Vanguard Platform-Don't Do It

Grumpybugger

I made the massive mistake of transferring from Interactive Investor to Vanguards platform a few years ago to save a bit on platform fees. The transfer was a disaster, took an inordinate amount of time and resulted in my pension being overstated by over £100k. Don't get me wrong, if I thought for a second I would get to keep this "gift" I would be delighted. It took dozens of calls and messages to correct the error and showed me the customer service team are not as they should be. The Ombudsman agreed and found in my favour.

Now I have needed to transfer back to Interactive Investor due to certain services not being available at Vanguard, this process started in August 23 and is not finished after dozens of calls and messages again. Every deadline and commitment has been missed, my pension payments have still been declared by Vanguard (and tax paid on my behalf) but I have not been paid, in fact I am now overdrawn as a result. Vanguard is aware of this and have done nothing to date to remedy the situation. 

The transfer itself has stalled because Vanguard has given a different number of units and valuation to II than is actually the case. At one point I received a message stating my pension had been transferred -FOR THE WRONG AMOUNT AND TO A DIFFERENT PLATFORM THAN II. It turns out that somebody saw my Trust Pilot review an send me someone else's details ( presumably they had the same name).

I am now with no pension or income due to Vanguards incompetence. At every stage I had to micro manage Vanguards customer team through their own processes and errors.

I think once the computers are set properly and not touched by the customer team, things for most people will be fine, also the investments are good, no complaints about them. However, the minute the customer service team are involved, expect misery with no useful help. If you like their investments, stay on a different platform, the exrta cost will be worth it

Grumpybugger

PS. There may well be a very quick response from Vanguard along the lines of " a senior manager will be in touch to resolve this" don't believe it, they said that on Trustpilot and to date it has not happened. It makes me think the message is largely to create the impression they are sorting things.

dunstonh

Now I have needed to transfer back to Interactive Investor due to certain services not being available at Vanguard

Out of interest, what services were vanguard missing?  (apart from the obvious that they are not a SIPP/whole of market)

The transfer itself has stalled because Vanguard has given a different number of units and valuation to II than is actually the case. At one point I received a message stating my pension had been transferred -FOR THE WRONG AMOUNT AND TO A DIFFERENT PLATFORM THAN II. 

We take from this that you are doing an in-specie transfer and not a cash transfer?

I am now with no pension or income due to Vanguards incompetence. At every stage I had to micro manage Vanguards customer team through their own processes and errors.

When drawing an income, its worth either doing a cash transfer or making sure your cash float has sufficient to cover at least 12 months worth of withdrawals before starting the in-specie transfer.

The longest in-specie transfer I have had was just over 12 months.  3-6 months is more typical.    Less than 3 months is becoming more common but not to be relied on.