An adviser has hit out at poor service from the Embark platform, now known as the Scottish Widows Platform, after he suffered delays in getting answers to questions.
Adviser Tim Morris claims he has spent more than five hours trying to get answers from the platform, with the delays leading to concerns from his clients and risking his reputation.
He said: “I took over these clients who were with Embark and wanted to stay with [the platform].
“I got set up with Embark, which should have been straightforward as I was just taking over their investment but that was where the problems began trying to get things set up, it dragged on forever.
“My biggest frustration is that it takes so many attempts to get anything done.”
Morris took on the clients two years ago and had not dealt with the platform before.
He added: “It was impacting me in terms of my client thinking 'why is this taking so long'.
“It affects my reputation, the client could quite easily lose confidence in me.”
He first complained to Scottish Widows, which runs the platform, in May 2023 and asked for compensation based on the hours of phone calls and time spent sending emails.
In response to the formal complaint Scottish Widows offered to pay £450 to Morris and £100 to each of his clients as a “gesture of goodwill”.
However, Morris was not satisfied with this as he claimed the full time he spent sorting out delays equated to £918.
In an email seen by the FTAdviser, Scottish Widows’ complaints departments offered its “sincere apologies for the poor service” but said it could not accept Morris’ rate of £175 an hour as the basis for its compensation payment.
The experience has tarnished his view of the platform and Morris said he has spoken to other advisers who have had difficulties with it.
He added: “I’ve got no confidence, why would I put more business with them if they can’t get it right.”
A spokesperson for Scottish Widows said: "We have apologised to Mr Morris for not requesting all the information we needed to process the instruction when he first came to us and paid compensation for time it took to sort it out which he accepted on August 8. We have also spoken to him again to ensure he is comfortable with the action taken."
Morris added that he hopes improvements will be made now after the adviser side of the platform was rebranded as the Scottish Widows Platform at the end of July, meaning all accounts will be moving to the new system.
It is expected to include "new digital capability" including self-serve functionality and removing some forms and physical signature requirements.
tara.o'connor@ft.com
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