SIPP Transfer Duration

xylophone

I started a transfer request from Vanguard to my workplace Civil Service pension in November 2022. It completed last week so took over a year! 

And the excuse was?

Lifematters

xylophone said:

I started a transfer request from Vanguard to my workplace Civil Service pension in November 2022. It completed last week so took over a year! 

And the excuse was?

There were so many!  One of which was “there was not enough cash in my pension to proceed.”  This is what prompted me to convert some  funds to cash (which I had assumed was something Vanguard would do themselves prior to transfer)  Alas, further excuses after that being CS hadn’t sent them bank details, despite CS copying me in on emails to Vanguard with their bank details! Then Vanguard needed to do a verification call with me they said should have been done 12 months earlier. In that call I was promised the transfer would be done via chaps that same day. However, it was not and it took a further three months after that to complete. Whenever I chased it up I was getting messages back from Vanguard to say they had ‘escalated’ it.  I was slowly losing the will and fuming I had so much cash sitting in the pension unnecessarily. 

Albermarle

Lifematters said:

xylophone said:

I started a transfer request from Vanguard to my workplace Civil Service pension in November 2022. It completed last week so took over a year! 

And the excuse was?

There were so many!  One of which was “there was not enough cash in my pension to proceed.”  This is what prompted me to convert some  funds to cash (which I had assumed was something Vanguard would do themselves prior to transfer)  Alas, further excuses after that being CS hadn’t sent them bank details, despite CS copying me in on emails to Vanguard with their bank details! Then Vanguard needed to do a verification call with me they said should have been done 12 months earlier. In that call I was promised the transfer would be done via chaps that same day. However, it was not and it took a further three months after that to complete. Whenever I chased it up I was getting messages back from Vanguard to say they had ‘escalated’ it.  I was slowly losing the will and fuming I had so much cash sitting in the pension unnecessarily. 

Vanguard seem popular with a low cost platform and funds fees, and easy to understand/heavily marketed products.
However there have been regular posts on here in recent months bemoaning their customer service.

Hoenir

AltaNate said:

Thanks everyone for responses. It seems to be the exception rather than the norm. A little more information to complete the picture… was SIPP to SIPP no workplace involvement. I assume not Origo as forms were travelling back and forward electronically and through post. Thinking of raising a complaint asking the reason why it took 30 working days from encash to transfer. They charged for the out going transfer too!

Available resources. As in any walk of life. You get what you pay for.  Employing people to perform manual tasks is expensive. Eventually the process needs to be automated. 

xylophone

I was slowly losing the will and fuming I had so much cash sitting in the pension unnecessarily. 

And you have now made a formal complaint as responsibility for this unwarranted delay lies at Vanguard's door?

Lifematters

xylophone said:

I was slowly losing the will and fuming I had so much cash sitting in the pension unnecessarily. 

And you have now made a formal complaint as responsibility for this unwarranted delay lies at Vanguard's door?

Yes, I made a formal complaint in August. I thought that might speed things up. Instead I got a response from the complaints team a couple months later to say the investigation was taken longer than they expected because the transfer had not yet completed. You couldn’t make it up.

AltaNate

Update: 
Raised a formal complaint with original provider and they acknowledged it had taken twice as long than it should have from encashment to transfer. After a week they suggested there was no financial detriment as the cash was gaining interest whilst sitting waiting transfer and offered £100 to recognise the inconvenience.

I refused to accept that and next they made a more formal analysis and after three weeks arrived at a detriment to that date of around 4.5% and offered to make good on the loss. 

Ironically it took two further weeks to send and then an additional two weeks until it showed in my new SIPP. 

Bottom line, right now I’ve got the same total value as I would have if it had gone through in the expected timeframe.

dunstonh

Ironically it took two further weeks to send and then an additional two weeks until it showed in my new SIPP. 

So, both your old provider and the new provider have let you down with delays.