An upgrade to the Unbiased dashboard has been hit by technical issues, with one adviser purchasing an enquiry which was submitted by a consumer two years ago.
The matching service upgraded its personal accounts over the weekend, with the new dashboard offering advisers in-account messaging, the ability to save payment details for "one click client matching" and the option to add team members to manage enquires and payments.
But the upgrade has not run entirely smoothly, with advisers taking to Twitter to tell of their struggles with the new system.
Ricky Chan, director at IFS Wealth & Pensions, said Unbiased's website update triggered 40 email enquiries to his company's inbox, all of which were dated October 13, 2019, and some of which he purchased.
But one of the potential clients emailed Mr Chan to say the request was initially sent two years ago and he was no longer looking for advice.
The client said he was unsure why Unbiased had "reopened" the query without his knowledge.
Alistair Cunningham, financial planning director at Wingate Financial Planning, tweeted: "Seems UnbiasedUK have a new dashboard. It's not working for me, and judging by the time I've been on hold, a whole bunch of people are struggling."
An Unbiased spokesperson told FTAdviser: "We’ve had a very small number of adviser contacting us for help familiarising themselves with the new look dashboard and a handful of technical issue flagged which we are working to resolve imminently."
The spokesperson said Unbiased was set to announce new features over the coming year and this week's upgrade was intended to provide an "improved experience, time saving features and new tools to help professionals make first contact with potential new clients".
The update was the latest in a number of changes made to the Unbiased service this year, with the business halving the time advisers can use enquiry credits on its directory in May and increasing the cost of enquiries.
The cost of enquires and tokens rose from £30 + VAT to £45+VAT each in June, with Unbiased stating it could not longer absorb the "steadily increasing" cost of delivering the service itself.
rachel.mortimer@ft.com
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