My husband passed away in July last year and I am the sole beneficiary of his estate. For more than 20 years he had been paying into a flexible life plan with Prudential that would pay out £50,000 when he died.
One of my sons, who is helping me organise my financial matters, first notified Prudential of my husband’s death on July 12. He sent them a copy of the death certificate the following month. The insurer continued to take the monthly premium for August and September, which amounted to £412.
I have not had that money returned nor have I had the payout from the plan. My son has complied with Pru’s requests, but still nothing. H. D., Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex.
You told me you are 80 years old and still working as a doctor’s receptionist to top up your pension. While you enjoy the work, you say you desperately need the lump sum from the plan so you can invest it to create extra income.
The policy is a type of investment bond, with an element of life insurance. These plans are no longer sold by
Prudential, which is now called Prudential International Assurance and is part of the investment group M&G.
Waiting game: It has been seven months since my husband died and I have not received the payout from his life plan
I can understand why you are disappointed with how long Pru has dragged its heels, as seven months had passed by the time you contacted me. You said your late husband — a chartered accountant — would have been horrified had he known the struggle you’d face getting funds that are rightfully yours.
I contacted Prudential International Assurance immediately to prod it into action. A few days later it confirmed your case had finally been resolved.
It admitted you’d received poor service and that several delays on its part should have been avoided. The company says it has provided feedback to the relevant teams to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
One early hiccup in your claim was caused by the confusion over the correct website. Your son had initially made the application online via Prudential PLC. But this is a totally separate business focused on Asia and Africa, and is unrelated to Prudential International Assurance.
I am amazed no one at the first firm thought to inform your son immediately of the error, as I am sure this was not the first time a customer has landed at the wrong website. Once your son was given the correct contact details, he began the new claim in August.
But it took several weeks before someone at Prudential told him he needed to provide a grant of probate for your husband’s estate before the money could be released. This is the legal document that executors of a will might be asked to produce to access financial accounts belonging to the deceased. Surely this could have been explained sooner?
Anyway, your son immediately set the probate application in motion. It took ten weeks to complete, with the paperwork submitted to Pru in December. Another month passed, only for you to then be told the photos submitted with your ID weren’t clear enough. Grrr!
After my involvement, I am pleased to say Pru accelerated the process. It has paid the £50,000 lump sum, along with £477 in interest for the delayed period, refunded two months’ worth of premiums worth £412 and added £300 for the distress and inconvenience caused.
A spokesman for Prudential International Assurance says: ‘We apologise to your reader and her family for the poor service experienced, adding to their distress at a difficult time. It is not the standard of service we aim to provide.’
I read your column last year, where someone was struggling to get a refund for tickets to an event called An Experience With Al Pacino that was cancelled in Glasgow. The same thing happened to me for the very same event, due to be held in November 2022 in Manchester. I have been unable to get any help from the organiser — An Experience With — or Eventbrite, the firm that organised the ticketing. S. F., Manchester.
You are not alone. After the column you mention was published last November, another reader got in touch to say she had finally got her refund only after quoting my article to Eventbrite.
What you found perturbing — as did I — was discovering that the director of the events firm An Experience With, Stephen Oleksewycz, a former professional footballer, is currently serving a prison sentence for fraud.
Companies House issued a statement last summer confirming he had been sentenced to 27 months for fraud offences and acting as a company director while an undischarged bankrupt. The offences relate to his 2016 bankruptcy and his organisation of an event in 2017 where he didn’t pay some debts.
Refund: I bought tickets to an event called An Experience With Al Pacino that was cancelled in Glasgow
I asked An Experience With whether his trial and conviction had been behind the cancellation of the events involving Godfather actor Al Pacino. A spokesman told me it had ‘absolutely nothing’ to do with current business dealings and related only to the personal bankruptcy eight years ago.
The spokesman says: ‘Due to Mr Pacino’s scheduling and some other unforeseen circumstances, unfortunately some events were postponed, and we have kept customers up to date through the whole process and we are ongoing with resolving any delayed refunds with our merchant.’
He said the firm ran a successful event with Pacino in April 2023 for 2,000 attendees in London.
Just so I was clear about An Experience With’s position, his email to me was signed off: ‘Please be aware all publications and Press is currently being monitored by all parties and our legal team of solicitors are on standby to address any false, defamatory or libel content.’ Right you are.
Despite An Experience With’s promise to address tardy refunds, I thought you’d waited far too long, so went to Eventbrite.
The ticketing firm said it is the responsibility of an organiser to process refunds, but confirmed it can help in certain cases, such as when an event has been postponed for more than 90 days without a new date scheduled — as happened with you.
On my intervention it has now returned your £695. An Eventbrite spokesman says it is refunding you out of its own pocket as it pursues the return of the funds from the organiser.
Straight to the point
I handle a company’s administration accounts and instructed HSBC to transfer £2,000 from a deposit account to a current account — but it did the reverse. This put us in debit and a cheque was returned unpaid, incurring a £15 fee. I’ve been offered £100 in compensation but I don’t think this is enough. E. K., Buckinghamshire.
HSBC says it is sorry for its mistake. You’ve been given £100 compensation, which it believes to be appropriate, and refunded £15.
I have held a John Lewis Partnership card for many years, but was asked to reapply when the provider was switched to NewDay. I’ve reapplied multiple times, but my application is always rejected. M. B., via email.
NewDay apologises for the difficulties you experienced when reapplying for your Partnership card. It has spoken to you to resolve the matter and has found an alternative way to verify your income. Your account has now been opened and you have been offered £100 as a gesture of goodwill.
When my son was young, I invested in a Child Trust Fund with money I received from the Government. He is now 18 years old but we have not been able to withdraw the cash from his account. D. K., via email.
Your bank has been in touch and your son should now have received his £3,350.
I stayed in a London hotel for three nights for £684 but the room was 28 degrees. Staff told me that the air-conditioning was broken across the hotel. I’ve not been refunded as customer services say the hotel wasn’t advertised as having air-conditioning. R. D., via email.
You have been given a £219 goodwill gesture for one night of your stay as you were misinformed by staff — the hotel does not have air-conditioning.
Scam watch
Shoppers should beware of scam emails that claim they have been chosen to receive a ‘mystery box’, Action Fraud warns.
Tricksters impersonating well-known retailers such as Morrisons promise boxes full of gadgets, with some emails asking users to take a survey to claim.
However, the links in the emails lead to malicious phishing websites that trick you into revealing personal and financial information. Do not click on any links, and contact the organisation independently if you have doubts. Forward the scam emails to [email protected]
