Tough - we just haven't done it!

The administration story continues. Willis Towers Watson are determined to defend their position as the powerful institution that must not be challenged, especially not by an old widow woman of fragile disposition.

The response to my formal complaint was a letter from Ms Batty, dated 23^rd May, acknowledging that Ian Malone had received my document. In this acknowledgement it was stated that Malone had received the complaint on 23^rd May and the Barclays Trustee would endeavour to have a response by the 23rd July. Ending with the following;

“If the Trustee is unable to make a decision by that date, we will write to you giving the reasons why and providing you with an expected date of decision.”

On the 24^th May I received an email ;

TW BEN Contact Barclays Team barclaysteam@willistowerswatson.com

Tuesday, 24 May 2016 10:50 PM

Dear Mrs Matthews,

I am very sorry to learn of the sad death of your husband. On behalf of the Barclays team, please accept my sincere condolences at this difficult time.

There may be benefits payable as a result of your husband’s membership of the 1964 Pension Scheme. As these benefits are discretionary, the Trustee of the UKRF will need to establish who, if anyone, should receive these.

I would be grateful if you could help us to identify and locate your husband’s dependants by completing the attached ‘Personal Information Form’ and returning it to us. This information will be passed to the Trustee to help it decide who the beneficiaries may be. We will then write to the beneficiaries regarding any benefits that may be payable to them.

To allow me to arrange payment of any benefits that may be due to you, would you please complete and return the enclosed ‘Payment Instruction’ form. Please also provide your National Insurance number in the space provided.

I can confirm that a complaint case has been logged for you and that we are currently conducting a full review of our records and the points you have raised. The complaint will be dealt with separately.

Yours sincerely

Becky Manktelow

Administrator

The Barclays Team

Willis Towers Watson

PO Box 709 | Redhill, RH1 9EG

Phone: 01737 227567 | Fax: 01737 241496

barclaysteam@willistowerswatson.com

It was important that the complaint should be dealt with separately as the outcome of the complaint relating to the substandard administration and resulting distress experienced by my husband has nothing at all to do with who, if anyone the Trustee might determine should be his beneficiary.

I waited patiently for the 23rd July.

At 9.32pm on 22^nd July an email was sent from Francis, George (Redhill)

Dear Mrs Matthews

I write further to your letter dated 16 May 2016, received by Ian Malone on 23 May 2016, invoking Stage 1 of the Trustee Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP).

Please accept my apologies that you have not yet received a response to your complaint within the 2 months that the Trustee endeavours to reply. I can confirm that the points you have raised are still being investigated and you will be provided with a full response as soon as these investigations are complete.

I thank you for your continued patience in this matter and if you have any questions, please contact us.

Yours sincerely

George Francis

Administrator

The Barclays team

Willis Towers Watson

PO Box 709 | Redhill, RH1 9EG

Telephone: + 44 (0) 1737 22 7567 | Fax: + 44 (0) 1737 241 496

barclaysteam@willistowerswatson.com

Francis(Redhill) refers to my not having received a decision regarding my complaint because the points I have raised are still being investigated. He must believe that continuing to investigate is an adequate reason. He chose not to give any revised date.

But he did thank me for my continued patience.

This was his final flourish, received with all the joy that a slap in the face with a wet fish might bestow.

I had offered him no further patience. My patience with Willis Towers Watson had run out months earlier. He may not have known why my patience deserted me but the fact that I made a formal complaint about the slowness and inaccuracy of the Willis Towers Watson administration ought to have given him a hint, a tiny clue that his organisation had exhausted my reserves.

I think I can pinpoint the moment my patience departed.

It was one April evening when I was grieving. He was so distressed as he lay dying, distressed that he had not managed to place the pension funds he had accumulated during his working life into a safe haven. He wanted his pension funds to be held somewhere where they could be accessed by me during my lifetime and then by whoever I named as beneficiaries in my will. He was so worried about the Barclays money and the fact that he had received no response in months that he continued to ask me to make contact with The Barclays Team at Willis Towers Watson right up until the hours before he died. (I call it the Barclays money because the Trustees have made it very clear that this was never my husbands pension, to gift to a beneficiary of his choice. Pensions money appeared in his benefit statements but remained the property of Barclays.)

One of Willis Towers Watson’s dedicated Barclays Team administrators spoke to me that night. He was arrogant and unpleasant. He stated that regardless of the fact that my husband’s brain tumour rendered him incapable of speech Mr Matthews was required to personally make contact. The Barclays Team were not prepared to give any estimate as to when they might respond to my husband’s emailed request for a pensions transfer, nor would they confirm safe receipt of his email. Apparently their interpretation of their confidentiality rules are so strictly adhered to that they determine that such an estimate or confirmation is personal information.

“When will this dying man receive contact from your institution,” is, for Willis Towers Watson a question requiring a response of such a confidential, personal, secret and sensitive nature that it cannot be divulged to a spouse over the telephone. I did not tell them my husband was already dead. From what was said to me that evening I could have asked any male present to make the telephone call, pretending to be Paul Matthews and they could chat away happily. But no information was to be given to the spouse.

I ought not to be surprised because Barclays heads the list of poorly administered financial institutions and so Willis Towers Watson probably adheres to the standards expected by Barclays management.

Common sense is in short supply at Willis Towers Watson, but patience is in even shorter supply in Karridale.

Why did the casual response of  22nd July hit such a nerve with me?

Why was I bothered when Francis(Redhill) effectively gave me the Willis Towers Watson corporate response;

‘Tough, we just haven’t done it.'

It’s a common enough response from large institutions, especially so where the institution has little or no anticipation of any ongoing financially rewarding relationship.

Some of you may think that I am a despot for finding their tardiness such a major irritation. Maybe I am. However, I know I am not automatically and routinely impatient with institutions. In this instance my husband experienced consistently sub-standard administration from The Barclays Team.  This sub-standard service even predated the newly formed Willis Towers Watson entity.

When the pension was administered by just the Towers Watson combo accuracy was not a strong feature.

For example;

Now Willis has joined the gang at Redhill and they are now administering pensions under the same ‘The Barclays Team’ banner and my gripe with the ‘The Barclays Team’ and the Barclays Trustees is ongoing.