regarding this post:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?401188-Abbey-National-Endowment-Mortgage-Santander-giving-us-the-runaround

AVIVA have demonstrated the kind of shocking customer service that even BT would be ashamed of - This complaint has been running far too long now, AVIVA customer support - Pls explain why this has taken so long. I would like a reply, & an explanation, & an apology. I would never EVER deal with this ridiculous outfit as my Parents did. AVIVA pls deal.

You might want to email Aviva, as I have not see their rep reply recently.

[email protected]

They usually want these details

Full name

Date of birth

Post code

Policy Number

CAG Username so we can link your email to this post.

This is simply to get information about the Provident Mutual policies out into the wider community, since Aviva pensions staff have no idea about these policies.

If you took a policy out in the late 1980s, you will most probably have a set of "Guaranteed Annuity Rates" in the policy.

I had two policies taken out in 1986/7 but only discovered the GARs after the Labour government changed the pension rules to allow an individual to have both personal and company pension schemes.

I opted to take my first policy as an annuity in 2015, at that time there were some people in Aviva who were still competent at their job, but it still took me 5 months to get a quote for the annuity at the correct rate. Which for a single life age 60 monthly in advance with a 5 year guarantee is 9.75% (This increases to around 14% at age 65)

Last year (2016) I decided to convert the second policy to an annuity from September. Anticipating that there would be further delays, I started the process at the beginning of July (2016). Christmas came and I had not received an accurate quote for the annuity payments (based on my knowledge of the GARs in the policy) so I contacted the Ombudsman. By this time, the staff at Aviva were refusing to discuss the issues that I had with their quotes, when I tried to escalate the issue through the Aviva management line, is was simply referred back to the person who was still refusing to discuss it further.

Intervention by the Ombudsman started early in the new year and the lady there was very helpful, but it has taken until this week (2nd October 2017) to finally get the correct information out of Aviva. I have received compensation from Aviva, but I consider it to be a trivial amount given the tens of hours I have spent trying to resolve the issue and the absolutely appalling level of incompetence and rudeness received at the hands of the Pensions "Customer Disservice" team.

There has been no apology for this from Aviva and the people who perpetrated the problem.

However my main reason for coming on and discussing this is to ensure that anyone who has a provident mutual pension is aware of the GARs on the policies and the attempts by Aviva to reduce the levels of payout on these policies.

You may also be able benefit by taking lump sums from other pensions savings and making single contributions to your Provident Mutual pension (transfers-in don't qualify for the GARs) - financial advice recommended