is a very long and complicated story, which has been with the ombudsman since May 2019, I will attempt to sum it up, in a short story, bearing in mind, I have not been given the right advise, all the way along.

It starts with a pension sharing order, which was given to a financial advisor, just as my divorce was concluded.

It was decided to put it in a draw down pension, so an income would be received monthly.

This was requested, along with a sum of money, for a building project, at this point the advisor, new I had no money to live on, he would insist process was lengthy process, but it had all been actioned.

After ringing head office, they said no requests had been made by the advisor, I then raised a complaint against the advisor, which was acknowledged by head office, along with my request to put the pension on hold, this was never actioned.

My trust in this company had been compromised.

Compensation was offered, which I turned down, as I thought I finders fee, should also be refunded.

This was taken to the ombudsman in May 2019, and was waiting for there outcome, all this time, I had no advisor and no help whatsoever, when the markets dropped with Covid, my cautious fund, lost a lot of money, a lot more than I think a cautious fund should have lost.

The ombudsman first decision is finding  for the pension company, which I have now, objected to, so it now going to a final decision.

There has been many many calls made along the way with the pension company and also the ombudsman, with no advise given to me, the whole thing, has been completely mishandled, I would and have been a vulnerable client, after a very traumatic divorce.

Do I give up? So much injustice has gone on here.

Debbie 

[Deleted User]

debrabird said:

Do I give up? 

Debbie 

No. 
Make a Subject Access Request. This will compel your FA promptly to give you a record of all your interactions.
This will put you on an equal footing with your FA, in terms of information available to the ombudsman. 
Free service.

Edit: If your complaint is with the pension provider, make a SubjectAccessRequest there also.

dunstonh

This was taken to the ombudsman in May 2019, and was waiting for there outcome, all this time, I had no advisor and no help whatsoever, when the markets dropped with Covid, my cautious fund, lost a lot of money, a lot more than I think a cautious fund should have lost.

And did it go up again after the markets recovered?

The ombudsman first decision is finding  for the pension company, which I have now, objected to, so it now going to a final decision.

This bit is confusing.    The company agreed to some redress but you turned it down as you wanted more.   The FOS has now ruled against you.  Is that in the whole outcome (i.e. you get nothing) or that the company's original offer was considered suitable?

 So much injustice has gone on here.

What injustice do you perceive?    It is unclear from your post as you appear to have been offered compensation but rejected it because you wanted more.    What exactly is the issue that is causing you problems?

Marcon

debrabird said:

This is a very long and complicated story, which has been with the ombudsman since May 2019, I will attempt to sum it up, in a short story, bearing in mind, I have not been given the right advise, all the way along.

It starts with a pension sharing order, which was given to a financial advisor, just as my divorce was concluded.

It was decided to put it in a draw down pension, so an income would be received monthly.

This was requested, along with a sum of money, for a building project, at this point the advisor, new I had no money to live on, he would insist process was lengthy process, but it had all been actioned.

After ringing head office, they said no requests had been made by the advisor, I then raised a complaint against the advisor, which was acknowledged by head office, along with my request to put the pension on hold, this was never actioned.

My trust in this company had been compromised.

Compensation was offered, which I turned down, as I thought I finders fee, should also be refunded.

This was taken to the ombudsman in May 2019, and was waiting for there outcome, all this time, I had no advisor and no help whatsoever, when the markets dropped with Covid, my cautious fund, lost a lot of money, a lot more than I think a cautious fund should have lost.

The ombudsman first decision is finding  for the pension company, which I have now, objected to, so it now going to a final decision.

There has been many many calls made along the way with the pension company and also the ombudsman, with no advise given to me, the whole thing, has been completely mishandled, I would and have been a vulnerable client, after a very traumatic divorce.

Do I give up? So much injustice has gone on here.

Debbie 

Sounds more like maladministration than injustice. Did you go to the Pensions Ombudsman or FOS?

debrabird

ZingPowZing said:

debrabird said:

Do I give up? 

Debbie 

No. 
Make a Subject Access Request. This will compel your FA promptly to give you a record of all your interactions.
This will put you on an equal footing with your FA, in terms of information available to the ombudsman. 
Free service.

Edit: If your complaint is with the pension provider, make a SubjectAccessRequest there also.

Many thanks, for your help

debrabird

Marcon said:

debrabird said:

This is a very long and complicated story, which has been with the ombudsman since May 2019, I will attempt to sum it up, in a short story, bearing in mind, I have not been given the right advise, all the way along.

It starts with a pension sharing order, which was given to a financial advisor, just as my divorce was concluded.

It was decided to put it in a draw down pension, so an income would be received monthly.

This was requested, along with a sum of money, for a building project, at this point the advisor, new I had no money to live on, he would insist process was lengthy process, but it had all been actioned.

After ringing head office, they said no requests had been made by the advisor, I then raised a complaint against the advisor, which was acknowledged by head office, along with my request to put the pension on hold, this was never actioned.

My trust in this company had been compromised.

Compensation was offered, which I turned down, as I thought I finders fee, should also be refunded.

This was taken to the ombudsman in May 2019, and was waiting for there outcome, all this time, I had no advisor and no help whatsoever, when the markets dropped with Covid, my cautious fund, lost a lot of money, a lot more than I think a cautious fund should have lost.

The ombudsman first decision is finding  for the pension company, which I have now, objected to, so it now going to a final decision.

There has been many many calls made along the way with the pension company and also the ombudsman, with no advise given to me, the whole thing, has been completely mishandled, I would and have been a vulnerable client, after a very traumatic divorce.

Do I give up? So much injustice has gone on here.

Debbie 

Sounds more like maladministration than injustice. Did you go to the Pensions Ombudsman or FOS?

Hi, I went to the financial ombudsman.

debrabird

dunstonh said:

This was taken to the ombudsman in May 2019, and was waiting for there outcome, all this time, I had no advisor and no help whatsoever, when the markets dropped with Covid, my cautious fund, lost a lot of money, a lot more than I think a cautious fund should have lost.

And did it go up again after the markets recovered?

The ombudsman first decision is finding  for the pension company, which I have now, objected to, so it now going to a final decision.

This bit is confusing.    The company agreed to some redress but you turned it down as you wanted more.   The FOS has now ruled against you.  Is that in the whole outcome (i.e. you get nothing) or that the company's original offer was considered suitable?

 So much injustice has gone on here.

What injustice do you perceive?    It is unclear from your post as you appear to have been offered compensation but rejected it because you wanted more.    What exactly is the issue that is causing you problems?

Hi, because of having no advisor, I panicked and froze the fund, which is still the situation 
The company agreed at the very beginning to some redress, but I wanted the finders fee, also returned, they said no, and to take it to the ombudsman, which I did in May 2019.
So I have waited all this time for them to investigate the case, rightly or wrongly.
As far as the pension provider is concerned, the advisor had not actioned, any of my requests, to the draw down pension, I was a vulnerable client, as I had just gone through a very traumatic divorce, and he had lied and said they had been actioned, when he had done nothing of the sort, this left me in financial trouble, the trust with him and the company had been lost.
Hope this makes more sense.

Dox

debrabird said:

The ombudsman first decision is finding  for the pension company, which I have now, objected to, so it now going to a final decision.

There has been many many calls made along the way with the pension company and also the ombudsman, with no advise given to me, the whole thing, has been completely mishandled, I would and have been a vulnerable client, after a very traumatic divorce.

Do I give up? So much injustice has gone on here.

The ombudsman has all the facts, so giving a brief and (understandably rather garbled) version of them here is pretty pointless - nobody is going to have nearly as much background as that provided to FOS.

You've been offered compensation which you chose to reject. You say the ombudsman has found for the pension company, and you've objected, so now you wait for the final decision from FOS. If the finding is upheld, that indicates that they do not agree with your comment that 'so much injustice has gone on here', so what realistic alternative do you have other than to accept FOS's verdict? 

dunstonh

The company agreed at the very beginning to some redress, but I wanted the finders fee, also returned, they said no, and to take it to the ombudsman, which I did in May 2019.

You are never going to get the firm to cover a third party fee.   The regulated complaints process if free of charge to consumers as firms pay levies to cover its costs.    Because it is free of charge, any costs you incur in the process are your choice.  The FOS confirm this on their website too.

I'm surprised the FOS didn't tell you to accept the company offer.  

Middlestitch

debrabird said:

dunstonh said:

This was taken to the ombudsman in May 2019, and was waiting for there outcome, all this time, I had no advisor and no help whatsoever, when the markets dropped with Covid, my cautious fund, lost a lot of money, a lot more than I think a cautious fund should have lost.

And did it go up again after the markets recovered?

The ombudsman first decision is finding  for the pension company, which I have now, objected to, so it now going to a final decision.

This bit is confusing.    The company agreed to some redress but you turned it down as you wanted more.   The FOS has now ruled against you.  Is that in the whole outcome (i.e. you get nothing) or that the company's original offer was considered suitable?

 So much injustice has gone on here.

What injustice do you perceive?    It is unclear from your post as you appear to have been offered compensation but rejected it because you wanted more.    What exactly is the issue that is causing you problems?

Hi, because of having no advisor, I panicked and froze the fund, which is still the situation 
The company agreed at the very beginning to some redress, but I wanted the finders fee, also returned, they said no, and to take it to the ombudsman, which I did in May 2019.
So I have waited all this time for them to investigate the case, rightly or wrongly.
As far as the pension provider is concerned, the advisor had not actioned, any of my requests, to the draw down pension, I was a vulnerable client, as I had just gone through a very traumatic divorce, and he had lied and said they had been actioned, when he had done nothing of the sort, this left me in financial trouble, the trust with him and the company had been lost.
Hope this makes more sense.

What do you mean by 'the fund is frozen' - surely it's invested somewhere (you refer to the cautious fund losing more money than you think it should - although where you get your assessment of 'more than it should' isn't clear).

The company agreed at the beginning to offer redress. If I understand you correctly, you've done nothing to move your investments to a more suitable home for 18 months. Why not? It's obvious you have irreparably fallen out with your adviser, so what has stopped you finding another one? I appreciate that's not always straightforward if you've had a bad experience, but doing nothing is making your own situation worse.

Whatever FOS says now, they aren't going to make good any losses which have arisen as a direct result of your lack of action since May 2019, so I'd get on with sorting out where you want your funds to be invested going forward.

AnotherJoe

By "froze" do you mean "sold everything" ?