Endowment Mis-selling - Don't give up!

Payless/DD you make me smile!

Re knowing risks.  When I took out my ISA I was in my mid 30's and my IFA didn't say that Fidelity was that risky!!!  Oh well at my age I should have known better.  I should have checked it out more.  It was pointed out to me that the fees were reasonable (Scandia).  Age thought is what I think it comes down to.  When I took out my endowment I was a naive 21 year old.  Not long working, living at home etc.  I can remember thinking at the time - why isn't everyone doing this.  This seems a great deal.  I had absolutely no idea there was any risk attached to it.

Lets face it - most people missold were in their early 20's.  Property prices were more affordable 20 years ago and people got on the property ladder younger.  Unfortunately we fell prey to smooth talkers who omitted to give full information.  We then in turn told friends and relatives about how good the deal was and they too went after endowments.  No one wants to miss out on a great deal.  Should we blame the advisors?  They too had a living to make.  Not an easy job with tough targets for many.  I think many of us who are cucooned in safe, regular employment forget how hard it is for Salesmen to make their living.  I think the blame really lies with the companies.  They encouraged the misselling.

Mind you I still fall for smooth talking salemen now! At my age flattery gets you anywhere!! Pity not more about. Now salespeople are more like sales prevention staff - especially in shops. Typical conversation:

shopper - "have you got any xxxx"
Assistant - "if we have it's out"

Couldn't they just say yes or no!!

ROFL

Its a good fund the spec sits. I have 15% of my pension in it and the growth in the last 18 months has been very good. Its just volatile. Makes a good regular fund though as you average out the volatility. And if you have the Skandia annual rebalancing, the corp bond funds then make sense as you take the high points and rebalance them into the low risk side.

If that is the case, your selection would make much more sense.

Does anybody know how to complain about the Ombudsman??

Sounds strange I know, but we first complained to our IFA about being missold back in October 2002 (a £38k scottish amicable policy back in 1991 with a projected shorfall of £17k), and we went to the FSA in January 2003 when the IFA ignored us. Our complaint was passed from one person to another until they ruled in our favour at the end of 2003 - then the IFA decided to put his case, which was a load of inaccuracies and lies. So it carried on being passed from person to person and finally got to the Ombudsman in May 2004 - where it has stuck since and we haven't heard a thing from him. Every time we ask they say they've no idea how long it will take. But it's been more than two years now, surely that can't be right! Are the Ombudsmen answerable to anybody?

On a more positive note that might help some other people and encourage them not to give up, we had another policy from a company called NEL that we took out in 1988 - before the deadline when you can technically make complaints. Add to that, NEL had been bought out by Century Life soon after we started our policy. Anyway, Century Life said sorry, not their problem as it was 1988 and not their fault anyway. So I wrote to my MP and he passed it on to the relevant treasury minister. She basically replied saying tough, bad luck, nothing she could do, but I wrote back to Century Life saying I had written to my MP etc etc, and quoted a few lines here and there from their letters (and threatened to go to court!) - and hey presto, they paid up! We got all our premiums back in full plus interest - almost £11k, which isn't bad considering the policy was so poor that it was only valued at £5k!! So it can be worth the effort.