Unsatisfactory data protection and complaint handling in a bereavement case
My experience with Wealthtime has been shockingly poor, especially given that this all arose in the context of bereavement.
Following the death of my father, I expected a regulated financial services firm to handle matters with accuracy, care and basic procedural competence. Instead, I encountered a process that was fragmented, defensive and, at times, plainly inadequate. What should have been handled with clarity and sensitivity became a prolonged struggle involving complaint handling failures, data protection concerns, inconsistent explanations about the source of personal data, and the need to challenge inaccurate characterisations recorded about me in complaint materials.
Particularly troubling was the way Wealthtime handled my data rights. I received what Wealthtime itself later described as an unsatisfactory subject access request response. Even after this, important questions still had to be chased repeatedly: what records had actually been relied upon, where key personal data fields had been sourced from, whether current system data had been substituted into summaries, and on what basis certain assertions about me had been made. This is not a minor administrative irritation. These are basic issues of data accuracy, accountability and transparency.
What made the experience worse was the lack of clear ownership. Different people appeared to answer different fragments of the same underlying problem, with no confidence that anyone had proper command of the whole picture. For a firm dealing with bereavement, complaints and personal data, that is unacceptable. It created the impression not of a well-run organisation, but of one struggling to control its own records, explanations and internal coordination.
Wealthtime has since apologised for the time taken and for the unsatisfactory SAR response. But those admissions came only after repeated chasing and escalation. They do not restore confidence; they reinforce the impression that the firm only moves when pressed, and even then only partially.
Overall, my experience has been of a firm that fell well below the standard I would expect in such sensitive circumstances. Following bereavement, clients should not have to fight to obtain clear answers, accurate records and properly handled data rights.








