not happy with pension broker - what can i do?

viztopia

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I have recently reached retirement age and I have taken my 25% tax free from my pension plan. I then placed the balance in an arf and armf. However my pension broker told me that I would be able to get a better "allocation" if i invested in such a fund. This did not materialise. He urged me to do this as it would cover his commission and then i would be no worse off and everybody would be happy. He then took 4.5% commission on the investments in the arf and armf which is double what he originally said. All of this was verbal and he never put anything in writing so there is probably not much i can do on this. I rang him and complained and threatened to switch the arf and armf as i thought that it he were no longer the agent there may be a claw back on the commissions paid to him. he laughed at me and said that commissions were paid when the money was invested and that if i switched there would be no charge to him. he also said that the fund would lose alot of value if i movedto another provider. I have checked the policy documents and I am now outside the cooling off period where i coudl change my mind as to the arf/armf. My question is this; Was he obliged as a broker to outline his fees/commissions in a letter to me his client and also they pension company needed photo ID to process the investemnt and I used my passport which is about 20years out of date. Could there be a legal loophole here whereby I could get all the money back from them as they used ID that was way out of date? Any repies would be appreciated.
 
Have you tried the Pension Ombudsman ? AFAIK, all Investments and Pension details and commissions are meant to be sent to the Policy Holders. You might read these again and if not on the documentation, I would say that the company concerned needs to answer questions.
 
Unless this transaction was dealt with on an execution only basis( which seems unlikely given your information above) your broker as a regulated entity is required to provide you with a written reasons why statement as to why this product is "most suitable" for your needs. Check to see if you got a document such as this and see if the terms you agreed are contained in it.
I would ask your broker to provide you with his complaints procedure and I would lodge a formal complaint with the broker. You need to go through the complaint process before the Financial Services Ombudsman can get involved.
There may be some benefit in complaining directly to the ARF provider though they may take a position that it was the brokers responsibility to provide you with the mandatory information.

It is very disapointing when someone in our industry acts in such an unethical manner. I am sure some regular posters may be able to provide suggestions to help you frame your complaint if you need help.

If it gets to the stage of taking the complaint to the FSO you may need some help in preparing the submission but that can be a decision for later.

Good luck with this and I hope you get some proper redress.
Kind regards
 
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