Aviva charging Administration since 1998 without my knowledge.

Sea_Shell

What is the annual £35 admin fee as a percentage of your pension fund valuation?

dunstonh

I'm afraid your comments are untrue on my circumstances.  I do have all documentation. 

So, are you now saying that the firm that sold you the pension didn't comply with the regulatory requirements?   And Aviva did not comply with regulatory requirements either?

 I did speak to an advisor/also confirmed emails were sent regarding this.  

As mentioned, Aviva didn't have advisers.   

Whatever system you are talking about was not the case on my circumstances I can assure you.

Not receiving the cancellation rights in the post is possible (a copy illustration is sent with it).    Not receiving it from the firm that sold the pension is possible.    Not to get both is statistically unlikely.

How did you end up buying a pension without any details of that pension being provided to you?

Gosh, I am starting to think you work for Aviva.

That would be childish.   The regulatory process on these things is the same across all providers. It has nothing to do with a specific provider as it's the same across the board.

 I do have all documentation.  

Look at it from our position.  First you think Aviva should offer the pension for free. Now you are you saying you received no point of sale documentation from the distribution channel used and no cancellation rights documentation from Aviva (which is issued separately in the post).     You say you have all the documentation but it is rare for anyone to retain the cancellation rights notice on a product 23 years old.   The pre-sale documentation often goes missing as it's issued at a separate time to the policy documentation that arrives later.      The fact you don't have the quotes from pre-sale and reissue from the cancellation rights tells us you do not have all the documentation.   So, either you didn't get the multiple bits or you disposed of them and 23 years later cannot remember.   Do, you normally buy a product from an insurance company without getting a quote first?

TVAS

There are 2 issues here: one jm14 claims not to have received the illustration that stated all the plan charges as per legislation that came in around 1995. Let's say for argument sake you did not get this pre sale. Post sale Aviva sent you a Cancellation Notice and sent a copy of the illustration with ALL the charges. You say you have all the documentation so dig out the Cancellation Notice you will see the illustration that was enclosed in the letter. 

The second issue is that you think insurance companies work for free if you are implying you would not have proceeded due to the charge you should request a refund of your contributions plus interest. This will be less than the total value of your plan now. Best wishes,

 

Marcon

jml14 said:

The reason I contacted them for a refund was because the advisor I spoke with at Aviva asked me to email for a refund.  I can also assure you no documentation was given re charges as I have all the documentation.  Normal practice is to declare costs, deductions/charges on your invoice.  I have done research on quite a few clients and they have confirmed they have always had all costs showing.  

That's not quite what you said in your first post (which is more likely to be what you were actually told):

jml14 said:

I was advised by Aviva to put in writing to the complaints team as they were the only people that could authorise a refund.  

The fact that they can doesn't mean they will - or that a refund is merited. As others have pointed out, there are significant costs associated with running any pension plan. It isn't like a normal savings account; the regulatory stuff associated with any pension is substantial, however unwanted it might be by the plan owner!

What do you want the outcome to be? The Ombudsman (and it should be the Pensions Ombudsman you approach, not FOS) isn't going to agree that you should have free pensions administration for life. Perhaps you next step should be a word with TPAS for free, impartial and expert help: https://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk