My complaint about Barclays has reached the top of the pile, or maybe their latest communication is just another stalling tactic, another way to delay my approach to the Pensions Ombudsman. Who knows? Barclays know obviously but we don't expect full disclosure from them.
Unfortunately I have had to leave my beloved home in Karridale. Without sufficient funds to pay for farm labour it was impossible for me to continue living there. So now I'm wandering the world looking for a permanent home, alone. For this reason Colin White's email escaped my attention for over a month. It had taken him 3 months to decide that the information I provided was insufficient for the purpose and so he can hardly complain about a one month turnaround. (see Comments on the Stage 1 decision - 7/10/2016)
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From: White, Colin : HRSent: 16 January 2017 15:44To: 'HEATHER MATTHEWS'Subject: RE: Barclays Bank UK Retirement Fund - IDRP stage 2Sent: 16 January 2017 15:44To: 'HEATHER MATTHEWS'Subject: RE: Barclays Bank UK Retirement Fund - IDRP stage 2BARCLAYS CLASSIFICATION: ConfidentialDear HeatherThe trustees of the UK Retirement Fund are in the process of investigating your complaint under Stage 2 of the IDRP. I apologise for the time that this is taking but it is a separate process to Stage 1 and requires a fresh evaluation of the matter by different people.In order to complete their enquiries, the Trustees would like to understand why it was that Mr Matthews did not go ahead with the transfer in June 2015. After making the initial request, and then some follow-up queries, no further communication was received from Mr Matthews until March 2016 (noting that an email was sent, but not received, in January 2016). Are you able to help with that?Kind regardsColin WhiteFrom: White, Colin : HRSent: 14 October 2016 12:24To: HEATHER MATTHEWSSubject: RE: Barclays Bank UK Retirement Fund - IDRP stage 2Sent: 14 October 2016 12:24To: HEATHER MATTHEWSSubject: RE: Barclays Bank UK Retirement Fund - IDRP stage 2Dear HeatherThank you for your email. I will be in contact if I need further information, once I have reviewed all of the correspondence.Kind regardsColin White
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So now I have to explain to these "different" people why a man with a brain tumour experienced both physical and cognitive impairment which made it impossible for him to assert himself when the Barclays Team offered him incorrect advice and failed to provide the forms he required.
To do this I have to bring back to the forefront of my mind the memories of Paul struggling to cope with his failure to succeed with the system that Barclays had deliberatly designed to fail. Maybe other men would have coped better but Paul was a systems man, his entire working life was spent as a systems programmer. For him it was an exhausting and humiliating situation to be faced with failure every time he tried to obtain the necessary forms.
Paul had no idea that he had been spun a line by the Barclay's Team, he could never have imagined they would just be giving him more incorrect information, introducing another delay when they wrote;
“You can go online and view your benefits, update your personal details and get illustrations, including options such as a transfer value and early retirement illustrations. Visit
https://epa.towerswatson.com/doc/BCL/login.htm. log on and explore this facility…”
Malone continued to peddle this misinformation in his rejection of my complaint, stating that the Barclay's Team had written to Paul “… along with how your husband might obtain a UK transfer form.”
He was never given access to the forms required to transfer his pension.
