are Aviva scamming us?

pete436436

I instructed Aviva to cash in my pension, filled in the appropriate forms and got confirmation in writing that payout should be within 15 business days of the 1st December, I booked a builder to do some work beginning the 6th January expecting the funds to be in my account by 22 Dec, nothing arrived! I called Aviva and was told there was a 5 day Delay due to the holiday period and staff sickness so I waited until 2nd Jan and called again only to be told there could be a further delay of 2 weeks??? at which point I had to cancel my building work. I lodged a complaint asking for a specific date when MY money would be available and received an email confirming my complaint with a case number and a contact phone number, however the phone number did not exist so I rang Aviva again asking for a payment date, after holding on the phone for what seemed like an eternity I was told that the payment team would contact me directly, as you probably guessed, nobody did so here I am posting this about a company I used to consider trustworthy. I am disgusted to think that Aviva are holding on to peoples own money just to earn a little more interest for themselves.

sammyjammy

poor customer service yes, scam no.  All you can do at this stage is follow their complaints process.

Exodi

pete436436 said:

I am disgusted to think that Aviva are holding on to peoples own money just to earn a little more interest for themselves.

To be honest, I think people will struggle to take you seriously with 'scamming' in the title and comments like this.

Given the proximity to Christmas, personally I'd suggest it was a bit hasty to book a builder without physically having the money. You could have saved yourself a lot of aggravation with a little patience. 

flaneurs_lobster

are Aviva scamming us?

No.

Are Aviva pretty dreadful at getting funds to their clients expeditiously? 

In my experience, about the the same as the other pension admin companies - so yes.

Aylesbury_Duck

pete436436 said:

I instructed Aviva to cash in my pension, filled in the appropriate forms and got confirmation in writing that payout should be within 15 business days of the 1st December, I booked a builder to do some work beginning the 6th January expecting the funds to be in my account by 22 Dec, nothing arrived! I called Aviva and was told there was a 5 day Delay due to the holiday period and staff sickness so I waited until 2nd Jan and called again only to be told there could be a further delay of 2 weeks??? at which point I had to cancel my building work. I lodged a complaint asking for a specific date when MY money would be available and received an email confirming my complaint with a case number and a contact phone number, however the phone number did not exist so I rang Aviva again asking for a payment date, after holding on the phone for what seemed like an eternity I was told that the payment team would contact me directly, as you probably guessed, nobody did so here I am posting this about a company I used to consider trustworthy. I am disgusted to think that Aviva are holding on to peoples own money just to earn a little more interest for themselves.

Depending on how your pension was invested and the date the withdrawal takes place, you may well have gained yourself in the last couple of weeks.

QrizB

Betteridge's Law applies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines

DT2001

My helped mother-in-law encash a bond last year and Aviva’s customer service was patchy. I told them the bond was in trust but they sent the incorrect forms. I phoned again and they assured me I was incorrect. When the forms were submitted a different department advised me that the forms were wrong! Fortunately they do record calls and we also had an email trail. A complaint was recorded and a quick apology received and a £50 gesture of goodwill direct to MIL’s bank account. Also the offer of considering provable financial loss. As it had taken weeks to sort out I tried to pursue this BUT complaints department didn’t have an email address only a direct number to the writer of the letter. Always (5 or 6 times) calls went to voicemail and were not returned. I have plenty of time to deal with poor service so referred to Financial Ombudsman. Aviva responded to them quickly and made an offer of interest lost on the funds and £300 goodwill. MIL accepted and Aviva sent a cheque for a different lower figure. So back to the Ombudsman and Aviva quickly resolved.

I think it is pot luck if your paperwork lands on the right desk.

Good luck 

xylophone

confirmation in writing that payout should be within 15 business days of the 1st December, 

Hmm ....not would or will.....

Unwise to make arrangements based on a weasel word?

But yes, the customer service is very poor. This seems to be a trend in pension administration (public/private) judging by posts on the forum.

dunstonh

are Aviva scamming us?

Clearly not.  Saying that is just silly.

I instructed Aviva to cash in my pension, filled in the appropriate forms and got confirmation in writing that payout should be within 15 business days of the 1st December, I booked a builder to do some work beginning the 6th January expecting the funds to be in my account by 22 Dec, nothing arrived! I

Not unexpected.   Many providers were still behind from the Budget mess.

I am disgusted to think that Aviva are holding on to peoples own money just to earn a little more interest for themselves.

They are not.    Your pension remains invested right up to the point they release the funds to your account.


The more modern the plan, the better the service.    Aviva platform (their most recent offering) uses CHAPs and pays out within 24 hours if the cash is availble.     However, the older the plan, the more work is involved.   Aviva are pretty good on the ex CGNU plans but there are delays on the ex Friends Life plans.  If its a heritage plan, it can take much longer as it has to go to a specialist team for manual processing.

Asking for a surrender just a month before work is due to start was a mistake.       It gave no margin of error for issues.

Bostonerimus1

sammyjammy said:

poor customer service yes, scam no.  All you can do at this stage is follow their complaints process.

IMO poor customer service is a scam of sorts that has advantages for the companies involved.

GunJack

I suppose the big question is, why are the pension companies so bad at doing the admin and handling customer's funds/payouts/communication??????