Aviva Pensions problems

[Redarress]

I wonder if anyone has the email address of the Aviva pensions CEO please

Both my wife and I have received very poor service when trying to draw down our pensions to pay off our mortgage.

I really want to point out that they are understaffed, their systems and procedures are antiquated and poorly implemented and that communication between departments internal does not work.

Many thanks

[mikeiow]

Redarress said:

I wonder if anyone has the email address of the Aviva pensions CEO please

Both my wife and I have received very poor service when trying to draw down our pensions to pay off our mortgage.

I really want to point out that they are understaffed, their systems and procedures are antiquated and poorly implemented and that communication between departments internal does not work.

Many thanks

I don't, but I have had about 3 or 4 complaints against them (if I sound unclear, it's because they seemed to initiate a complaint for me for two of them ) Two of them resulted them making a notional £100 payment to me to say sorry - given there were no "real losses" involved, I was fine with that!

Can't argue with your claims, although whether their systems/procedures are antiquated might depend on which pension you have - they absorbed/bought so many over the years they are all a little different. Mine was originally from Friends Life.....the online part is fine, the costs reassuringly low but the admin to initiate & do things is clunky and s l o w!!

You can always take to twitter and publicly berate them....wait for the "sorry to hear your experience, please dm us your details" as they try to take it off public view!

[CharlesElliott]

Doug Brown https://www.aviva.com/about-us/leader-profiles/dou...

Pretty sure it will be [e-mail]

[The Leaper]

If you make a pension related complaint to Aviva and you do not accept what they say, you can always take matters further via the office of the Pension Ombudsman. Excellent complaints investigation and resolution service, and it's free.

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

[Redarress]

Thanks for the response guys. I too have had a number of complaints created and had a couple of hundred pounds in compensation prevously but over the three years we have been dealing with Aviva Pension it has been so frustrating to wait on the phone for 30 min to nearly two hours waitng for them to answer. Given dates when draw down documents will be emailed to us (both my wife and I are goIng through the same pain) Final straw today on a time sensative drawdown that was promised for the 14th April has not been completed (its now the 19th April,

I just cannot believe how a "Blue Chip" Plc like Aviva can offer such poor service to those who have paid in over many years and have trusted Aviva Pensions with our retirement pot.
I am currently telling anyone I know ,how poor they are and that to be smart and change the Pension provider to a company that give a dam to their customers. My children have already moved after hearing my issues.
As a side I really am not a moaning old git but I cannot believe their lack of care to their customers

Edited by Redarress on Tuesday 19th April 15:56

[danpalmer1993]

Not a surprise with Aviva after having gone through the hard work of dealing with my father in-laws bereavement who had a employee pension with Aviva. The departments seem completely disconnected and "Covid" seems to mean that everything takes months and months like verifying ID.

[mikeiow]

Redarress said:

Thanks for the response guys. I too have had a number of complaints created and had a couple of hundred pounds in compensation prevously but over the three years we have been dealing with Aviva Pension it has been so frustrating to wait on the phone for 30 min to nearly two hours waitng for them to answer. Given dates when draw down documents will be emailed to us (both my wife and I are goIng through the same pain) Final straw today on a time sensative drawdown that was promised for the 14th April has not been completed (its now the 19th April,

I just cannot believe how a "Blue Chip" Plc like Aviva can offer such poor service to those who have paid in over many years and have trusted Aviva Pensions with our retirement pot.
I am currently telling anyone I know ,how poor they are and that to be smart and change the Pension provider to a company that give a dam to their customers. My children have already moved after hearing my issues.
As a side I really am not a moaning old git but I cannot believe their lack of care to their customers

It is bloody irritating, eh.

One of mine was over someone promising me an emailed copy so I could print myself (never arrived), also promised it would be in the post later that day (arrived 2 weeks later).
Shocking stuff really. Like I said, didn't really make a material difference financially, so the £100 comp was fine, but they are a Bit st™ at that stuff, sadly.....

[wax lyrical]

Aviva have been very good in my experience! I have 3 small (old) Employment pensions and very recently withdrew the 25% tax-free lump sum from each of them. Took probably 3 weeks max from my initial phone call to them to discuss what I wanted to do, to me receiving the funds into my bank account.

[Condi]

Most problems with Aviva pensions seem to be that they are going down at the moment.

[mikeiow]

Condi said:

Most problems with Aviva pensions seem to be that they are going down at the moment.

Ha!
This is sadly true for me at least….