Can I sue my finacial advisor, and or company

dunstonh

Bbeanie said:

£850!  Feeling better.

For small firms, there is no fee on the first three complaints received in each financial year.  Then it is £650 from the 4th onwards.

For large firms, they pay a fixed block fee each year based on their historical complaints data.

Why were his fees for 2020 not refunded when he so obviously failed to carry out my instructions?

The withdrawal probably doesn't fall under the ongoing servicing contract.   It's a transactional event.

Bbeanie

Not feeling so great now dunstonh lol.  Do they really get to fail that many times?

He never gave me any advice nor followed my instructions, so what exactly does an FA do to earn their fees?  (serious question).

eskbanker

Bbeanie said:

He never gave me any advice nor followed my instructions, so what exactly does an FA do to earn their fees?  (serious question).

The answer will depend on what's in your contract with them, although obviously if there's a shortfall between what's delivered and what's promised/committed then this gives rise to the potential for a breach of contract claim.

QrizB

Bbeanie said:

He never gave me any advice nor followed my instructions, so what exactly does an FA do to earn their fees?  (serious question).

Per your previous posts, the FA did write to you offering you an annual review (advice) but you declined?

dunstonh

Not feeling so great now dunstonh lol.  Do they really get to fail that many times?

The vast majority of small firms will go over a decade without a single complaint.    
There has to be an allowance for ambulance chasers.
The system is currently priced that even if a firm has done no wrong, it would suffer that FOS fee from the 4th complaint onwards.

He never gave me any advice nor followed my instructions, so what exactly does an FA do to earn their fees?  (serious question).

The adviser contacted you to carry out the reviews.   You declined them.     Forget everything else, that is the issue that let them get away with it.
The transaction of the withdrawal is a separate issue.

Bbeanie

Thank you for your replies, however I am still unconvinced.  What exactly does a FA do to earn a 1% fee?  Leaving my case aside.  

Bbeanie

Back on my case.  There was a 1% fee for a face to face review, but a reduced fee for a telephone review.  Shouldn't any fee charged for the so called declined revew offer be based on the lesser telphone review fee?

saajan_12

Re the 2020 withdrawal, that is why you have advisors involved rather than direct access to execute the trades. Their advice was to not withdraw. Depending on the exact arrangements, you might be able to override that and insist on withdrawing to make use of the tax allowance, and then suffer whatever gains or losses in the market. 
If they failed to follow  your instructions and you lost money overall (ie the market continued to tank) then the ombudsman may well have awarded you somehting. If you ended up gaining, then your loss is £0 overall - eg that same £2500 worth of investments in early 2020 is now worth £3500, then after tax that's £2800 which is actually better than the £2500 tax free. You can't just pick and choose to charge them for the tax loss but not offset the gain as a result of the same decision. 


Re the 2021 withdrawal, you have an obligation to mitigate losses, and could have reiterated your instruction or done something in 10 months. In the space of a couple of months things may be entirely haywire but not consistently for a year. 

Re the subsequent fees, I agree its more debatable. However I'd read what the T&Cs stated about what process you have to follow to terminate or if you can even opt out entirely from the adviser while remaining on the platform. 

Bbeanie

saajan.  Thank you.  The 2020 instructions for a withdrawal were given in Mid Feb,  The cut off date was 18th March.  His advice not to withdraw was given on 23rd March.  It should have been long over and dusted before that time.  It was also a very insignificant amount which would not have impacted on my pension to any great degree.  Had I been given the option, I would have pushed for it to go through anyway, but It was already too late.  He was covering his backside!  He was too busy planning his holiday in March.

Yes, I understand your comment about the time left to action, which is why I said it was debatable.  Thank you.

Bbeanie

QrizB.  Sorry, I missed your last post.  I didn't actually decline.  I considered it to be an unsolicited letter and ignored it, thinking he was trying to put himself back onto my account.