Towry Law

nxdmsandkaskdjaqd

I have now complained to the Financial Ombudsman.

It's a pitty that the CEO's mail gets intercepted by Nick, would have been the opportunity for us to tell him how his company is playing with our lives.

milla

Posts 99 and 100 spurred me into action on Friday afternoon.

I rang the Towry Law number and after being given unsatisfactory information about how overworked they were , they hadn't got the paperwork etc I rang Nick Allcock (on the number in post 99 ).

I explained the position that I had 'settlement' docoments dated 28th May but that the transfer had still not been made a month later and told him I was very unhappy with this . He couldn't have been more helpful and polite .He asked for my home number and got back to me half an hour later to say that it was all in hand .

Indeed today the money has arrived in my new account .

Thank you Mr Allcock for your intervention and attention to my request.

and thanks to all the posters on this thread who have kept me aware of what was/ was not happening .

Sloff

I was one of the ex EJ advisers who transferred across in to Towry, now dont get me wrong there are a lot of improvements that need to be made to the systems in place at Towry, however a majority are not directly the fault of Towry. Edward Jones sold out to Towry in December 2009, the agreement was that they would continue to complete the transfers, selling of funds etc, Towry were unaware (rightly or wrongly) that EJ were not in fact doing this work, it did not come to light until 10th May when EJ turned off there system, up until that time all the work was supposed to of been processed from USA. Now Towry have held their hands up and admitted there is a problem, they have employed over 150 staff to deal with this back log, they are ensuring that no one is penalised due to this. Not many companies would throw that level of resource and resolving the issue, some of the work was over 18 months old, not so 'good old Edward Jones' now is it.
There has also been a lot of comments about the investments in place. At EJ the advisers were advised to put investments into Mutual funds, build up a diversified portfolio by putiing into various different funds, charge 3-4% commission per trade, take the trail commission then rebalance 12 months later for a further commission charge, the client paid the 1.5% - 1.8% trail, then the further 3-4% commssion, plus an ISA charge. In all they were trying to build up a diversified portfolio by swapping and changing to keep the balance, clients were only told that EJ received 0.5% trail, not that they were being charged 1.5% - 1.8% AMC. Now i am as guilty as the next to using this system as it was indoctrinated into us that this was the best way for the client. so in essence the client pays 4.5 - 5.5% per year. Not such a good deal was it. Towry operate an internal system where the client only gets charged an annual fee, from 0.75 - 2% which includes all the rebalancing, no further AMC etc, now it starts to sound more attractive. A lot of ex EJ advisers put clients into Corp Bonds, when they did not want income! so the cash built up then was reinvested for a further commission. Criticise Towry all you like EJ were no better and probably worse, the advisers are all professional and the same guys that everyone dealt with prior to the takeover.
I am sure that all other companies out there have there faults SJP, RJIS, etc.
The bottom line is that Towry advisers are salaried not commission based they do not get big fat commission payments for rebalancing portfolios, they do not change for change sake to increase the pay packets. Clients will go to who they want, but how many of these companies will be around in 1, 2 or even 5 years time?
As long as the client is happy with the adviser, the performance of the funds and the ex EJ guys stop making slanderous comments then we can all get on with what we all do best is advising clients on how best to reach there goals, there is enough business out there for all of us, and no client is owned, EJ advisers spent years telling clients that other companies were useless, over charging etc. no they have moved on its the same story just different company name they are slating.
Some ex EJ advisers have resorted to threats of violence to ex colleagues, which is so childish it has obviously hit a nerve and shows there true colours, do clients really want to deal with an adviser who makes violent threats because a client has opted to transfer away. make up as many stories as they want about ex colleagues, like, i feel sorry for them, they had no option, they do not have much experience. Some of EJ top guys are now at Towry, top performers stayed because the client proposition is first class.
Grow up and get on with you lives, if you have nothing better to do then business must be very poor.

ESKIMO

I recently came into contact with an PI claim involving Towry Law Group.

It was through AIG - TL Risk Solutions originally t/a Towry Law Group as i was later informed it was through Towry Law Insurance Brokers.

The less i say the better tbh, but talk about a needle in a haystack...

This one in particular gave me a right headache.

In summary one word says it all 'fudged'.

Fortunately problem solved, but i can't help the feeling the angst soon as someone mentions what my office has collectively and rather affectionately dubbed as; 'those whom shall not be named'...

Silversavers

If any investor who is attempting to transfer assets away from Towry and is feeling frustrated with inadequate responses and partial transfers, please see the following website. Please do add your voice to the Petition.

http://www.treatingcustomersshabbily.co.uk

Kind regards

balf

I think I need a lie down.

David.

smallfry27

Sloff wrote: »

Towry operate an internal system where the client only gets charged an annual fee, from 0.75 - 2% which includes all the rebalancing, no further AMC etc, now it starts to sound more attractive.

Your statement implies that the Towry charge includes all the underlying funds AMCs. I am not sure if that is what you meant to say, but I do not believe it applies to third party funds.

Quote from Towry Terms and Conditions for Discretionary Investment Management:
Para 9 – “If we receive rebates of management charges from third party fund managers, these will be paid into your portfolio.”

Note the “if”. I can’t believe that funds which typically charge 1-1.5% AMC are going to rebate all of that to Towry, and not even cover their own costs.

Some of the funds held are trackers and ETFs, which may have AMC of < 0.5%, and minimal commission (sorry, rebate). If your statement is correct, Towry are charging up to 1.5% for deciding to put money into a tracker? If my understanding is correct, I will pay total of 2.5% on these funds.

If I have misunderstood any of the above, I am happy to hear information to the contrary. I can’t blame anyone but myself for signing the contract, but the more research I do, the less ‘attractive’ it seems. At least I am not one of the poor unfortunates who have had their life-savings tied up and inaccessible for months.

Sloff, please note that many of the complaints on this forum come direct from the customers.

nxdmsandkaskdjaqd

I complained to the Financial Ombudsman Service regarding the extended length of time for Towry to complete ISA transfers. I had a letter today from Towry offering £100 as compensation.

I have already written back (enclosing the cheque) saying that I do not accept their offer and that their reply did not address the concerns/issues that I raised. (I have 2 more ISA’s to transfer and I want these completed within their 30 day stated terms).

There letter was just a standard pro-former reply which they would send to anyone, had no relevance to my circumstances or the issues I raised.

Sloff

smallfry27 wrote: »

Your statement implies that the Towry charge includes all the underlying funds AMCs. I am not sure if that is what you meant to say, but I do not believe it applies to third party funds.

Quote from Towry Terms and Conditions for Discretionary Investment Management:
Para 9 – “If we receive rebates of management charges from third party fund managers, these will be paid into your portfolio.”

Note the “if”. I can’t believe that funds which typically charge 1-1.5% AMC are going to rebate all of that to Towry, and not even cover their own costs.

Some of the funds held are trackers and ETFs, which may have AMC of < 0.5%, and minimal commission (sorry, rebate). If your statement is correct, Towry are charging up to 1.5% for deciding to put money into a tracker? If my understanding is correct, I will pay total of 2.5% on these funds.

If I have misunderstood any of the above, I am happy to hear information to the contrary. I can’t blame anyone but myself for signing the contract, but the more research I do, the less ‘attractive’ it seems. At least I am not one of the poor unfortunates who have had their life-savings tied up and inaccessible for months.

Sloff, please note that many of the complaints on this forum come direct from the customers.

I disagree with you comment that most are ex EJ customers, the details have been given to Towry and in fact over 50% are ex EJ advisors, there are 35 people posting and 19 are ex advisers that are adding fuel to the fire. Some have more than 1 sign in name!!
As for the charges the IIM includes all charges, no further AMCs are taken, it is all built into the costs, if clients wish to sit on the independant platform then the AMC's are as per any other independant platform, Towry then charge a time costed fee for advice

smallfry27

Sloff wrote: »

I disagree with you comment that most are ex EJ customers, the details have been given to Towry

How have details been given to Towry ? Did MoneySavingExpert release all our private identities without our permission or knowledge ?

To be pedantic, I said 'many' complaints, not 'most'. Even if it is only 16 customer complaints, that's 16 too many, not to mention the special web site and pages and pages I've read on Citywire, etc etc. I was in fact, a reasonably happy customer until I started seeing all this bad publicity. Maybe Towry were left holding a poison chalice of a backlog, but it sounds like they could have managed expectation better. Many people complain of being repeatedly told "next month, sorry next month". Why didn't Towry just tell people up front that there was a 4 month backlog ?

I will however give you credit for trying to put your point of view in the face of considerable hostility. This thread had gone to sleep for 3 weeks until you woke it up again. If you just want to get on with business (re your post 104), why did you stir things up again?

Sloff wrote: »

As for the charges the IIM includes all charges, no further AMCs are taken, it is all built into the costs

I am very happy to hear that, but I would still like to see it in the official Terms and Conditions. Can you point me to the relevant paragraph ?

In my copy, para 9.3 says "Any third party administration costs incurred in administering your portfolio will be charged to your portfolio."