CIS Insurance co

nikonuser

Hi there everybody, i felt i had to sign up to vent my anger at the above, and i would welcome your opinions.

I'll try and be brief.

I have been with the CIS for the whole of my 57 yrs (my mum opened my first account at a week old). I have lived at the same address, with my wife, in the house that we own outright, for the past 34yrs and have been visited by different CIS agents dozens of times a year.

The company has appeared to be in turmoil for the past few years, with at least 4 agents in the past 3yrs.
I cannot seem to get any proper info out of them and have only been recieving intermittent statements over the past few years.

We have held ISA's with the CIS for the past 8yrs, when 2 yrs ago an agent suggested we change to a different fund, which we did after a bit of trouble trying to prove our identification.
We then seen nothing of anyone else and recieved no statements, until a new agent appeared a few weeks ago and suggested we alter the ammounts paid into each to maximise our benifits. This we signed up to.

He asked us for ID again, which in my opinion was utterly ridiculous. My wife does not drive, so no licence, we do not go abroad, so no passports.
I have a filing cabinet full of documents from dozens of sources, but none of these, including tax, vat, and NI documents was acceptable to him.

In the end he took details of several documents.
I have tonight recieved a phone call from him, saying the company will not accept any of these documents as proof of our ID (!!!!!!,sorry, but i'm really angry)

You don't need the fingers of one hand to count the times i've lost my temper in my lifetime, but at this point, i'm afraid i lost it.
I told him that i want to see him ASAP with all the documents needed to withdraw every single penny from my accounts (6 in total). i want to completely withdraw from this company, I then rung the office and told them the same.

I do feel that these ID rules are utterly ridiculous and these companies are taking it too far, even if it is under government guide lines.

The only thing that now worries me is , can i prove who i am to recieve the money and where do i put it after, willi have the same problems with other companies. The maddening thing is, is that i have just opened two high interest accounts on the internet with no ID

keithwales

Hi there Nikonuser,
I'm familiar with the company, and I know where your coming from.
Sadly they can be a bit pedantic at times.
I can't help but feel a bit sorry for your latest agent, sort of shot the messenger there!
:eek:

gibby

cis have really gone down the pan lately
we used to have a great rep, never pushy & always looked after us so well

but then they started to pressure the reps and sending sales managers out with the reps
to pressure customers

most of the good reps have gone or been made redundant

the laws on id have really got crazy too

Ive been with the abbey for 20 years but they also change the staff so often & the customer service on all sides has gone
so Im leaving & trying another bank, but had to provide alot of id to open the new accounts

G

Keybiz

Nikonuser....

The rules on ID are perhaps more far-fetched thn ever before, particularly if you have been with the company so many years, seems rediculous I know.
However, this is not the fault of the rep or company to a large degree, but with the FSA who's governance is so tight that financial institutions simply can't afford not to verify details whenever a transaction takes place. Add to this the rapidly increasing problems of ID theft, fraud etc. then I think a simple ID check is not too much to ask. Its for protection of all parties.
If you have no passpot/driving licence etc, I know that a letter from a professional i.e doctor, teacher, MOP with specific details realting to their knowledge of you is acceptable.

gibby....Knowing some CIS employees, no rep has been made redundant but the high turnover in recent time has gone hand in hand with teething problems associated with the company modernisation programme. In recent years, increased regulation and examinations mean many can't hack the pace it seems.
Despite this, I am aware of number of reps who are still active after many years service and the situation does seem to be improving.