Pension transfers – being messed about…what to do

January 1st I put in for a pension transfer to vanguard from an old work pension that I checked and found out I’d been being walloped with a 5% annual charge since it had been transfered to provider ‘R’

Expecting it to be a lengthy process, and not in a massive rush I’ve not been shouting down phones, but we are now 4 months in, vanguard have said they’ve followed all the right process their end and chased ‘R’ several times.  apparently some of my funds are ‘suspended’ so I’ve asked for the ones that aren’t to be transferred.

Finally had a response out of ‘R’ saying its with their specialist team who will be in touch, no details of who they are or how to contact them.

No emails or messages left.  I’ve said if I don’t have a resolution soon I’ll be complaining – this is via the secure portal which I assume is the best place to log this sort of thing

So question is:  anyone else had this sort of crap when trying to transfer a pension?  And if you complain who do you complain to?

Afraid not, a mixed bag from Aviva, Pru, HL and Utmost all went through to RL super easy. I did have a IFA do it though.

It does sound like an unreadable delay though, maybe log a complaint with the fCA if the firms complaint process doesn’t get the thing moving.

pensions ombudsman would be the escallation point

https://www.pensions-ombudsman.org.uk

but they’ll likely need a written complaint to be lodged with the supplier first, so go down that path

Does R = ReAssure by any chance?

it may very possibly be.  As far as I can tell, they do jack all and charge you 5% per annum for the privaledge.  It seems to be where employee pensions go to die once your old employer can no longer be arsed

Re. written complaint – is that via actual letter, or does email or suppliers ‘secure portal’ count?

instructions for filing a complaint are here -> https://www.pensions-ombudsman.org.uk/publication/complaining-partyparties-fault

I had an Aviva to Vanguard transfer (arranged via Vanguard website) which wouldn’t go through.  Some technical point Aviva hadn’t done. One phone call to Aviva sorted it though.

All I have to go on at this point is a third hand comment from Vanguard saying R will not process as funds ‘suspended’ and R telling me its with a specialist team.  I had expected it to take a while but it seems something isn’t happening.  I’ll give them a week and then follow up with a complaint if there hasn’t been any better comms about what is going on

Thanks for the links I’ll read them tonight

Who is ‘R:?

Always bemuses me when people ask for advice on how to deal with a shit company but don’t do the decent thing and provide the name of the company so other posters can at least get some benefit from the thread.

it is mentioned above. i dont want to needless slag off a company if it turns out its usual practise to take several months to transfer

currently all i know is there is an unspecified issue being dealt with in an unspecified time frame by an unnamed specialist team.

what i can say is reassures portal is rubbish and their communication is far short of my expectations.

as a customer it feels like they are deliberately dragging their heels. but it could be a genuine problem.

I’ve transferred a pension to Vanguard and start to finish was about 3 weeks. Then later changed my mind again and transferred to Interactive Investor, similar if not a bit quicker. What you’re experiencing is definitely not on. I’d certainly threaten them with the Ombudsman and demand answers as to what the delay is being caused by.

I’ve only ever transferred a couple of pensions but they took nowhere near as long as that.

Sounds ridiculous OP.

when I, well my IFA, consolidated a bunch of DC pensions into Fidelity’s platform for me the whole process was done within 2 months. Most were moved within a month. Only some check backs with one pension’s trustees created any delay. And that seemed a reasonable check.

what do they mean ‘suspended’? Are these funds that are in jeopardy and not allowing withdrawals?

I don’t know what they mean by suspended.  Thats what Vanguard said Reassure said to them.  All I’ve got from Reassure its with a specialist team.  The pension is spread amongst several professional unit trusts so I can’t see why there would be any problems with them

If its a final salary scheme, they can take months.

DC pensions are a walk in the park.