Problems trying to claim Friends Life pension

[bluetack]

I'm trying to cash in my pension. It's very small so as a small pots payment should be easy, nothing ever is though. Friends Life aren't even sending out the claim forms and they've told me that they don't know when they will be able to do so. I'm furious! The money should now be legally mine and earning me interest, but it seems the pension companies are going to hold off payment for as long as possible by not sending out the claim forms. Their excuse is that they are inundated with requests and have a huge backlog. This is twaddle, they've known about the changes for over a year! Surely their must be a way to charge statutory interest from the date claim forms were requested? Any ideas on this would be appreciated..............

[honeybee13]

Hello there.

 

They may pay you interest if your pot isn't earning anything, but if the money is still invested, you may not be losing out.

 

Are you over age 55 and are you trying to cash it on grounds of triviality?

 

And is this a personal pension or another type, please?

 

HB

[bluetack]

Hi honeybee,

Yes I'm over 55 and it will be a triviality payment and it's a personal pension. Just frustrated that I keep being told I'll get the forms within 7 days and nothing arrives. Been told this 3 times so far!

[honeybee13]

That's not good, I agree.

 

How long have you been waiting?

 

HB

[honeybee13]

Looking at their FB page, you're not the only one, BT.

 

We don't have a Friends Life rep, but as they're part of Aviva nowadays, I'll let the Aviva reps know.

 

HB

[honeybee13]

PM sent.

 

I wonder why FL can't just have forms on their website that you could print off and send back to them?

 

HB

[bluetack]

I've been waiting for the forms for 5 weeks. Not too long I know but I wanted to get this rolling before I go away in June. I have contacted the FL pension advisers by email and phone but I keep being told the same thing 'We're sorry you haven't received the claim forms yet, we'll get them to you in the next 7 days' then nothing arrives. I make another call and the same thing happens! (They won't accept a request for a claim form by email). I was told that I'd have full payment 4 weeks after claiming but at this rate I'll never see it.

[eddbur]

Hi

I am also have the same problem with Friends Life .I have made many calls only to be told they don't know .

I have just finished a call with a manager at Friends life who has told me they have no idea when the forms will be made available

[honeybee13]

Who have you spoken to so far please?

 

Customer Services should be able to raise a complaint for poor service for you if you ask them. It would be worth confirming it in writing with them after your phone call, so you have a paper trail.

 

In fairness, I believe some of the final rules were only confirmed a few weeks ago, but I realise this is of no comfort to you. If they say they will send forms in a week, they really should do that.

 

HB

[eddbur]

I have only spoken to people on the contact desk . I thought that I would have had some response from Friends life regarding the paperwork so did not really think to get a contact name until this morning.i was unable to get the contact who called me this afternoon as I was out and about .

I have emailed their complaints department and contacted the Financial Ombudsman Service .

The problem I have is that they have not sent any forms out and do not have any idea when this will happen.

I was told it was to do with the administration department this is a very poor service and not acceptable .

[bluetack]

I have kept an email+paper+telephone trail for all dealings with Friends Life. I have made a written complaint and their answer was along the lines of 'we may deal with it in a few months time'. There's no point in contacting the ombudsman until you've written a formal complaint letter to Friends Life and waited for their response, they have a time limit of 8 weeks to resolve your issues. I am now talking to TPAS (The Pensions Advisory Service) who are very interested in what's happening with Friends Life and their reluctance to send out any claim forms. I've sent them everything and pointed them towards FL facebook page where they can actually see the people complaining about the same thing.

Follow this link http://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/pension-problems/making-a-complaint/how-we-can-help

Choose 'ask us' then webchat in the left column and you can talk to them straight away.

[stu007]

Hi

 

Are you sending your correspondence to the AVIVA Address (as Friends Life was taken over by AVIVA)

 

http://www.expressandstar.com/business/city-news/2015/04/10/aviva-seals-friends-life-takeover/

 

On this link: http://advisers.friendslife.co.uk/ go to the bottom left of the webpage

 

Click on About Us it opens a new webpage

 

Then on the left side of webpage go down and Click on Contact Us (have a little look)

 

(on the above link you can also click on UK Customers for more information)

 

General Enquiries

 

Head Office

Aviva plc

St Helen's

1 Undershaft

London

EC3P 3DQ

United Kingdom

 

Telephone +44 (0)20 7283 2000

E-mail [email protected]

[bluetack]

Thanks Stu, I hadn't even thought of that! I'll have a good look, Friends Life are not giving out any contact details except their own and all their paperwork has a PO address.

[stu007]

Just glad to be of help

 

I would also consider making a formal complaint to Aviva (details in post#12) about your Friends Life Pension and the constant delays with the forms (why cant they email you the forms) ask.