Phoenix Life Reviews 3,200

I had a letter out of the blue from them, saying they have been trying to locate my whereabouts ( I can’t even remember taking out a policy so have no idea who I supposedly had, but it must be over 30 years ago and worth very little) I have since changed addresses several times and my surname is different now due to personal reasons. It’s very worrying after reading all these reviews because I sent details to them to find out why they’d contacted me. They sent a letter again saying Thanks for giving them my new address. That was several weeks ago. Today I got another letter asking me to send my marriage certificate ( not a copy but my actual certificate!!)
I am worried now that they got all my details including my national insurance number and email address. More worrying is that about a week after that I started getting at least 10 spam emails, this is every day, when before I got maybe 1 a month. I think they are selling peoples details. I was going to post my certificate tomorrow but won’t be and definitely not carrying on with this company. Thank goodness I checked Trustpilot.

My father died late last year and had a policy with Phoenix. However they are basically refusing to pay out the policy. They agree that it is due to be paid to the estate, they agree that they should pay it, they have told me twice that it has been paid (once by BACS and once by CHAPS). However, the money simply does not arrive. I have been promised contact by their complaints department; I have not received a single email or letter. I am now escalated to the 8-week complaints procedure in advance of referral to the ombudsman, but I do not hold much expectation. It feels very much like they are holding on to the money for as long as possible to accrue interest - don't know if there is perhaps a cashflow issue with the company? I would avoid them at all costs for any life policy for sure.

Not looking forward to dealing with this company. I was with Sun life. They sold my pension to phoenix life. I am dreading it. My first dealing with them was an email to them asking about taking a lump sum out of my pension. A week later I got a letter from them saying! Thank you for your enquiry to change your address. Either they can't read, or they are employing delay tactics. That was not what I asked for. I think I will just take all my money out.

I have been trying to transfer my pension to another provider for over 5 months. The call centre in Peterborough is just a post box for an offshore admin team that can only be contacted by email. I have been asked to supply new information at different intervals throughout the process, not all at the beginning and each time I have to wait out their statutory period of 21 days to get any response. Since I escalated it to a complaint 4 weeks ago, little has improved except I know the names of some of the staff in the Peterborough office. I have been saving with them for 30 years and would say to anyone DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR MONEY.

No one every answers and they do not give an email! Hoping this review makes them reach out?

Phoned phoenix life up to get a retirement pack sent out ,was told that the department I needed to speak to was very busy ,and I was told they would ring me back,was told it would be within 72 hours, it's been over a week now heard absolutely nothing .looking at other people's reviews on here I'm not surprised 😒 phoned up again , to be told that retirement pack was posted at the end of April that was over 3 weeks ago I haven't received it ,I don't believe they have posted it ,this company is dreadful and needs to be investigated.

They have made sitting my dad’s affairs so much more difficult, adding extra stress at a time it’s not needed. Spoke to several call handlers, different information each time, very unhelpful & still no further forward!

Phoenix life have been APPALLING and have really let us down at what’s been a really difficult time. I write this in May, having been trying to settle our mum’s pension since the beginning of January after she died. Phoenix Life have caused not only a dew delays but LOTS. They have got our names wrong on paperwork, requested documents we have already sent months back, and told us they had everything, only to then tell us that that wasn’t the case weeks later. We have probably had twenty phone calls with them to try to get this sorted, and each time it has been traumatising because we can’t move on with our lives and have to think about our late mum each time.
All because they have terrible service turnaround times, staff that have not been properly trained and we suspect that they wanted to keep the money as long as possible to continue to profit from it as long as they could.

Phoenix Life is a DISGRACE, and as I work in the finance industry I’ll be telling as many people as I can about their ineptitude because it’s not fair how poorly they’ve handled this bereavement case, and that our father is struggling to pay his bills because you have taken five months to pay a cheque. Shame on you.

A month on from my initial contact and still no closer to resolving my issue.
Called them on a Thursday, was then supposed to be put through to another department but no one available. Told I would be called back, wasn't, so had to call them back on the Tuesday after the bank holiday. Spent another 45 minutes on the phone. God forbid anyone trying to deal with these people if they're trying to deal with a partner's death!

I've been with this company for a very long time, and I've never had cause to contact them until today.
I'd received my annual statement and I had a query so I contacted them to discuss it. I was connected with Tino and from the off he had me laughing. It was nice to actually talk and have a proper conversation with someone who wasn't sticking to a script and rushing to get you off the phone. He also ensured that he carried out the required security procedures before dealing with my call. He looked into my query and was able to confirm what the issue was and how he was going to get it sorted for me.
The only issue I had was with the hold music, it's rubbish, I have no idea why they thought customers would be happy listening to that, it needs to be changed 😀

I've been trying to take my pension out for months, and know exactly what i want to do. But ever time I ring there's no one available and have to ring me back. I already had all the paperwork and options sent to me. But when they finally ring me back, they insist on sending more paperwork saying I don't have it, when I have it infront of me but they won't listen of don't understand. The new paperwork arrives nearly identical to the last but what a surprise my pot has dropped by well over £3000. Rang up again and nobody available again. Will ring in next 72 hrs.

We had a Executive benefit Plan with Phoenix. The member was with difficulty able to receive her pension. As a Executive trustee of the scheme I was sent forms to fill but the agent (after 30mins) waiting was not able to help. She needs better telephone manners. The Customer service is far below the standard !!!

Quite literally the worst pension provider. I wanted to cash in a lump sum….impossible to do online so had to called. First called 37 mins on hold so called the next day 43 mins & eventually got through to be told someone from another department would call back but guess what they didn’t. I called again to be told a pack would be sent out. After receiving the pack I went online to complete the cash in & a week later was called to be told they had a glitch on the system & I would have to complete the process over the phone. I was then told another pack would be sent out for my bank details etc….15 days later it hadn’t arrived so after another lengthy call a guy called David told me it had been posted out but because of Easter & the state of Royal Mail it could take a while. It never arrived so another call & the documents were emailed out. Awful company please avoid. My main pension is with Zurich who are amazing….and answer the phone promptly

Totally inept. Excuse after excuse to prolong settlement of a claim. Wish I knew in 1987 what I know now. Not a good company to do business with. Avoid like a dose of the clap!

Very bad experience. Miscommunication at the departments when you trying to take the money out, promises with no cover. At the very end I believe, when they having a private pensions, they should be extra aware of the clients vulnerable position.

Dreadful insurance company, avoid at all costs. A bereavement claim has now been going on almost 3 months. They take ages to respond to anything, everytime you give what they ask for they then have another excuse as to why they aren't able to make payment. I will be taking them to the financial ombudsman now.

Phoenix Life Since my previous review in January this year have still NOT completed my transfer which started last November. They after various false reasons to stop this happening sent the money across to my new provider BUT not properly completed the information thus stopping the money being allocated to my new pension account. My new provider is chasing them for this information as I am also doing so. However in 10 days if this is not sorted then by law the new provider has to SEND BACK MY MONEY TO PHOENIX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If this happens I will be contacting the POLICE & press as this is in my view are deliberate actions to permanently deny money money through unlawful means. Some people have now been years not able to get their money out and it appears now since Christmas to be a policy of this organization. Just look at all the 1 star reviews piling up & the growing action group on Facebook.

Last summer, they contacted me to say that I was the sole beneficiary of my deceased husband's pension fund. They said it would be a large sum, with a sizable sum added as they had taken so long to deal with it. In March, they said this would be paid out to me by 25 March. No. Then they said I hadn't sent back a particular document. Lie! I had proof of delivery and that it was signed for by someone named Pearl. Now, they tell me they have sent a check for a tenth of what they said I would be getting. One of their staff has made appointments to speak in the phone and not called. Then he said my phone was not working, which is a lie, my phone was working. I'll have to go to the Ombudsman, socialmedia, Martin Lewis, and social media. This company has caused me a lot of distress for months. They seem to think they can gaslight me and I won't notice!

I have been trying to to cash in a pension for weeks now and like many others get passed from one operator to another always long waits for the phone to be answered, What makes things worse is we where told the payment hand been made the Thursday before easter today one week on still no payment and today been told it’s still awaiting authorisation. The department that handles it does not take calls. There is some thing very wrong with this company they give you a figure that you are due and then delay the payment what happens to the interest on the money, your payout does not go up so who keeps the extra interest, sounds much like a scam. If we are not paid this week I will raise this with the BBC and FSE and would ask others to do the same they need pulled to account, it’s clear that there customer service people are trained to fop you off I’m in my 70’s and could well do without the stress of dealing with with this company.

Absolutely shocking service, been trying to cash in my pension fund which I am within my rights to do so. Over the last month I have spent literally in excess of 6 hrs waiting on the phone only to be passed from pillar to post, iv done my online request twice which they deny receiving. I'm at my wits end with this debarkle of a company