“Don't invest with this company. If I could give a negative 1 review I would. I invested in a Euro fund 2015 and have been trying to get my money out since it matured in 2020. Last year, I was trapped overseas by coronavirus and contacted Prudential by phone only to be told that unless I had evidence of my address, I wouldn't be able to withdraw the money. A letter from my bank, an airBnb receipt (we were staying in one long-term) and any other suggested evidence was rejected. We finally got a permanent address--still stuck by the pandemic in January 2021 and I contacted Prudential again to get my money out. This was the last time I was able to get through on the phone. They told me that I needed to provide proof of address (which I had) and a certified copy of my husband's new passport (which had been renewed in the 5 intervening years). I got a certified copy, despite a full lockdown in Istanbul, sent all the required documents and then... nothing other than one email saying that my claim was being processed. Then... nothing. For five months. I tried to call repeatedly (at least once to three times a week) but couldn't get through on the phone. In the end, I had to send an email threatening legal action to get a reply, which amazingly, came very quickly. Apparently they couldn't verify the passport certification--something that would have been solved months before if I'd been able to get through on the phone, or if they'd emailed me. They also said they'd emailed me, but after searching all records, I was positive I hadn't received the email. Still, I gave them benefit of the doubt, and now that Istanbul was no longer locked down, went to a public government notary and got the passport certified yet again. I sent it through along with a query about my balance and a request that someone tell me they'd received the document and then... nothing. For two weeks. I tried calling every day, yet again no getting through. None of my emails were replied to, until I received one that was a direct copy and paste of the one they'd sent weeks before saying they couldn't verify the certifier of the passport, despite their number and name being clearly on their stamp on the document and despite the fact that I immediately called the notary and confirmed that they were definitely open and had been every day for the previous two weeks. I've resent the notarised passport with a request for my balance and confirmation they've received it and... nothing.
I potentially have 200k Euro in this fund (I'm unsure of the balance due to the lack of communication since January) and have provided Prudential with every piece of information they've requested. They're not available for contact by phone. There are no names attached to the emails so I have no way of knowing if there's a human at the other end, it's been over a year and a half since I initially started trying to withdraw my money from the fund and I'm days away from pursuing legal action. This isn't the kind of behaviour you expect from a reputable corporation like this. This is the kind of behaviour you expect from a con artist who's run with your money.”
“Absolute scum. Tried to draw down on my pension and got totally sidelined for 2.5 hours on the phone. They are going to tax me , even though I am allowed 25% tax free. But still can get my money as somebody has to talk to me in 6 days time 'to discuss' this request with me. It is my f*cking money, not theirs. (I am 58 and entitled to take my money out). Do not take any form of pension out with these criminals”
“One hour 36 minutes on phone. They read out all the information they had already sent in post. Failed to get money out - they said they’d have to ring me back next week. Patronising - asked me if I knew the difference between an accountant and a financial advisor. Spoke very fast. Terrible website - impossible to get information about my account. Correspondence awful- no information about the actual amount of my fund. Worst company ever”
“Absolute waste of time contacting them online or over the phone,you phone and wait forty minutes they answer and pass you onto another number and wait another hour and blame it on covid,There attitude stinks.”
“Trying to get your own money out of this company is like getting blood to of a stone. Incompetent, delaying tactics and un-ending excuses. Avoid this company like the plague,....”
“Prudential, there is nothing good to be said about this company or its group or holdings or subsidiaries. Take notice others like you in huge numbers in countries around the world were never paid their pensions as well. Its called fraud and deception, but the prudential name is now tainted with the word corruption, as well. So do not become victim of Prudential the Insurer. Warning it changes its name like we change our socks and is a Government protected insurer. So don't waste your time with the Ombudsman it has no legal power to enforce anything including payment and is funded by Prudential. The Financial Conduct Authority are helpful and funded by Prudential as well. You could write to the HM Treasury to complain, good luck with this, that's if you get a reply from anyone with a name or with a reference number or a signature. Hopefully Prudential wont be the cause of the next financial crash?”
“I have been trying to cash my pension in one lump sum since March 2020 and by now, August 2020, I am still waiting.
The only time I managed to speak to somebody on the phone was in March - ever since, no matter how long I have held the line, nobody has bothered to answer it.
After the first telephone conversation I was sent the wrong form. I wrote to request the correct form and it arrived some five weeks later.
Having returned the completed form, I have since heard absolutely nothing, despite written reminders.
Trying to contact the Prudential by email was also foiled, because while my policy number existed when I first accessed the website, an 'error' occurred, and by my third attempt the policy number did not exist any longer. Funny that!
Since no company can be this incompetent without great effort, it is quite clear that the Prudential is deliberately trying NOT to give me MY money, and I suspect that contacting the Ombudsman will have to be my next step.
If I could give this company a negative rating, I would!”
“Three months and waiting this is how long its taken and still nothing prudential are not in a hurry to pay you but the managers get paid on time every month they take so long to do anything very frustrating keep you waiting and waiting not acceptable prudential”
“Would give this company minus stars if the option was there. Takes days and days and hours and hours for someone to answer the phone. Many occasions you will be cut off and have to go through their ridiculous laborious out of date menu again and again. Their online portal is only available to a small choice of policy so phone is the only way to contact.
Once you get through your enquiry is only partially answered as you have to follow a step by step acknowledgement via post and then ring back on each stage where this frustrating merry go round starts again. My initial enquiry was almost a month ago and still not received my paperwork to progress my situation.
My enquiry is a simple one which has been resolved by my other pension companies within 3 days.
Disgraceful service.”
“Trying to close out 401K was told 2 weeks ago I should receive the money in 2 weeks. Today was told they have the information that the company I worked from went bankrupt but they needed a separation letter from a company that no longer exists.”
“Don’t ever invest with these cowboys. They are obviously in serious financial trouble and using every excuse and tactic to delay and not pay. They suggested 2 weeks to receive a payment authorisation form. It’s been nearly 5 and only because I complain has somebody done me a favour to get it sent and sent 1st class as normally they use 2nd class. Then I am told once they get it back it will take 5 working days to process it and another 3-5 working days to get the funds. They won’t use email, and clearly the normal fast pay isn’t what they want to use. Disgusting service and then to cap it all their complaints manager will take 8 weeks to get back to me. Be warned.”
“Prudential are greedy and only good at increasing premiums. Beware the with Scottish Amicable policies, Pru will use each and every review to increase monthly premiums
Often on flimsiest of reasons and very wordy lengthy explanations BEWARE EVERYONE,.”
“Was informed by Prudential in October that the money owed to me by them for underpaid annuity, would be made withing 28 days. Week short of Christmas and I am still waiting (56 days). The only person you can talk to is someone reading off a script stating payments are delayed. Wonder if the bosses bonuses ever get delayed ? Are Prudential in financial difficulty ? Contact with a back street shyster would probably get a better response.”
“As a trustee, I needed to quickly liquidate a trust’s bond holdings in a number of companies. The largest holding was with Prudential and while other companies have managed to do as they were asked within the timescale demanded, Prudential have been spectacularly incompetent. Among their several failings:
* they did not liquidate the bond when they were asked, despite numerous reminders
* they kept causing further delays because they claimed that documentation had not been “scanned into the system”, when it had. Scanning by you or I takes a matter of minutes but at the Pru each scanning pixel is hand-crafted, which is why it takes days.
* they didn’t communicate with each other or with us and we were often left holding on the phone for up to 50 minutes trying to sort out the mess that they had made
* when they finally liquidated the bond, they had a brainstorm and randomly reinvested the proceeds into something else entirely rather than transmitting the cash. They failed to inform us of this surreal mistake, causing yet more delays
* they have not responded to an official complaint to their complaints department about their serious failings
* one of their lackadaisical employees made the comment that “everyone makes mistakes” without a hint of an apology or any sense that they knew how to sort it out
* an email of complaint and threat of legal action to a line manager received an automated reply that he was on holiday and that a colleague should be contacted instead, with no contact details provided.
We are still waiting for the money, weeks after it should have been paid out. It was a simple request and a simple task for them to perform. They have failed utterly to perform it and show no concern at having done so.
To quote from their website “We have very high standards and do everything we can to ensure that all our customers get the best possible service, but sometimes we do make mistakes.” This should be amended to “We have magicked up a set of high standards but haven’t a clue how to achieve them and our staff can’t be bothered to follow them. Our best possible service is miles worse than that of our competitors. When we keep making mistakes, don’t expect concern, an apology or rectification in anything approaching a reasonable timescale.””
“Bosses earn millions in bonuses, shareholders receive high dividend increases.
In comparison pensioners annuity annual payment increases are derisory.
A really bad investment, as on death original lump sum stays with the company. this is legalised robbery and Prudential stopped the chancellor from allowing policy holders to sell annuities on the secondary market to claw a lump some cash back..”
“Good friend of mine had a daughter that paid into an annuity scheme
For seventeen years until the company closed down. The daughter passed away and the mother was written to and told about the scheme
and that she might get money. After answering all of there questions
Told nothing to come back. They say the trustees did not secure death and defered contributions. Complete waste of time scam better off going to bookies or spend hard earned wages on family or in the pub.”
“When my husband was in his early twenties he took out a life insurance policy with Prudential which he thought was linked with his Pension. The contributions went out together each month. He was sold this by a salesperson who on a number of occasions tried to get us to cash in a range of policies. After 25 years of paying contributions monthly he has just found out that he now aged 53 has no life cover. Beware Prudential and what you think you are signing up to.”
“I too have been victim of Prudentials appalling customer service. I have been trying to get them to release the money from my personal pension since last August, and all that I hear from them is the value of my pension and asking me to speak to one of their financial advisors. Having sought independent advice from the PAS, it turns out that I don't need to speak to them, neither do I wish to. Upon ringing them for several hours, I get passed around several times until I just give up! If any normal company behaved like this, they would be out of business - maybe that's the plan - I expect the directors have their pensions nicely tucked up in some offshore tax haven. Excuse the rant, but this behaviour is totally unacceptable and must be called out.
Would anyone be interested in submitting a joint complaint to the pension ombudsman? I have set up a Facebook group for those of us who are totally fed up with their behaviour - please join and post your comments and hopefully together we can achieve a resolution to our problems.
Facebook Prudential Pensions user group.”
“Pru unable to effect pension payout as a result of 'staff shortage and IT problems' and are unable to give any estimate on date. Pru complaints staff do not make promised calls and the Company is behind with complaint handling.”
