Seeking Advise- Aviva lost our pension fund 😒

xylophone

I am still not very clear about what exactly has occurred.

Let's go back to the beginning.

You say that your husband had three old workplace pensions and a personal pension.

The personal pension was with FP.

 Were the three old workplace pensions also with FP?

Your husband wanted to transfer/merge the three workplace pensions into  the FP  personal pension?

You found that FP had been taken over by Aviva so contacted Aviva in order to start the process?

Aviva told you that the three policies were "inactive" but subsequently that they had been merged (as far as they were concerned at your husband's request) and subsequently transferred into another policy in the name of another customer?

You are now waiting for Aviva to disentangle the muddle they have made?

Marcon

DeeNexus said:

@Marcon

@ Marcon , FOS - is that Financial Ombudsman services ?

thank you for the link, I will look in to it 

Yes - it is the Financial Ombudsman. Not appropriate for your case, since you are complaining about maladministration not financial advice.

I think the best way forward is via MoneyHelper rather than trying to add more detail/answering questions here, since nobody is going to be able to give you the practical help and support you need to get this sorted out. It's frightening when you think your money has been 'lost' but rest assured it will be found and your husband will be put in a position at least as good (in respect of any investment returns his choice of funds would have been earning) as he would have been in had matters proceeded smoothly from the outset.

DeeNexus

@xylophone

My husband has 3 work place pension and 3 personal pension 
2 Wp pension with Royal London , 1 with Scottish Widow 
and 3 personal pension plan were with Friends provident 

Few months ago we decided to merge all pension funds and put in one pot , so we started looking all paperwork to transfer his all pensions in to one place ( we were thinking to merge in to Royal London) 
when we started looking we learnt about FP was taken over by Aviva and we started calling Aviva to find out latest summary of our pension funds 
we never received any notification when Aviva took over FP , or received yearly statements 
we only realised when we started looking for it 

 when we  started calling  Aviva , we got transferred from one to another department,  people would just fob us off, and kept saying these policies are inactive- so I questioned how pension policies become inactive when person is still in his forties and haven’t touched  his pension pot,
after many calls one girl agreed to sent us a letter which stated your three plan numbers got merged in to another Aviva plan ( no other details)
so I asked which plan, what is the new plan number - no details were given 
I have started emailing them so it’s recorded , all emails were going in to a loop 
After about 17-18 emails and a month we got reply saying you have ( means my husband) transferred pensions in to Aviva SIPP plan and total plan value was x amount at that time, 
if my husband had requested that transfer, Aviva would have sent us SIPP plan details and latest summary of funds 

we never requested this transfer we got very concerned , Aviva is not telling us where is the plan and it belongs to whom 

We had brain storming what could have gone wrong 
2 possible scenarios- As we never received any yearly statements or any update when Aviva took over 
its possible administrative mistakes from beginning our plan got wrongly linked with someone else’s account and later on that person merged our 3 policies in to his own SIPP plan - if this is the case it’s fraud 

It’s still a big question even if someone else tried to fraud and steal our pension fund - and did identify fraud and requested transfer everyone’s pension linked to their national insurance Number and their own details, so how come Aviva let that transfer happen - why Aviva failed to check very essential details 

or second scenario- Aviva screwed from beginning and linked or merged  my husbands 3 plans with someone else 

I called action fraud and explained to them and said our two doubts 
action fraud advise us to raise a complaint with them and Aviva both 

if it’s not a fraudulent scenario, action fraud will shut the case 

complaint was made on 1st July , Aviva sent us reply on 3rd July and confirm complaint receipt but officially logged complaint on 21st July after chasing and kept asking complaint number 5 times 

all by emails so I have all recorded 

Around 15th August we received a one liner reply by post that Aviva don’t have answers yet and will write us back in four another weeks time 
on 23rd August they sent us £100 cheque via post - only stated they sending this cheque reference to our complaint 

Thank you for your time and comments 

DeeNexus

@Marcon
Thank you for your time and advise 
I totally understand no one from here can help in any other way reason for asking here 
if something we have missed action wise we can address that 
I will look in to the link you sent 

Thanks again 

xylophone

Aviva is not giving us any details - After a month of phone calls and email they replied your three policies were got merged in to Another Aviva policy -but where ? , what’s the new policy number - we asked for latest summary of the new plan - No reply as that policy doesn’t belongs to us 
our online account got locked 

What on line account?

You have now stated that your husband held  not one but three personal pension policies with FP.

Are you saying that you  originally had on line access to an FP website?

https://www.aviva.co.uk/services/about-our-business/about-us/previous-companies/

You state that your husband had not realised that FP had been taken over by Aviva (having never received any communication to this effect) and only discovered that this was the case when he considered transferring these pensions to Royal London.

After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, it appears to have been established that the three policies were merged into a new SIPP - Aviva state that this was on your husband's instructions but he denies this.

If Aviva claim that the SIPP was opened on your husband's instructions, it would surely logically follow that the SIPP would be in his name?

Have you had a definite statement from Aviva that in some way yet to be established, the SIPP was transferred into somebody else's name?

DeeNexus

@xylophone,
As everyone else we got busy in day to day life and we didn’t think much about pension plans until we decided to put all in one pot and we started looking in to 
we always had Aviva online account as in the past we had home insurance with them 

so yes we have in writing that these three policies were merged in to new SIPP plan , but no they are not saying it’s not on my husbands name or giving any details about new SIPP plan or sending us summary for a new plan 
I asked before I raised complaint,  if my husband requested the transfer where is the SIPP plan and what is the plan number and current fund value please send us summary but Aviva not replying to this 

as Aviva said you requested the transfer which my husband didnt,  made us think into one more possibility
that his policies were linked to another person 
and that person was receiving yearly statements instead of us ( this is just our assumption) 
and he probably then merged in to his own SIPP plan ?
Again everyone’s pension linked to their own National insurance number so how did Aviva failed to follow most important basic checks is a question mark 

All Aviva communication to us rather very carefully drafted one liner letters without giving any details 
only once Aviva said we are looking in to how this error occurred 
till the date they haven’t said where is the new SIPP plan or whom it belongs to

f it was belongs to my husband they would have sent us details of the plan and close the complaint immediately 
after 6 weeks in to complaint we received £100 cheque indicating they know they have messed up 

xylophone

Then the facts as so far determined are that your husband had three policies with FP and that after merger activity, the administration of these policies was taken over by Aviva.

I am assuming that your husband is still in possession of the original policy documents.

Aviva has confirmed in writing that these policies were transferred into an Aviva SIPP,  and state that this was on on your husband's instructions, although  he disputes this.

we have in writing that these three policies were merged in to new SIPP plan , but no they are not saying it’s not on my husbands name or giving any details about new SIPP plan or sending us summary for a new plan 

The above are the only established facts - your comments about fraud/ theft or the SIPP's being in a name other than your husband's are  speculation which surely only serves to confuse matters further?

You have been advised by Aviva that the whole matter is under investigation - in the meanwhile, the £100 has been offered as compensation for your husband's time and trouble in attempting to sort out what has happened?

Your husband has made a formal complaint - he considers that his complaint is not being resolved in a timely manner.

Unfortunately (judging from posts on the board), queries relating to pensions administration  often take weeks to answer, even when there are no apparent complexities.

It seems that if your husband contacted Moneyhelper as suggested by Marcon, the only accurate information he could give them is as above?

DeeNexus

@xylophone
thank you for time and reading all lengthy messages 

we haven’t contacted Money-helper yet, Marcon advised yesterday so we will look in to this 

reason for my post was just in case if we could do anything more than what’s been actioned 

So money helper is something I wasn’t aware and will look in to this 

also I understood now this could take months 

don’t know how to close my post as I am new in this forum ,
everyone’s answers certainly helped 

Thank you again 

DeeNexus

Thank you everyone taking time to read my post and offering advise 

Marcon

DeeNexus said:

@xylophone
thank you for time and reading all lengthy messages 

we haven’t contacted Money-helper yet, Marcon advised yesterday so we will look in to this 

reason for my post was just in case if we could do anything more than what’s been actioned 

So money helper is something I wasn’t aware and will look in to this 

also I understood now this could take months 

don’t know how to close my post as I am new in this forum ,
everyone’s answers certainly helped 

Thank you again 

You don't need to close your post - and please don't delete any of it, in case it is of help to anyone else.