HELP! I think we've lost lots of money, what to do now?

rhubarb1

Ok. It was sold as tax free so now we are thinking of complaining. Would we get all our investment back do you think?

And have you seen the news? Ouch!

dunstonh - we love you! :beer:

dunstonh

Ok. It was sold as tax free so now we are thinking of complaining. Would we get all our investment back do you think?

Possibly. The ones which paid out where I put the complaints in got voided back to inception with money returned plus interest.

I got an email from someone earlier in the week where I put a complaint in expecting it to be upheld with around £7200 redress paid and they got over £18,000. Great result.

The problem with tied agent sales is that they are not proper advisers and they do put a lot of the decisions back to you the customer. When you read a tied agent suitability report its very much "you chose" or "you decided to do xxx". However, they still have to recommend the most tax efficient option first and that could be the way in with the complaint.

Did they recommend stocks and share ISAs? Does the recommendation report say anything about why they didnt recommend unit trusts?

And have you seen the news? Ouch!

I have the news on now whilst typing this and thinking its so sensationalist. Just yesterday on a more serious news programme with a bit more thorough investigation, the news was more balanced coverage.

Things are not good but thats based on a long period of good years. The 70s, 80s and 90s all had periods which saw far greater problems.

rhubarb1

Thank you again, lots to think about. But we have more options now than we did this afternoon. Good karma is heading your way! I'll let you know what we decide. Have a Norfolk pint on us - you and everyone who has taken the time to post, greatly appreciated!

rhubarb1

Sorry to be a pain, but how do I go about complaining? Who do I complain to and how shall I set out my complaint?

turbobob

If it was sold by A&L then you would write to their complaints department. In terms of setting out your complaint, a short letter keeping to the relevant points would be best I think. E.g. you feel you were given unsuitable advice because.. other investments that were more tax efficient were not considered (for example).

Make sure that it is easily identifiable as a complaint and not a query (a heading saying "complaint re: sale of bond number xxxxxxxx" would do it). Make it clear you are complaining about the advice you were given to take out the investment, don't focus on the fund performance. Complaints about fund performance could be made to L&G but they are basically a waste of time and are never upheld. Don't make it overly long, but do include relevant information, for example what you've mentioned about it being described as a tax free investment.

Hope this helps

rhubarb1

Thank you turtlebob. We shall definitely try that and if that fails, then we'll try to switch to a different investment.

Fingers crossed we get our money back, it's given us a few sleepless nights!