Prudential Plc Reviews 343

I have recently reached retirement age and have been trying to get my Prudential pension pot moved to a different company so I can convert to an annuity.

In all my years of working, Prudential have proved, by some distance, to be the WORST company I have ever had to deal with. They are obstructive, incompetent and unprofessional and completely lack any empathy. There are multiple other reviews here where people have had a similar experience to me.

I am lucky in that I am not solely reliant on getting this pension immediately. I feel desperately sorry for others out there who rely on Prudential to deliver within a reasonable time period. They seem to have no concept of what good customer service is, do not answer messages through their messaging system and do not return phone calls. They NEVER respond appropriately and leave the policy holder to chase them all the time. They seem averse to sending out documents by email, stating that it is company policy. They seem to think it is reasonable to take 3 weeks to send out a standard letter and refuse to email it instead.

At no point has anyone apologised for the performance of Prudential, all they do is state that they are abiding with company policy. They don't seem to appreciate that someone who has spent 35 years contributing to a pension scheme should be treated with respect and not fobbed off with a load of company speak.

To anyone considering starting a pension or purchasing any financial product, I would urge you to avoid Prudential completely. I cannot state this strongly enough and would give them negative stars if I could.

I want to transfer my Pension out of the UK to Ireland. I started the process, finding a financial advisor in Ireland, visited her at her home went over the details and this was in November 2024. The level of delay and obstruction is unbelievable. The letters come from Lee Bullen Head of Customer Operations, Prudential Customer Services, Lancing, BN15 8GB. You deal online with a call centre in India. They don't appear to have any concept of good customer service. If this was a relatively swift process, I'd be willing to recommend the Pru. I wouldn’t wish them on my worst enemy. The actual returns on investment are fine, accessing the funds a nightmare.

tried 11 times to tell them i has a new email address
for my pension annuity they have been paying me for 15 years and for 15 years they have be sending me a P60 but in spite of this they cant find me on their system compared to virgin media pru gets one star virgin should get 1000 and we all know what rubbish virgin are

Avoid at all costs!!!
My brother tragically died in November 2024. After 14 points of contact Prudential have yet to release his funds to his sons.
In the year 2025 they require all correspondence to be in hardcopy rather than online (a delaying tactic to retain the money as long as they can). Six calls to the complaints department have yet to produce a resolution.
I cannot advise you strongly enough, to look for an alternative pension provider.
Incompetence is embedded within every department I have dealt with since November last year. They simply do not care that a family member has been lost and their incompetence adds to the heartache.
They are simply shameless and unfeeling. Place your pension funds with a responsive pension provider.

I’m unsure whether the substandard communications in respect of guardianship are ignorance, lack of training, or policy. They seem to ignore the directions of the court, and make it up as they go along. Add in failure to respond to letters, and appalling service.
Disgraceful all round really.

I retired over 2 years ago. I first had the prudential contact me just before I retired. I have complied with everything they have asked from me. Two and a half years later it still hasn't been sorted. I don't know how many times I have contacted them, answering all the same questions. They state that they can't find the logs. This is making me ill. I have asked to speak with a manager, I was told that they can't do anything. I have asked to speak to someone who can!!! No one can as far as they are concerned. I am so stressed out. I have done everything that they have asked me for many times. I am suffering high diabetes, high blood pressure and heart pains. All I get from them is the same questions. It will take only 10 minutes and it will be sorted. Two and a half years later it's still not sorted. They expect me to know things from 15/20 years ago. I'm 68 my health is not good.
I have told them No More!!!!! I wish that I could go back in time. I would Never had anything to do with them!!!!!!

Wish it was possible to give minus stars......Avoid Prudential International like the plague. They love yoh when you invest but...just try and get your money withdrawn...IMPOSSIBLE! Needed money in an emergency.....one month on, still waiting....levels of red tape, utter incompetence and bureaucracy I have never seen before. Shocking, shocking, shocking.

29/11/24 Prudential International wrote to inform me that I was owed quite a substantial amount of money. By return post I responded with a copy of the relevant details in order for them to process the return of my money.

7/2/25 at 10.41am I phoned to ask where my money was. I was told that an email would be sent to me within 10 working days to detail the progress (not the money).

24/2/25 at 10.25am, no email had been received. When I phoned they said my concerns had been escalated. Again a further promise that an update would be provided in 72 hours.

28/2/25 at 2.19pm, it was now supposedly a priority. They asked for 5 working days from 24/2/25 at 10.25am.

4/3/25 at 9.16am, it is now ‘a complaint and this complaint will now be acknowledged in 5 working days.

Not the money or a progress report but an acknowledgment of the complaint. Anybody else having a problem with Prudential International?

07-03-25. I have had an email from the Pru. They are sorry I’m disappointed and are sending me £150.
The money that they owe me will take 5 days to verify then 3 days to arrive in my bank. Today is the 8th clear day (9th if you count the 7th of March.) Needless to say neither sum has arrived.

I set up an AVC through my local authority work place pension. First of all it took about two weeks for my contributions to show up in my AVC account. Finally after showing up they disappeared and my account balance was showing as zero?? I messaged PRU to be told they haven’t received my contribution! I told them this is not the case at all as the money was there the week before. This is very concerning how their system can lose your money and after reading the other reviews I would advise PRU they seriously need to upgrade their system. You should be able to trust such a huge well known establishment.

Well where do I begin! Like the previous writer if I could give less than 1 star I would!
Iv'e held a private pension policy with the Pru since 1985 and I wanted to cash it in 4 yrs ago. Im now 69 and I could have cashed it when I was 55 but chose to keep paying into it. If I'd have known then what I would have to go through to access my own funds I would have never invested with these guys in the first place. My father swore by the Pru but he would be turning in his grave at the treatment I have endured over the last 4 years.
Started trying to access my funds in 2021. I must add that I'm now living in Australia. I spent hours and hours on the phone with various staff being passed down a long line of people who "couldn't deal with my situation" (not sure what they're being payed to do here) only to be cut off after a 2hr plus phone call with no results. This happened on numerous occasions to the point where I really didn't want to have any dealings with them, so I decided instead of drawing an annuity which would have tied me to them, I would withdraw my entire funds and put them in an Australian superfund. This caused even more hassle for me, as I was told I personally couldn't access my full fund and would have to employ a financial advisor to do so.
After many official complaints from myself and my financial advisor on my behalf and almost 4 years later I finally have my funds over in Australia and out of Prudentials hands.
I cannot begin to describe the worry, stress & anxiety plus financial burden this company has caused me.
No pensioner should have to go through this amount of stress at this time in life.
I'm convinced that they hope that you will just give up trying to access your money. They are absolutely appalling as a company for investing your money in and my advice is to never ever consider using Prudential UK if you value your savings.
Good luck everyone out there struggling in this situation .

Heene and Shadid were both very helpful and professional.

Unfortunately due to personal circumstances I am away from home for an extended period and don’t have my pension policy number. It is a relatively small amount that I want withdraw as a lump sum before the end of the tax year,

No problem you’d think I have all the other info to enable them to find it. 8 people have now tried with no success and no explanation other than it may be something to do with merged systems or someone else managing it…

Not very confidence inspiring!

I submitted a query for the trace team” on 4/2/25. By letter and their email form - it is now 13th and despite their own 5 working day timeline indicator have heard nothing

Tried to submit a complaint - got a pop up message saying “technical issues” with a number to call and an error code. Called and agent had no idea …. Went through the same process again and surprise they still can’t find my pension! Asked for a complaint to be raised and told another 5 working days for someone to get back to me. Unsurprisingly I have no confidence I will be contacted

I point out their obligations under UK Consumer Duty regulations and they had no idea what I was talking about

So I guess I have no choice but to let the 8 week complaint procedure to play out and then escalate to FOS

If i could give no stars I would customer service is beyond terrible .
Lost my father 2023 and been trying to sort out his finances with this company, Don't get the letters they send only emails . Tell me they are calling me and don't. I have been trying to sort this since June 2024. You only get to talk to someone that doesn't know what they are saying. It's bad enough loosing a parent but to go through all this is a nightmare. Going to take this further

I had a pension which i paid into for 20 out of 30 years. I took a lump sum and my return was excellent. My fund had been managed very well and the staff were outstanding and so helpful at the time of withdrawing my fund. Thank you.

I WAS ABLE TO CHANGE DETAILS ON MY PENSION VDERY EASY

Oh dear - looked at Prudential and find they have 95% one star!! My experience is not as bad as many hence two stars. Wanted to withdraw a large sum from a Prudence bond I took out 31 years ago. Complex to do due to the tax rules but that is not the fault of Prudential. However it took Prudential 12 days to send the money yet they took the money from my Prudence bond immediately. Guess they pocket the interest over 12 days. Apart from an email at the beginning to acknowledge the request there is no way of monitoring progress - one just has to sit and wait and hope the money has not gone astray. Why can't they show progress? Not at all customer focused. Will be glad when next tax year starts and I can close the bond.

I would give 0 stars if possible, pru contacted me as next of kin for my mum. Apparently she had a pension with them they requested form after form completing over the space of months why they can’t just send them all together I will never know, they wanted id, will etc sending. Will states who money should be left to due to family issues. I then get a letter saying they must contact all children including those who are written out of will and pru will decide who the money goes to. No contact for months can’t get an update, rude staff. This is the most irritating experience of my life so much I’ve had the in-laws remove all their savings from pru as I simply cannot do this again( again this is a nightmare to get out) . This matter with my mums will is still ongoing and I have no further information. I honestly believe they are trying to drag it out to 2 years after her passing so they don’t have pay it out.

The Prudential need to hang their professional heads in shame. They have caused financial and personal stress due to the inept handling of the payment of my lump sum AVC, which in turn is holding up the payment of my Local Government Pension and lump sum. The communication is appalling, speaking to a call centre, who pass messages on, don't ring you back, complaining doesn't help. They have the market for the Local Government Pension AVC scheme up, so they can get away with the most appalling levels of customer service, they don't care at all for the distress of their customers.

Utterly useless. They sent the same email twice two minutes apart. They said they send out forms which they didn't, they take an age to get back to you, they can't facilitate a simple pension contribution increase. Utterly utterly useless.

Wish I could have given them 0 stars

Tried to withdraw and endowment policy after almost 25 years of paying it. I've been passed from pillar to post for the past 6 weeks without it being resolved. The Prudential have lied, mismanaged my request beyond any level I have ever experienced. They've told me they've lost documents, haven't received information - almost every trick in the book not to payout my endowment policy that I need as a deposit for a new property. If you have a policy with the Prudential, I would suggest you consider moving it to another provider and make sure you have loads of time to start the process!