'interactive investor' (ii) - new customer ISA transfer experience

KevinLondon

Forewarned is forearmed: I realise that many others have successfully transferred to this company, but I felt that my experience might act as a warning to continually chase up inbound transfers, since ii cannot be relied upon to do so, in the mean time your savings will have experienced growth far less than expected in comparison to the plentiful information that has been provided daily from ii (adding insult to injury).

Purely on the basis of an MSE recommendation I decided to switch a very low yield cash ISA into a managed ii share ISA. This turned out to be a sub-optimal decision:

1) I received a 'status update' on the 6/4/2021, stating that the estimated completion date would be 13/5/2021 - this was far longer than I had experienced for previous ISA transfers (of which there have been many over the years), but I assumed that this was purely a guesstimate.
2) Indeed, I received a further 'status update' on the 7/4/2021, stating that the estimated completion would now be 6/5/2021.
3) On 19/4/2021 I received a 'status update' though the estimated completion remained as 6/5/2021. The update also included a statement that "We are still waiting on your current provider to confirm receipt of our transfer request. If you wish to do so, you may contact them for a further update in the meantime." I duly contacted the current cash ISA provider who had NOT received a request, ii then stated that they would resolve this matter, which I took to mean that although the fault may have been due to either party ii would at least take responsibility for resolving it. During the phone conversation I was informed that a named colleague was due in that afternoon and they would look into it, resending the transfer request if necessary.
4) I followed up with usage of their online form, which led to a bounced email that indicated that the form was not serviced, though I did then receive an email from someone who provided 2 more email addressess to try (neither of which appeared anywhere on the company's web site or in the documentation that I had received previously.) The detailed contents of the web form were not responded to, which was disappointing.
5) On 21/4/2021 I received a 'status update' that reiterated the 'update' from 19/4/2021.
6) Since today is 7/5/2021 and given that I had not received a further update I contacted the current cash ISA provider again and they were able to re-confirm that NO request had been received. Indeed, logging on to both sites (yet again) confirmed that the ISA remained where it was over a month ago.
7) I have just (7/5/2021) phoned a very apologetic ii representative and my account has now been closed... ...so back to locating another home for my cash ISA, hopefully this time one that will bother to ensure that the transfer is completed smoothly and promptly)...

IvanOpinion

That is a shame.  I have transferred 5 ISAs (from various sources) and a SIPP to II and everything went very smoothly without a single hitch.  However the last one of those transferred before the end Feb 2020 and this pandemic kicked off.

grumiofoundation

Purely on the basis of an MSE recommendation I decided to switch a very low yield cash ISA into a managed ii share ISA. This turned out to be a sub-optimal decision:

Notwithstanding that MSE doesn't recommend anything, merely provides information presumably you also did your own research? 

Have you submitted a formal complaint to ii? If unsatisfied with their response then complain to the ombudsman. 
https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/complaints-can-help/investments/individual-savings-accounts-isas

dunstonh

Purely on the basis of an MSE recommendation I decided to switch a very low yield cash ISA into a managed ii share ISA.

MSE does not make investment recommendations. It provides information only.

1) I received a 'status update' on the 6/4/2021, stating that the estimated completion date would be 13/5/2021 - this was far longer than I had experienced for previous ISA transfers (of which there have been many over the years), but I assumed that this was purely a guesstimate.

If both the receiving scheme and the ceding scheme use the electronic transfers system, then its much quicker.   If either side don't then it has to revert to paper.     The dates are estimates based on experience.   In general, tax year changeover is a slower period in the year to be doing these things.

 I duly contacted the current cash ISA provider who had NOT received a request, ii then stated that they would resolve this matter, which I took to mean that although the fault may have been due to either party ii would at least take responsibility for resolving it. During the phone conversation I was informed that a named colleague was due in that afternoon and they would look into it, resending the transfer request if necessary.

I have just had one similar to that where the ceding scheme denied knowledge of receipt but the receiving scheme was able to evidence it was emailed.

7) I have just (7/5/2021) phoned a very apologetic ii representative and my account has now been closed... ...so back to locating another home for my cash ISA, hopefully this time one that will bother to ensure that the transfer is completed smoothly and promptly)...

Don't assume the receiving scheme is at fault.    However, I do have a preference for using the platforms that have a proactive chasing service rather than ones that sit back and wait.   It may come as no surprise but you generally find the absolute cheapest are the ones that do not do the chasing.

gld73

I started transfer processes at the same time for moving my L&G ISA to my ii account, and my Fidelity SIPP to my ii account. The transfer from L&G went without a hitch. The transfer request for the Fidelity one got accidentally closed or deleted by ii (they found this out when I asked for an update after 3 weeks), then once reinstated, didn't get passed on to the review department or something (again, only found out when I chased up for progress again and they discovered nothing had been done with it) ....it's now 3 months on and at least the request has now made it to Fidelity ...

I don't know if ii's advertising has been too successful and they're getting lots of people wanting to switch to them but just don't have the staff to manage it all...?

ChilliBob

Blimey, I was going to move my iweb one over having II now but I might wait a bit! 

KevinLondon

To confirm:

1a) MSE quite often provides a significant component of my transfer decisions, whether financial or otherwise.
[For example: their 'Cheaper Energy' recommendations this year initially suggested 2 companies. I switched to 1 and then fed the data back in to their search engine and another was recommended; uSwitch agreed with MSE's/my initial selection without suggesting any further alternatives.]

1b) In terms of the share ISA, I was referring to: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/stocks-shares-isas/
which is headed "Find the best ISA or investment platform" and "Top-pick stocks & shares ISA platforms".

1c) Various share ISA investment review sites listed a subset of about 10 companies, with associated fees and options. Checks on TrustPilot indicated overall customer satisfaction for each one. I then read the statements on the above MSE link to make my final selection.

2a) My final contact (assuming that the token amount of cash that I had deposited is returned) was through the ii 'Complaints' phone number. I explained what had happened, the agent apologised, but did not have any information to indicate why the transfer was unsuccessful in this instance and that so many 'updates' were sent, without there being any progress or even confirmation of receipt. [When I had checked with my cash ISA provider earlier in the day their agent said that she could readily see from her 'ISA transfer tracker' that no request had been received and I assumed that ii would have an equivalent system.]

2b) In terms of progressing to the Ombudsman, I am just putting this down to experience; yes my cash ISA carried on earning a very low return for an extra month, but then it had done so for a year already, at least relative to a managed share ISA. TrustPilot confirms that there are large numbers of unsatisfied customers with quite a number of the other leading share ISA providers, particularly in relation to 'transfers in' and customer service in general... ...I was just unlucky with ii.

3) To recap: this thread was started purely to recommend that new ii customers try to avoid taking the frequent status updates at face value and obviously provides no comment on the actual service offered once accounts are fully setup - I just did not get to that point.

dunstonh

1b) In terms of the share ISA, I was referring to: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/stocks-shares-isas/
which is headed "Find the best ISA or investment platform" and "Top-pick stocks & shares ISA platforms".

However, it is not actually telling you which is best and its only using a very tiny sample of companies.    Plus, MSE has not had the greatest success when dipping its toes into the regulated side of things in the past.  There were issues in the past where it had best buys on SCARPs and some people went on to lose their money on those.   There was a pension articles that included a product that had ceased to be available 8 years previous.  Even now, that article gives links to do-it-for-me platforms and lists three robo-guidance companies but none of the three are platforms.

1c) Various share ISA investment review sites listed a subset of about 10 companies, with associated fees and options. Checks on TrustPilot indicated overall customer satisfaction for each one. I then read the statements on the above MSE link to make my final selection.

Trustnet (typo) Trustpilot is highly unreliable for financial companies (and also many other areas).  Generally, newer companies without legacy products tend to encourage new sign ups to do reviews at purchase when the person is at their happiest.  Whereas older companies will have legacy issues.   Such as products from 30 years ago where the person doing the review thinks the product they bought in 1990 should do something that was only introduced in 2015.  So, they mark them down.    Also, Trustpilot is easy to manipulate and there have been examples of scams with near perfect ratings.

kuratowski

I think @dunstonh you meant TrustPilot not trustnet?  Not that I am disagreeing - the reviews and ratings are nonsense.

masonic

KevinLondon said:

1a) MSE quite often provides a significant component of my transfer decisions, whether financial or otherwise.
[For example: their 'Cheaper Energy' recommendations this year initially suggested 2 companies. I switched to 1 and then fed the data back in to their search engine and another was recommended; uSwitch agreed with MSE's/my initial selection without suggesting any further alternatives.]

1b) In terms of the share ISA, I was referring to: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/stocks-shares-isas/
which is headed "Find the best ISA or investment platform" and "Top-pick stocks & shares ISA platforms".

The problem with both of these aspects is that MSE is applying a fairly simplistic price-comparison model to a decision that needs to take into account other variables. There are plenty of people who have found themselves switched to a nightmare energy provider, and plenty who have missed out on investment providers who would have been ideal for them. These 'top-pick' articles are fine for savings accounts where features and service levels are of a fairly uniform standard, but things like investments are more nuanced.

I would never base a decision on what MSE told me was best without doing my own research (which would probably involve things like this forum, rather than TrustPilot, which just tells you which companies are willing to spend money on generating positive reviews).

dunstonh

kuratowski said:

I think @dunstonh you meant TrustPilot not trustnet?  Not that I am disagreeing - the reviews and ratings are nonsense.

You are indeed correct.  It was a typo.