Review Time
I managed to speak to someone around 10 days ago and needed further information. I have been calling every day since then and left messages, been transferred through, been cut off, been told he will call me back and nothing. They obviously dont need the business. Going to look for another SIPP provider.
My father died in August after a brief stint in a care home with my mother. We are yet to receive any form of widows pension from his ex British Steel pension because of these Muppets. It is one excuse after another and the last message was that they were so sorry and it was waiting for a letter to be authorised, well sorry doesn't pay care home bill for mum, now seeking legal advice.
My father died in August after a brief stint in a care home with my mother. We are yet to receive any form of widows pension from his ex British Steel pension because of these Muppets. It is one excuse after another and the last message was that they were so sorry and it was waiting for a letter to be authorised, well sorry doesn't pay care home bill for mum, now seeking legal advice.
Feels like Barnett Waddignham is being run as a spare-time business by a bloke who has lost interest.Any requests gets an automatic answer that warns of delays in responding (seemingly unchanged since the depths of Covid). No hope of a prompt and substantive acknowledgment, let alone prompt action. I lodged a formal complaint about this repeated unresponsiveness, and got no response. Rang them, and spoke to a receptionist who, after 13 minutes, had to admit that she could find nobody to handle what was now a complaint about a complaint. I gave them a full working day in which to make contact if I wasn't to go to the Ombudsdman - and they responded in two working days.But that was a rare exception: a subsequent application for a drawdown payment has gone unacknowledged, so I am going to have to waste time chasing to see if they have received and actioned it, as time is running out at the end of the tax year.If you aren't already a customer, do think very carefully about whether you want to sign up to this level of service.[FOLLOWUP NOTE 9 March - it is perhaps telling that Barnett Waddingham were substantially quicker to respond to the above review than they have recently been in responding to my requests to them as a customer!]
Feels like Barnett Waddignham is being run as a spare-time business by a bloke who has lost interest.Any requests gets an automatic answer that warns of delays in responding (seemingly unchanged since the depths of Covid). No hope of a prompt and substantive acknowledgment, let alone prompt action. I lodged a formal complaint about this repeated unresponsiveness, and got no response. Rang them, and spoke to a receptionist who, after 13 minutes, had to admit that she could find nobody to handle what was now a complaint about a complaint. I gave them a full working day in which to make contact if I wasn't to go to the Ombudsdman - and they responded in two working days.But that was a rare exception: a subsequent application for a drawdown payment has gone unacknowledged, so I am going to have to waste time chasing to see if they have received and actioned it, as time is running out at the end of the tax year.If you aren't already a customer, do think very carefully about whether you want to sign up to this level of service.[FOLLOWUP NOTE 9 March - it is perhaps telling that Barnett Waddingham were substantially quicker to respond to the above review than they have recently been in responding to my requests to them as a customer!]
My husband is taking early retirement due to my poor health and contacted his occupational pension provider back in June to ask for a pension forecast for retiring in January 2023. He was told that this would be sent to him in the next 10 days. He was then informed that Barnett Waddingham had been appointed as new Trustees and would be responsible for providing this. He made numerous calls between August and December which resulted in nothing other than excuses, lies and downright incompetence. This ranged from “we have not yet received the records” to “I am working on it at this moment and it will be in the post tomorrow” Needless to say it didn’t arrive and funnily enough they were working on it every time he phoned, which ended up being on a weekly basis! The forecast eventually arrived in December too late for him to take retirement in January due to a three month notice period. He called them in early January stating that he wished to retire in April to be told that they had to reissue the forecast and paperwork. He expressed concern that it would take so long again and was assured this would not be the case and that it would be done quickly. On the basis of this he handed his notice in at work. We are now at the end of Feb and not surprisingly still no forecast or paperwork to claim his pension. He has been calling weekly again all through February and getting the same pack of lies on every occasion as he got last year. We are now in a position where he is five weeks from retirement date with nothing in place for his pension and absolutely no confidence whatsoever that he has any hope in hell of getting it on his retirement date. This is totally unacceptable that their failures are risking leaving their pensioners with no employment, no income and no lump sum to pay off a mortgage! I really cannot find the words to express how worrying and upsetting this is and it is not the appalling service that anyone should have to suffer at the hands of what is supposed to be a professional organisation trusted with managing huge Company Pension Funds. We could not have avoided the situation we find ourselves in but for anyone considering dealing with this organisation in any shape or form all I can say is AVOID
My husband is taking early retirement due to my poor health and contacted his occupational pension provider back in June to ask for a pension forecast for retiring in January 2023. He was told that this would be sent to him in the next 10 days. He was then informed that Barnett Waddingham had been appointed as new Trustees and would be responsible for providing this. He made numerous calls between August and December which resulted in nothing other than excuses, lies and downright incompetence. This ranged from “we have not yet received the records” to “I am working on it at this moment and it will be in the post tomorrow” Needless to say it didn’t arrive and funnily enough they were working on it every time he phoned, which ended up being on a weekly basis! The forecast eventually arrived in December too late for him to take retirement in January due to a three month notice period. He called them in early January stating that he wished to retire in April to be told that they had to reissue the forecast and paperwork. He expressed concern that it would take so long again and was assured this would not be the case and that it would be done quickly. On the basis of this he handed his notice in at work. We are now at the end of Feb and not surprisingly still no forecast or paperwork to claim his pension. He has been calling weekly again all through February and getting the same pack of lies on every occasion as he got last year. We are now in a position where he is five weeks from retirement date with nothing in place for his pension and absolutely no confidence whatsoever that he has any hope in hell of getting it on his retirement date. This is totally unacceptable that their failures are risking leaving their pensioners with no employment, no income and no lump sum to pay off a mortgage! I really cannot find the words to express how worrying and upsetting this is and it is not the appalling service that anyone should have to suffer at the hands of what is supposed to be a professional organisation trusted with managing huge Company Pension Funds. We could not have avoided the situation we find ourselves in but for anyone considering dealing with this organisation in any shape or form all I can say is AVOID
I and my fellow SIPP investors have experienced endless problems with this company over many years. the majority now revolve around bullying communication from its Property Team which constantly tries to devise ludicrous scams to force us onto its own block property insurance, despite our properties all having perfectly adequate insurance cover. they are clearly on some sort of incentive deal with their insurer. We've complained bitterly but they just won't behave. We are going to have to refer the issue to the FCA for the second time.I have also recently tried to correspond with Barnett Waddingham about a share trading account I have within my SIPP. This is quite an important issue. I wrote on the 3rd March to the mystery standard email address we are provided with (they don't provide an actual account manager contact) and received a standard response suggesting I'd receive a proper response within 5 to 10 days. It's now the 27th March and I haven't heard a peep. I just can't get a service out of these people.
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