“Absolutely disgusting service! Still waiting for mums death policy month later. To pay funeral costs. These times are supposed to be stress free. Putting trust in these companies considering they have been doing this for over 200 years. You get no correspondence back off these. Useless.”
“Oh my goodness is all I can say. My journey with this organisation....and I call them an organisation with trepidation is horrendous, heartless, unprofessional and frankly disgusting.
At a time of grief through loss and bereavement trying to sort out finances which should be seamless and transparent, all I can say is this whole experience has quite simply taken me to a place of further despair and deepened anxiety.
How are they able to get away with this? I am at a loss, on top of my own personal one, for words to convey how I feel about this company.”
“I have had Life Insurance with Scottish Widows for over a year now. When I took out the policy last October they promised me a WILL Kit and a £50 Amazon Voucher which I never received. I just phoned enquiring about the whereabouts of the promised Voucher and was told to provide proof of that promise! How disgusting!! I'm appalled. I requested to speak to the Manager and was placed on hold for over 30 minutes. Typical! False promises. A long waiting time. Imagine if I had to make a claim!! They are quick at taking my money every month. Not once have I refused them my money. I'm feeling totally disgusted. Where is the honesty and integrity of these Companies nowadays? I have lost all faith in humanity. Now going to swap over to another company. Will NOT recommend Scottish Widows to anybody.”
“I really have to ask what is actually the script with this company and more notably with there employees attitudes? These staff, no doubtable young and unreliable have clearly got a can't door attitude.
I called a few weeks ago to let them know of the loss of my late husband and after at least a 10 minute hold and then conversation for 30 minutes with a young woman (she didn't seem to care what she was doing or say and her empathetic tone was so underwhelming it was untrue), she them randomly seemed to either cut me off or just put me in another queue without any explanation. I then ended up speaking for another 30 minutes to a gentleman who I had to repeat all my details and information too and he seemed actually genuinely sorry for my loss and also for the experience I had with his colleague and that he would be attempting to look into this matter. I have not YET received a call back about this matter and no doubt I will have to make a complaint to them or the Financial Ombudsmen about there sheer bloody incompetence.
This call centre at Dalkeith Road is beyond compare to any other specialist service I have received, no because they are helpful but because they are absolutely beyond in a joke in there care for customers or there willing-ness to help!”
“I took out a pension with Lloyds in the 90s. I moved countries so stopped paying into it, a fact that I’m very relieved about. A few months ago, just before my 60th birthday, I started the process of withdrawing the funds.
It was s painful process with lots of repetition and red tape but I finally got to the last step, which involved supplying banking details. I was told I’d have the money in 10 days, right before Xmas.
On the 11th day, I called to be told they were running behind. On the 13th day, they said that it was actually 10 working days. A couloir of days later, I was told that it could take longer because I was overseas.
On day 26, I got a call from them stating they needed a bank statement for the bank account I’d provided. They said they’d emailed this request. No, they hadn’t. I provided the requested information only to be told 4 working days later that it wasn’t in the right format. They needed me full name (not just the initial for jr middle name and address. Well, my bank didn’t produce the statement or confirmation latter in exactly this way. With Xmas and New Yeats, it took me two weeks to get them to create a custom letter.
I provided this to SW two weeks ago and am still waiting on a response. When I send an email, I get a message back saying that it’s been rejected. The phone queues are so long that I run out if airtime before getting through. Their numbers aren’t toll free and each call costs me a month of local calls.
I live in a third world country where so much doesn’t work. Still SW takes the cake for outdated technologies, incompetence and, worse of all, a callous disregard for their clients. It’s shocking that they’re allowed to take money from people.”
“Who gave a permission to Scottish Widows to make decisions about my pension? I went through hell to get money from my dishonest employer who supposed to pay contributions to my pension but he didn’t and eventually after getting a solicitor involved I got the money payed to my pension pot only to receive a letter from Scottish Widows 6 months later that they payed the money back to my employer account! The reason they gave me was that I informed them that I no longer work there and the their contribution was add-hog payment as agreed!! Now SW take no responsibility for their mistake and no actions of corrections!! This is outrageous!!!”
“Scottish Widows should be avoided at all costs! Their customer service is abysmal, they appear to be totally incompetent and unable to complete the simplest of transactions. They will ignore your emails completely, and office staff, other than the call centre staff, will refuse to talk to you. They are totally hopeless and in my opinion should not be entrusted with peoples finances.”
“As i am over 55 i have recieved a letter from Scottish widows informing me that i am entitled to 'cash out ' if i wish. I am about to cash in my pension. let's see if scottish widows are as bad as they are reported to be.
i have already tried to use the website, which is notoriously outdated.
i will keep you updated”
“I have just tried telephoning Scottish Widows. After 40 minutes of hanging on the phone waiting for someone to answer - YES 40 WHOLE MINUTES!! - my phone eventually gave up the ghost when the battery went flat! Disgraceful customer service.”
“Shocking customer service, refuse to process paperwork, refuse to combine pensions, refuse to allow draw down from pension. Spent hours on the phone now in the hands of the ombudsman. Believe the reviews they are true”
“This is some years20 years back: This was mortgage insurance: my wife declared an incorrect body weight, as women like to do and when she died suddenly, in her 50s they refused to pay off the mortgage.
You get a letter from their "hit squad" signed Storm Joy. they go through all of the claimants medical records for a loop hole, they don't pay, if they find one and the premiums are returned and you are screwed. Took me years to pay it off.”
“Suffered the loss of my wife and mother of my children in July 2022 dealing with this excuse of a pension provider has been very upsetting to say the least.
Kirsty McClellan in particular has been misleading and dishonest in particular and obtaining payment has been incredibly difficult.
I would not consider this company in any circumstances!”
“I have read many of the negative reviews on this company . I will be fair in my comments . They really are as bad as they're being portrayed . If you can , steer clear .”
“This is a shambles of a company, they care nothing for their clients and treat you with utter contempt, their call desk is rubbish, hold for hours and get transferred from pillar to post. Take systems offline before any replacement and then wonder why they are inundated with calls. Avoid at all costs otherwise blood pressure and stress make a pension policy superfluous. You have been warned.”
“I have been battling Scottish Widows for years. Trying to gather information on 20 years of acknowledged hidden/misleading fees. Grrr! So to add weight I started a Scottish Widows Complaints group on FaceBook. Am trying to get a louder voice.”
“Taken 2 days to get through and 2 hours on phone today speaking to people who don’t have any idea or knowledge of what you are asking them . Disgusting service .”
“Ok it’s been 6 months now , give me my money you dirty bastards , waiting for a refund for 6 months is unacceptable, and transferring your pension scheme to another one is impossible with these crooks”
“Had to give 1 star or wouldn't let me write, disgusting service from them, I'm my brother's POA and asked for a copy of his policy 4 times each time they say it will be in the post anything from 6 to 30 day dating back to last April, guess what still not received it, getting solicitors involved now”
“Scottish Widows have lost my life savings in their system. I haven’t got my 25% lump sum and they don’t know what has happened or where the rest of my money is. They are charging £400 a month to ‘manage’ my money! What a farce. I will say they are quite good at apologising, they even offered me counselling. I don’t want sympathy I want my money and my stress levels will instantly recover.”