Prudential AVCs LGPS - Rhondda - Cynon - Taff Local Authority

bioboybill

An update on this. Money still missing and no update from the Pru other than saying they have up to 8 weeks to investigate my complaint and if I’m not happy after that I can go to the Financial Ombudsman to complain. Another £600 has gone to the Pru since my complaint, so will see whether that appears. I did put a poor review on Trustpilot a couple of days ago and received an email from their social media manager to say I had received poor service, and he would pick this up for me with CS and their complaints team. We’ll see, but I’m not expecting much.

It’s quite shocking some of the cases on Trustpilot and their FB page. Some people have been waiting 8 months to get pension payments when they’ve retired even giving them 3 months notice before retiring. Also terminally ill people being fobbed off for months on end. How do the authorities allow them to keep their licence to operate?

I had been thinking of doubling the amount I put away to AVCs in a few months, but if the money doesn’t go in and they won’t pay out what’s the point? The lump sum I am expecting to get is supposed to get me through from 60-67.

stephenadarglas

That really is not good enough.  I wish you well in your challenges ahead.  My wife has authorised her finance dept. to stop payments because of the delay going in to their funds.

Laycity

bioboybill said:

An update on this. Money still missing and no update from the Pru other than saying they have up to 8 weeks to investigate my complaint and if I’m not happy after that I can go to the Financial Ombudsman to complain. Another £600 has gone to the Pru since my complaint, so will see whether that appears. I did put a poor review on Trustpilot a couple of days ago and received an email from their social media manager to say I had received poor service, and he would pick this up for me with CS and their complaints team. We’ll see, but I’m not expecting much.

It’s quite shocking some of the cases on Trustpilot and their FB page. Some people have been waiting 8 months to get pension payments when they’ve retired even giving them 3 months notice before retiring. Also terminally ill people being fobbed off for months on end. How do the authorities allow them to keep their licence to operate?

I had been thinking of doubling the amount I put away to AVCs in a few months, but if the money doesn’t go in and they won’t pay out what’s the point? The lump sum I am expecting to get is supposed to get me through from 60-67.

My last two Pru AVC payments (27 Dec and 27 Jan) are not showing either. They’ve acknowledged there is an issue when I questioned it. It’s probably quite widespread as I’d imagine a lot of people don’t check their online account regularly. 

bioboybill

Can you imagine the fuss if people had their wages paid into a bank and the bank didn’t show it on your statement and you couldn’t get your hands on your own money? This is the kind of crap they’re pulling. But when you contact them they say it’s a web migration issue, but they’ve been pulling that excuse for about 18 months from the reports I’m reading. Also, they show a complete disregard for your concern as if  you’re complaining about nothing. People are waiting hours on the phone to get through and they promise calls back, cheques in the post, money to your bank etc and apparently it never happens. Unfortunately good customer service seems rare these days and CS teams are really there just to make excuses for poor service rather than looking after customers and correcting errors.

bioboybill

Another update today. Still nothing from the Pru as expected. However, I spoke to a manager from the company who administer our LGPS since the Pru have been appointed to administer the AVC for our scheme. He told me that several people have made the same complaint, so they are raising it with the Pru at a senior level, as their service is not meeting the legal requirements of the scheme. He said that any money taken from wages must be invested within the scheme and showing on my account within 28 days.

stephenadarglas

That used to be the case but since November 2020 it's all gone pear shaped - new computer system???

bioboybill

The thing is they’ve been using that excuse for the past 18 months, and new system or not that doesn’t excuse them telling bare-faced lies like “the money will be in your account Friday” and the like for months on end to avoid paying out.