Phoenix Life - Surrendering investment

fearny64

I have an investment with Phoenix Life named Investors Choice. Type of policy is - Whole Life Unit Linked

I have sent the surrender documents to Phoenix Life over a month ago but have not received the funds yet. Have contacted the company who have escalated the surrender a few times but have still heard nothing.

When I call they cannot put me through to the investors but assure me it's all going through but can't give me a date. 

Is this normal. 

Albermarle

A month is not really a long time when dealing with some financial providers.

dunstonh

Phoenix is made up of a lot of legacy companies and still uses the legacy systems with a number of them.   Some of the legacy companies are now running very efficiently but others are sluggish.   So, its really depends on which part of Phoenix you are referring to.

Typically insurance companies slow down around this time of the year as resources are moved to pensions.    A month would be about right in timing.

ShinyStarlight1

I found Phoenix to be outstandingly awful when it came to dealing with them following the death of my dad. I provided all the documentation they requested but it made no difference. In the end they paid me compensation for their poor performance, but the added anguish their inefficiency caused me still makes me wince. My advice - pursue energetically, keep a record of all conversations, and follow any complaints channels if the delay goes on longer than you think is reasonable.

HolidayHelp

They have an upto 12 week time frame as a lot of their legacy funds are still mainly paperbased 

Malthusian

fearny64 said:

Is this normal. 

No. Make a formal complaint. They will then have eight weeks to respond to the complaint, and if you have not received a final response by then (which I would expect to include payment of the full proceeds and redress for any loss caused by the delay) you can go to the Financial Ombudsman. 

It is normal only in the sense that it is normal for Phoenix to be this incompetent. It doesn't mean you have to let them string you along indefinitely. 

Over a month is well over a reasonable timescale to surrender a unit-linked whole of life investment. Especially as you have chased them multiple times. 

fearny64

Thanks for all the replies 

I rang up last week to start the complaint procedure. They said a member of the complaint department will contact me within 3 to 5 working days. I rang up today to find out what happening and they had no record of the complaint so they have made another one. I have a recording of the original voicemail message stating the procedure is going ahead. So had a look at the Ombudsman complaint procedure but have to wait up to 8 weeks for Phoenix Life to respond but seems they are just fobbing me off. I'm now worried I'll never get my money. I have the original documents dating back to 1990. 

What else can I do?

ShinyStarlight1

fearny64 said:

Thanks for all the replies 

I rang up last week to start the complaint procedure. They said a member of the complaint department will contact me within 3 to 5 working days. I rang up today to find out what happening and they had no record of the complaint so they have made another one. I have a recording of the original voicemail message stating the procedure is going ahead. So had a look at the Ombudsman complaint procedure but have to wait up to 8 weeks for Phoenix Life to respond but seems they are just fobbing me off. I'm now worried I'll never get my money. I have the original documents dating back to 1990. 

What else can I do?

You have at least two pieces of evidence so don’t despair.

I had an absolutely awful time with Phoenix. Treated similarly as you are. Promises made and broken repeatedly. I will never have anything to do with them again voluntarily. They made the time after my dad died so much worse.

Eventually I wrote to them outlining succinctly the timeline and detail of poor service from them (so it was all in one document) and asking for the contact details of the person to whom I could escalate a complaint. I said that if I didn’t get the information I needed I would take legal action. I meant it. I had no more time to spend on them.

I suggest doing the same, while furthering your interaction with the Ombudsman. You will get your money, don’t despair. 

LHW99

fearny64 said:

Thanks for all the replies 

I rang up last week to start the complaint procedure. They said a member of the complaint department will contact me within 3 to 5 working days. I rang up today to find out what happening and they had no record of the complaint so they have made another one. I have a recording of the original voicemail message stating the procedure is going ahead. So had a look at the Ombudsman complaint procedure but have to wait up to 8 weeks for Phoenix Life to respond but seems they are just fobbing me off. I'm now worried I'll never get my money. I have the original documents dating back to 1990. 

What else can I do?

Put the complaint in writing, headed "complaint", dated, and keep a copy. Send by recorded delivery as a minimum and check / keep the confirmation of delivery.

You then have an unarguable date when the clock starts counting down to the 8 week limit.

sjw11

HolidayHelp said:

They have an upto 12 week time frame as a lot of their legacy funds are still mainly paperbased 

The fact that they have legacy systems set in the 20th if not the 19th century is not a valid excuse to delay payment. That is their problem, not the investors.
They are simply trying to hang onto your money as long as possible. 
Put in a complaint, and emphasise that payment must be made direct to a bank account, not by issuing a cheque.
They will try to play the cheque ruse. If you can pay them direct "within 2 hours", they can pay you in a similar time frame.
Many of us might be able to accept cheques and pay them in through an app. Older people who these plans are often held by, cannot. Local branches don't exist any more, and older folk may struggle with health and mobility to get to city branches.

boingy

The good news is that you'll definitely get your money eventually.