Do not use or invest as you might lose control of your money
UTTERLY DISGUSTED!
I am not normally one to leave negative reviews but I am absolutely appalled and disgusted at the service I have received so far and the length of time it is taking to pay out my personal pension and so I recommend anyone looking at a pension LOOK ELSEWHERE! I am 60 in 6 days and I was paying into a civil service AVC pension for over 10 years before I changed jobs. I enquired about taking my pension in a lump sum 9 weeks ago and was told to phone up the day before I turn 60 as it only takes about 45 minutes to complete a 2 stage process to have the funds in my account. I was happy with this but Something was bothering me so I phoned again a week later and was told a complete different story and to phone back in 7 days to commence the withdrawal of finds. 7 days later I phoned to be told a complete different story again and that I needed to complete some forms to transfer it to a personal pension also with Scottish widows so that I could then claim it, bizarre! I received the forms, completed and emailed them back. Then I heard nothing so I phoned yet again to be told the account had been closed and that the money had be transferred to my new provider but I insisted it should be with Scottish widows but no they insisted it wasn’t and couldn’t tell me where it was. Panicking now I emailed and phoned again to be told don’t worry it’s in the process, but where is it, no idea was the response. I received letters telling me it had been transferred to my new provider and then one from Scottish widows telling me it had been transferred to…… Scottish widows with finally a new plan number. I could now chase it up again, simple right? Wrong! I phoned yet again and emailed as someone surely must know where my money was, it might be small but £17,600 is a lot of money for me. Again and again and again I keep getting fobbed off, we will phone you back, but no call comes, we will email you the outcome but no email comes. Today I was informed it’s in the process but there is something the admin team need to sort out but don’t worry it’s not your end but ours. Ok so when will I get my money, errr no idea, sorry just rest assured it’s not your fault. Just give me my bloody money. This could have been a much larger amount and I could have been relying on it to survive & if this had been the case it would have caused me so much stress and possible ill health and Scottish widows simply don’t care. I have been pushed back and forth one lie after another and I am still no nearer to knowing when I will get my money. I am disgusted with the whole process. Never ever again will I or my family use Scottish widows
Edit 1 - funny how I get a quick response when a negative review is posted, just a shame I had to be put through all this unnecessary stress & unfortunate i wasn’t given a satisfactory reply in the 1st place but I have a feeling that your reply posted on here is solely to nullify my negative review and therefore try to make yourselves look better! Well Let’s now see what transpires if anything does & I will update this later
13.1.25
Edit 2 - as fully expected the Scottish Widows published response below was just to keep the public at bay and to look like they are acting on things quickly and professionally BUT I HAVE HEARD NOTHING FURTHER after another 4 days has passed and after over 9 weeks of chasing and being passed from pillar to post. I am 2 days away from being 60 which is my retirement date. Awful, truly awful service and a sheer lack of care or compassion shown when I have spoken to someone.
Edit 3 - I won’t hold my breath as it’s been passed to ‘your team’ several times over the last 9 weeks or so with the last outcome being “we can’t do anything until the problem on your account is resolved”! What problem?
Edit 4 - retirement day/60 years old!
Not heard a thing direct from Scottish widows, no apology, no pension (due today), no update and no idea what the hell is happening. A complaint was raised last week but my pension is due today but still no end in sight. I’m just grateful I’m not relying on this pension to survive on like so many other people in my position would be. My main pension from another provider has paid out without question, no hassle, no problems, on time and date.
SCOTTISH WIDOWS I WOULDNT TOUCH AGAIN WITH A BARGE POLE
January 9, 2025
Unprompted review