Problem with LGPS AVCs with Prudential

OldBeanz

bioboybill said:

My Prudential farce is finally over, but not before they made more errors and showed completely NO customer service whatsoever! 

I got my money on February 1st and found that I could no longer log in to my online account. They still emailed me to say they had sent me a secure message and I needed to log in to see it! I got onto live chat who said that as I had been paid I no longer had an account and they couldn't help me.

A week later they sent me another email to say I had another message that I needed to log in to read. Of course I couldn't!   

The next day I received a letter to say that they hadn't been able to complete their investigations in 4 weeks, so would be in touch in another 4 weeks.

Then finally I received another letter on Saturday to say they had found in my favour, but they made a load of excuses about migrating to a new system in the last year. This completely ignores the fact that this has been happening for 2 years now and their failure to respond to messages or respond with stock answers has nothing to do with migrating systems.

Anyway they awarded me 8% AER interest for the delay, which was £110.30 and another £200 for the aggravation. That's over £1600 compensation I've received for their failings over 2 years. What an awful way to run a business!

Neck and neck with us then with the compo .
Payroll people now have to correctly pay an additional £1200 this month which they screwed up then final payment from the Pru at then end of October. Fingers crossed is all we can do

bioboybill

OldBeanz said:

bioboybill said:

My Prudential farce is finally over, but not before they made more errors and showed completely NO customer service whatsoever! 

I got my money on February 1st and found that I could no longer log in to my online account. They still emailed me to say they had sent me a secure message and I needed to log in to see it! I got onto live chat who said that as I had been paid I no longer had an account and they couldn't help me.

A week later they sent me another email to say I had another message that I needed to log in to read. Of course I couldn't!   

The next day I received a letter to say that they hadn't been able to complete their investigations in 4 weeks, so would be in touch in another 4 weeks.

Then finally I received another letter on Saturday to say they had found in my favour, but they made a load of excuses about migrating to a new system in the last year. This completely ignores the fact that this has been happening for 2 years now and their failure to respond to messages or respond with stock answers has nothing to do with migrating systems.

Anyway they awarded me 8% AER interest for the delay, which was £110.30 and another £200 for the aggravation. That's over £1600 compensation I've received for their failings over 2 years. What an awful way to run a business!

Neck and neck with us then with the compo .
Payroll people now have to correctly pay an additional £1200 this month which they screwed up then final payment from the Pru at then end of October. Fingers crossed is all we can do

Good luck!

AliceBanned

Thank you cloud_dog for directing me here. 

I set up Lgps AVC with Pru on 3rd Dec. Nothing has happened. I phoned payroll today who said they’ve received no notification. The set up email on Pru portal states to contact payroll if no payments taken within 2 months! 

What am I doing, working for Prud?! Or payroll?! Lady at Pru I spoke to today said she would provide back office with my payroll’s email address. I didn’t expect to be the go-between doing all this investigating. I asked her to cancel it all as I’m going via AVC wise - we have since been offered this and it is shared AVC. I doubt she has cancelled it. Payments are £250 pm so I don’t want it all coming out at once. I am 55 and hoping to use it to help me retire at 62ish if I save more but it’s not started well. Maybe I should raise a complaint rather than cancel it? Would shared cost AVC be much better? Such a minefield and no idea who AVC wise are - another middle man to cause more problems?! Both are with Pru. 

OldBeanz

Yes raise a complaint with the Pru. Thy take longer than 8 weeks to respond normally which does not meet the required standard so they default to compensation.

AliceBanned

OldBeanz said:

Yes raise a complaint with the Pru. Thy take longer than 8 weeks to respond normally which does not meet the required standard so they default to compensation.

I’ll do this tomorrow. Thanks. Will report back when I have news. Probably quite a long time.😂

daveyjp

I've not read in this thread of any problems with AVCwise Pru policies.

AVCwise operate the salary sacrifice AVC for LGPS.  The benefit is your NI savings are also contributed to the Pru policy.

Farside71

Given that many of the issues arise from payroll reconciliation (or lack thereof) maybe AVC Wise have a better handle on that side of things than many other employers.

AliceBanned

Farside71 said:

Given that many of the issues arise from payroll reconciliation (or lack thereof) maybe AVC Wise have a better handle on that side of things than many other employers.

Maybe that’s why my employer brought them in. They’ve been doing very persuasive online workshops and Q&A sessions but when I asked about the delay I experienced I was met with silence. No doubt they didn’t want anyone to be put off by signs of problems with Pru. It’s quite nerve-wracking not knowing where your pension money is going! I then emailed them separately and they directed me to payroll and Pru but it seemed I was expected to sort it out! I also have option to switch my Pru avc to avc wise. I may do it that way as I think a complaint should go in. Otherwise I may end up having too much money suddenly taken. I doubt it as payroll had no idea that I had requested the money to go to avc back in December!

OldBeanz

Our final complaint to the Pru has now been dealt with. A further £700 from them, meaning that the wife has received over £2k in compensation. Useless but happy to pay up for their mistakes. Happy days her pension in payment, AVC paid out and a nice bonus on top for 2.5 weeks delay by them (ignore the lack of responses, the incorrect responses and the down right lies).

MX5huggy

So Pru seem to have finally messed up my account, all transactions sine 23/01/2023 are missing. What’s the best way to approach them? Direct secure message. Compensations is the desired outcome (after the account it put right).