Prudential huge mistake who's accountable...

Francesco28

Hello all first post here...
Prudential have made a huge mistake and apart from awaiting 4 weeks for two complaints to pan out what else can i do...cant contact Pensions ombudsmen until Pru send me Final outcome letter!
In October they sent me my Retire options pack with plan value...decided as it was lot money to take my pot and pay the tax and then hoping to claim some back with a form from HMRC... Problem today is my pension total plan value is £123k less than stated in letter form in October....after hours on the phone and multiple calls they have admitted its a mistake, clerical its all been submitted in my complaint...What should i do? They have made the massive mistake giving me hope for high plan value to then demote it 4 weeks later...its gave me sleepless nights
Thx for any help and advice in advance

JoeCrystal

A token compensation (£50 to £100) for some distress if you are very lucky. Other than that, you won't get anything else.to be frank. Errors does happen unfortunately.

So have they actually paid out then? Or they just double check with you beforehand. Otherwise you can just leave the funds alone if you don't need them.

AlanP_2

Let's just break this down.

1) Have you actually withdrawn any money or is it still in the pension?

2) what were you going to do with the money after you had taken it out and paid a large amount in tax?

3) Why take it all out in one hit?

Clerical errors happen unfortunately and they can't pay out what isn't there however disappointing that may be. 

Depending on the answers to the above questions there may be a better way to get you the retirement you want despite the error.

JoeCrystal

I just realise one more possibility.

What are the name of the fund you are invested in? We don't know the value of your overall plan or what it is invested in but is it possible that your plan actually fallen by £123k in previous three months?

Marcon

Francesco28 said:

Hello all first post here...
Prudential have made a huge mistake and apart from awaiting 4 weeks for two complaints to pan out what else can i do...cant contact Pensions ombudsmen until Pru send me Final outcome letter!
In October they sent me my Retire options pack with plan value...decided as it was lot money to take my pot and pay the tax and then hoping to claim some back with a form from HMRC... Problem today is my pension total plan value is £123k less than stated in letter form in October....after hours on the phone and multiple calls they have admitted its a mistake, clerical its all been submitted in my complaint...What should i do? They have made the massive mistake giving me hope for high plan value to then demote it 4 weeks later...its gave me sleepless nights
Thx for any help and advice in advance

I can understand you are disappointed at finding you've not hit the jackpot, but are you seriously saying that you didn't realise that a figure of £123,000 more than it should be didn't ring any alarm bells? Haven't you been keeping any sort of check on how your fund has been performing over the years - especially when you were in the run up to accessing your funds?

The Ombudsman might award you token compensation for distress and disappointment, but as the Pru seem to have spotted the error reasonably promptly and are taking steps to correct it, even that is uncertain. 

dunstonh

hey have made the massive mistake giving me hope for high plan value to then demote it 4 weeks later...its gave me sleepless nights

I had similar in the past with a provider giving a value that was about £100k higher than it actually was.  It went to complaint and ombudsman and the provider was told to be pay £250.  Mainly because of the way they handled the complaint.  It would have been less if they had handled the complaint better.

The ombudsman gave the expected outcome that a mistake does not give legal entitlement and that the pension holder should have realised the mistake as the figure did not appear on previous statements and any reasonable person would have questioned it beforehand.

I had another one in the past that got £450 but that was because the value was wrong for 15 or so years but again with that, the ombudsman said a mistake did not give entitlement and the person should have realised the error from the annual statements (the premiums had been stopped but the provider hadn't updated the plan and the projections were still assuming the premiums were paid).     In that case, the person retired and moved house to a different part of the country before trying to get the pension.  They also died during the period of the complaint to the ombudsman.  

In your case, you have suffered no financial loss and given the sudden jump, you should have reasonably been aware that there was an issue.  It has been identified as an error.     So, the expectation will be a very small goodwill gesture for the inconvenience.

There should be no sleepless nights, and generally, the complaints team nor the ombudsman, if you decide to go to them, will not fall for false drama.    Effectively, you thought for a short period you were in for a windfall but now have the disappointment that you are not getting lucky because of the mistake.     

Francesco28

Appreciate all replies...I realised a jump in value from October only...with the pru online account its rubbish...you can't see the value online you have to request a manual calculation...takes 3 weeks...Yes i did recognize the jump but when you receive a letter stating the way they calculate plan values has changed....what do I know? Money is being paid next 3 working days...as Pru states in there options pack my money my choice...No issue for me taking it all and claiming some back P53z form i think...its not full retirement at 55...just doing 3 day week still..i like my money in one place its not ideal for all i know...

QrizB

How much is your pot, even after the £123k deduction? You could still be looking at a huge tax bill.

AlanP_2

I asked earlier but you didn't reply, why take it all out?

In fact, why take any out?

FIREDreamer

QrizB said:

How much is your pot, even after the £123k deduction? You could still be looking at a huge tax bill.

Also, to the OP, if it was £923k reduced to £800k it could possibly be down to market movements. However if it was £223k reduced to £100k then surely you would have known the original figure was clearly incorrect?

Francesco28

AlanP_2 said:

I asked earlier but you didn't reply, why take it all out?

In fact, why take any out?  

Just like money in one place so the wife n daughter have access if anything happens to me...not a fan of monthly amount until you 73 or monthly until you pass away...not a fan of re investing either...sounds daft but just the way it is...Like i said before Prudential should not be making these errors....its all good money receiving before end of week...