Viva Planning Reviews 34

I have just had a very long consultation with Frank at Viva Planning regarding Care Home Fees and having to have my property sold to pay for them. A property that my Husband and I worked very hard for and had hoped that our daughter would get the benefit of! I was given some good options and would recommend, 100%, anyone with the same concern to get in touch with this company!

Don't trust these con artists whatever you do! I'll try to give facts here rather than opinion so you can judge for yourself. The vast majority of the reviews for them here are very favourable and I can only conclude that it is because the customers involved went through with the entire process and didn't ask the wrong questions. First of all the total amount they would have charged us is just under £7000 which you can probably improve upon just about anywhere. Their required deposit to start work was £1740 which we never saw again even though we cancelled within the 14 day cooling off period. During those 2 weeks they did do our wills which could not have been simpler to prepare and the lasting powers of attorney which can be done online on the government website for nothing. There is a charge to file them with the government which Viva would have charged extra for anyway so no savings by going with Viva. We would have expected to pay several hundred pounds at least for the wills and the work they did on the LPA's. There were 3 or 4 phone calls during the nearly 2 week period before we cancelled and the supposedly free initial consultation which ended up with us losing our deposit. Our advisor Frank was genuine enough with the information he provided which was very useful indeed and spent more than 2 hours with us on the initial video call. He was mostly okay and polite but insulted our intelligence with the sales patter involving our approval for the check they do to ensure we qualify for their service and made a big song and dance about showing us the approval on his phone. However by far the worst thing he did was at the end of the call when he then pressured us into giving them the initial deposit there and then stating that the approval would have to be redone if we delayed and circumstances could change if we waited. The worst part of all is that we fell for it and are as angry with ourselves as we are with these con artists. The fact is we were unprepared for being asked to pay there and then and against our better judgement we did much to our eventual regret. The other clue should have been the slickness with which the whole process was conducted. When Frank finished his sales pitch he stayed on the line while he passed us to their admin department with an efficiency we could tell had been done many times before along with well rehearsed and false platitudes from everyone involved. Before we knew it we had committed ourselves and once again we admit that it was as much our responsibility as theirs but their process and procedure care only for money. They are all sweetness and light until you ask for money back. When we changed our minds and did that they had their lead conman Jason call us and ask why. We gave him our reason which he naturally didn't agree with or understand. The best part is he tried to tell us that we didn't feel the way we felt. That our reason didn't make sense. I said that it didn't need to make sense to him and we went round in circles from that point. I said I expected to pay something for the will and LPA's but not the full £1740 deposit and on a subsequent and last phone call to him we went round in circles again as he tried to tell me that I didn't know my own feelings again and just kept repeating that they are entitled to keep the entire amount without providing any proof whatsoever of the amount of work they had done on our behalf. My advice would be to be prepared for the hard sell if you deal with these clowns and shop around because they are overcharging for their service. I imagine that the reason they act so fast during the 14 day cooling off period is so they have an excuse to retain your entire deposit if you change your mind. Shop around and compare.

We looked into a trust with them. All very personable with the spiel but basically very clever "persuasive " sales talk. We were offered a fast track which was presented as a favourable "favour". Their psychology was very slick. They are very nice up front. We put down a deposit but on reflection and deeper research felt very uncertain about the whole package and exactly how and where our money would be. We changed our minds within 24 hours which legally gave us some protection for getting our refund for the deposit. But they charged us admin fees(£195) although no paperwork had been created or produced and in spite of their consultation being given "free" . REFUSE THE FAST TRACK OFFER. YOU LOSE DEPOSIT AND SOME RIGHTS AND IT DOESN'T ALLOW YOU TIME TIME TO FULLY PROCESS ALL THAT THEY SCARE YOU WITH. They are nothing more than salespeople. They are NOT financial advisors.

Jamie was very helpful and explained in detail what my options were concerning estate planning. He was very knowledgeable and was able to answer my questions in
a such a way that I could understand.

Have had good advice from Jason thank you so much

Had a very interesting chat with Jason this morning. He has given me plenty to think about and lots to discuss with my family.

Spoke with Lee Rose this week with a view to arrange our wills etc. he spent a good hour explaining everything thing that needs covering for our later yrs,
Very much recommend this gentleman and this company

Free advice. I had a free planning call with Lee. Lee was very helpful and patient with me. He gave me a comprehensive overview of my options and guided me through various options. At the end of the consultation, Lee suggested that I take time to consider my options. Looking at them, I realised that I could not proceed but am grateful to Lee for his patience and guidance. Thankyou

It was a very interesting and useful conversation about inheritance and property protection. It was very informative. Highly recommended if you have any questions about inheritance and saving your property

Jason was honest with me about my will
and give me good advice what to do.

The advisor was very informative and pleasant.
I wasn’t put under pressure to sign up to anything and he gave me complete peace of mind.
Thoroughly recommend.

My experience of Vivaplanning was completely positive. I had a free advice session with Jamie and he gave me very helpful, positive advice and there was no pressure to buy anything. I would highly recommend taking advantage of the free information sessions by this company when they are offered.

Spoken to a fella called Jason .was very professional. Went through all the in and outs .explained it very clearly.so I need to know what to do about setting up a trust.would highly recommend them.

We spoke to Jason Dowdall about securing our home for our family. He gave us alot of very useful information on the subject, we learnt alot of things we didn't know, he was very informative very easy and pleasant to talk to, we now have a much better idea of what to expect.

Jason was extremely friendly, gave me all the advice I asked for and more, explained it al to me very clearly, i would definitely recommend him

Jason gave me some very useful advice and explained everything to me so I could understand. Thank you. I'll now have a chat with my kids and take things from there. (Let's hope I live another few years in my house!)

THEY INFORMED US OF EVERY THING WE NEEDED TO KNOW, AND HOW TO DEAL WITH THE WITH THE LAWS INVOLVED WITH OUR FAMILY HAVING STEP CHILDREN,IT ISN'T AS STRAIGHT FORWARD AS WE THOUGHT, WE DID EVERY THING INCLUDING POWERS OF ATTORNEY FOR OUR HEALTH AND FINANCES

I had a very informative and incredibly useful conversation with Frank, an adviser with Viva Planning.
He took me through many options, which I was unaware of. I am so happy I took the plunge and spoke to Viva Planning. Thank you Frank.

Professional and approachable nothing is any trouble and any questions are answered immediately
All in all a lovely team to trust with your financial matters

Spoke to Fraser over the last couple of months and have went through out estate planning process, as worried at first as it was a lot to take in but. The team at viva planning simplified everything for me and put it in to terms I could understand, I can honestly say it’s a weight lifted off our sholders and I would recommended this company to any one trying to get there affairs in order 5* :))