"AVOID AVOID AVOID"

AVOID AVOID AVOID - When first taking out a SIPP pension with them some 10 years ago they were great to work with. In the last three years the level of service has gone from poor to appalling - Their incompetence and inability to respond to even the simplest of situations / question has become a joke.

"Awful customer service"

Today I tried to contact James Hay as I would like to inquire about opening a new SIPP. On their website they have no contact email so you are forced to telephone. I waited on hold for 45 minutes before hanging up as I decided that if a company cannot be bothered to properly staff its general inquiry/customer service telephone lines this is probably a reflection of how they deal with their customers. I will place my business elsewhere.

"Appalling customer service and their…"

Appalling customer service and their Brokers are the worst I've ever come across. Every time I trade I'm filled outside the live spread. Impossible to get through to on the phone and the 'secure message' service is a joke. They claim to reply within 24 hours but in practice it's a week or not at all. In 18 months I've not once had a limit order filled despite the price trading at or through my level. Getting money out is nigh on impossible too. I'm leaving asap.

"AVOID!"

Appalling service from this company. I have been trying to get my SIPP transferred for months. Extremely slow to respond to secure messages. Impossible to get hold of. Raised a complaint nearly 2 months ago , no resolution other than useless holding responses. All my holdings were eventually transferred across weeks ago. Still waiting for cash balance to be transferred despite sending chasers. Does anyone care? Frustrated!

"Utterly appalling - avoid at all costs"

Virtually impossible to communicate with. Very long waits on the telephone (well over 30 minutes) with a good chance you will be randomly cut off and then have to start again. No option to send emails outside your account, which has now been randomly frozen on account of getting one out of FIVE security questions wrong - apparently, and this after CORRECTLY submitting the username, password and passcode - so that is EIGHT pieces of information required to login. As soon as I can I will be getting my pension out of James Hay - a complete shambles.

"I would give 0 star if I could."

I would give 0 star if I could.

I have been trying to move my ISA from them for 10(!) months now.
Every time I contact them they come up with a different excuse or they don't provide the correct information.
They have lied multiple times.

I cannot comment on performances as I was followed by an external portfolio manager

I would not even recommend to the worst of my enemies

"Impossible to contact"

Impossible to contact. Waiting at least 30 minutes on numerous calls which are sometimes cut off! Enclosures mentioned in the sole letter from them we're not enclosed.
Avoid at all costs.
Am now going to contact ombudsman with complaint.

"James Hay SIPP - trying to transfer out. 171 days it took them."

I has been trying to transfer my SIPP away from James Hay. I had a James Hay SIPP managed by Saunderson House for 5 years.

Both James Hay and Saunderson House are under common control of parent group IFG.

This only becomes a problem when, as I did, you want to move to a new SIPP provider, having tired of the high fees and charges.

171 days ago I formally instructed James Hay and Saunderson House to transfer my SIPP to a new provider. Formal letters were sent direct requesting a list of my assets to facilitate that transfer.

At that point Saunderson House IMMEDIATELY removed my access to their online systems such that for much of the Covid19 pandemic I have been unable to monitor and review my James Hay pensions' performance.

3 weeks later, I was told that a James Hay SIPP transfer form was required to be completed by both myself and my new provider. 3 weeks to find that out. This should have been process and discoverable immediately.

A week later that form had been sent signed by me and my new platform.

But still nothing happened. A full month later I made formal written complaints to both James Hay and Saunderson House. Still nothing happened.

I also complained to the Financial and Pensions Ombudsman.

171 days is a long time to be removed from being able to monitor your pensions and a very long time for a financial organisation to be sent a simple list of assets for transfer to a new platform.

By way of further example they have also taken 60 days now to liquidate a simple NS&I income bond and transfer the cash. A process that should take a few days at most. Its the most appalling service I have ever known.

Finally on 29 January 2021 I got the letter confirming the transfer had taken place.

These are all facts. I offer no opinions at all.

"Impossible to contact by telephone"

This company just will not answer the phone. Avoid them, they are impossible to contact.

"Dysfunctional company with appalling service"

I bought my first commercial investment property in 2002 using a SIPP. I used Union Pension Trustees as my SIPP provider. They were taken over subsequently by James Hay Partnership. Thankfully I have no other properties with them.

Since then, fees have risen and service is poor. To give some recent examples:

I used their "secure messaging system" to instruct them on 12th August 2020 to pay my buildings insurance. I got a call today 28th September, nearly seven weeks later from my brokers advising that their bill had not been paid.

I also used the same system on 13th August to send them forms instructing them to invest a significant sum in a two year bond. This still has not been completed.

These are just the most recent issues. Their service is consistently poor. They send paper invoices for my SIPP fees to my tenants instead of to me, they seldom respond to messages in their so called "secure messaging system" which it would appear is so secure that even James Hay themselves can't use it. To be even vaguely confident of anything at all happening you have to call them. I am actually typing this review after being on hold now for over an hour.

Once you get through the staff are professional. It is a shame that their management and systems are so appalling that the company as a whole is one that everybody should avoid like the plague.

The "online portal" is not useful. I would love to use it to invest the cash in my SIPP but I am advised that because I am a former Union Pensions Trustees investor, I do not have access to these features. The solution is to set up a SIPP with a separate organisation (I'm using Interactive Investor) and then move money out of James Hay into it so that you can invest using a properly set up system.

I would change provider, but moving a property from one SIPP to another is very expensive, so to all practical intents and purposes I am stuck with James Hay. I think that my only option is gradually to build a portfolio of evidence and then approach the regulator or TV's Watchdog.

Back to the hold music - now one hour and nine minutes after starting and they have terminated the call without answering. Steer well clear of this dysfunctional body of time-wasters.