embarkplatform.co.uk Reviews 49

Truly terrible experience with this company. Took months to hand over basic information about our pension, despite having all the correct authorisation. Did not respond to emails or answer the telephone. Appear to be completely incompetent, with behaviour that makes them look as though they are hiding things. Not what you want from someone holding your money!
Avoid them, and if you have money with them get it out - though that will not be easy.

Absolutely diabolical customer service, have called about 23 times chasing things and when they do finally complete it, it's wrong then having to wait another few months to get the correct documents. Absolute amateurs. Would score 0/5 if the option was available.

An absolutely horrendous company to deal with DO NOT PUT YOUR MONEY ANYWHERE NEAR THIS COMPANY- THEY WILL KEEP IT, REFUSE TO GIVE IT OVER AND LIE TO YOU....BASICALLY THEY ARE A SCAM!!!

In 40 years working in Financial Services and for the last 10 years being a customer Embark are by far the worst company I have ever had the misfortune to deal with. To make matters worse when I decided to move my SIPP I was told that this will take 4 months. I complained and we have now gone past the 8 weeks they have to respond. In the interim I needed to take some income and guess what - no income received!

My wife and I are pensioners trying desperately to receive our SIPP pensions from Hornbuckle/Embark.
So far, after months of trying, nothing yet they sit on our money. If I didn't know better about their total admin incompetence, I would accuse them of theft and fraud.
I am amazed the ombudsman hasnt stepped in yet or a director from their parent Company Bank.
In desperation now, what can we do?

Moneyfarm use Embark for pension portfolios. I'm waiting for a transfer out of Moneyfarm to AJ Bell. Moneyfarm continue to experience delays caused by Embark. I have had similar issues in the past with smaller transfers out. Moneyfarm tell me they are moving away from Embark in the near future, and now it all makes sense.

Customer service line does not work. Neither of the 2 option to forward calls connect. Emails not answered and neither is the online form. Ended up going to their offices unannounced, very helpful chap got my queries sorted.

Annual Benefit statement was overdue by 6 months and I needed an update being close to retirement. They said they have 1 year to process each annual review, which appeared on time every other year, just not this year. The Customer Service Rep had the knowledge and ability of a supermarket checkout assistant. His limited conversation interspersed with him saying "just a moment" every 10 seconds. Was put on hold regularly while he went find someone who knew anything. No-one did! Given they hold my hard earned savings I have zero confidence in their abilities. I will be moving and highly recommend you don't use them.

Should you ever be tempted to use Embark , don’t .You worked hard for your pension and you need a trustee who will work hard for you. I only wish this was my experience .What is worse is you complain and they can’t even be bothered to look at that in a reasonable time so they refer you to the regulator, leaving me with the impression they are hoping I lose the will . Well I won’t so off to the regulator I go .

Hornbuckle / Embark don't respond to correspondence. Act like they've never managed property before. Dragged property sale out so fees were incurred for next account year. Instructed £360/hour solicitor for conveyancing from Panel of one. Failed to pay the agent on completion. Missed the completion date by not returning forms to solicitor in time. No delays in snaffling extortionate fees

It took nearly a year to get my pension moved to TRANSACT in 2024 A few weeks ago they wrote saying they had found a bit of money (£770) from my investment in AEGON (another outfit you shouldn't get me started on) that somehow had got lost in the ton of digital paperwork that had accompanied the transfer. They wanted me to sign a long disclaimer related to the prevalence of scams involving money transfers in order for the cash to get to the cash pot in TRANSACT. Today, they write to say that this won't be possible because of 'something they did' to do with LEGAL & GENERAL (they happen to be an annuity provider to me). No idea what this means. So today I have given them my personal bank account in anticipation of this tiny windfall arriving just in time for Christmas (based on their historic work rate). I completely agree with all my fellow TRUSTPILOT 1 star reviewers that this is a company you should AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

DO NOT use this company. Read the small print. If they are mentioned go elsewhere. They are basically Scottish Widows, who scammed me on endowment in the 2000s And just lost me a considerable sum (to me) in two weeks on investment sold via Lloyds. If I had known they were the same company I wouldn't have given them the time of day. I'm on a very small income and this is devastating. I thought I was making a sound decision, as I had thought back in 2000s. How wrong I was.
Apparently I will lose even more to get what money is left back.

Embark-Hornbuckle should be debarred from financial services provision. I have been trying to get my SIPP monies and property sale out of this company since last August and as yet have been unable to get any action from this group. We had a valuation of property completed as requested in August and just this week were told it was now out of date and neeeds to be re assessed all due to Embark's delay. Their excessive fees swallow all potential gains.
Monies from my account was to be transferred to my account this week and surprise this hasn't appeared either.
An absolute s**tshow. Do not touch this group.

They don't process settlements for two to three weeks after your request. I have just been told that pension funds that I requested on 7th January won't be in my account until mid February, at the earliest, because they neglected to anticipate the Chinese New Year. That is what they are paid to do! These delays are typical of this company.

Wanted a doc signed by Adobe to release my pension payment. Did that. Not good enough. Signed a copy with ink - scanned and send that. Not good enough. Every contact seems to be involve another hoop to jump through to get my money. JUST PAY ME MY BLOODY PENSION!!!!!

My Lloyds ISA funds were given to Embark without any option or information and in the first month they have already lost 50%. As soon as I read these reviews, I withdrew my funds from Lloyds. Fortunately, I was able to do this online.

In January 202I invested about £165,000 into this company. The investment was split between a General Acccount with I received a pension of £530 a month. This account lost £1,000 per month, this is included by pension. My isa's Account have performed okay and they have increased in value. I have lost about £35,000.
Its now March 2024 and I am withdrawing my investments from them. There performance has been completly disgusting and useless. If you want to lose money go with them. But my advice is to avoid them, because they are a completly rubbish company. Not fit to be trading. That's another fine mess they have got me into. Investment company, you cannot be serious, you must be joking. From Philip Smith

How a company like embark can operate in the financial markets is ridiculous. Stay well clear when deciding who to invest with. A totally unacceptable way to treat a customer with excessive delays in accessing my pension pot. Well over a month and still no sign of my requested withdrawl. As a comparison I cashed in a Scottish Widows pension plan recently and the money was in my bank within 4 days

My pension was with Embark, it’s been moved to the Scottish widows platform. I am trying to transfer it to another pension. I have taken the information from the platform, but when the other pension company contacted them they said they had no record of my pension, even though I can see it on the SW platform, and they have the policy number.
This could be sorted out by their customer services, unfortunately I have emailed twice and spent 40 minutes waiting on the phone but no reply. Will someone please sort this out.

This firm lost all of my £44,000 pension so beware. how they get a high rating is beyond belief.