St. James Place Bank

I set-up an endowment policy in Q2 1997, and requested communication as much as possible through the life of the policy... which I was told was minimum six-month intervals. I have received three phone calls since the policy was setup - one from the original advisor thanking me for my business and asking if there was anything more he could do (sell) to help, one welcome message from an advisor (Q3 1999) who replaced the original, and the last one (Q2 2002) was from St. James' receptionist to inform me that another advisor was looking after my repayment plan and confirmed my postal details (which were two years out-of-date!). <P>I have received little advice from this IFA company. As soon as the policy was setup I have been left to track the funds myself via online share tracking - even though the company assured me that I would receive a communication (fund update) at least twice per year. <P>I had not been informed of change of funds to which my endowment plan was connected (so I was then tracking the wrong funds), until I contacted St. James asking for a recent valuation to be sent out. These funds had switched over 7 months previously. <P>The poor continuity of advisors is rampant in the industry so that does not have any real bearing on my rating (2 stars). The poor rating is because the communication has been so poor from this IFA... and I pay a regular contribution to these people and I get nothing back in return. I don't mind paying for service... but I don't seem to get anything for my money! <P>I have recently phoned their customer service line and received some extremely helpful advice over the phone... it is a shame that the branch I use (Newcastle) is so poor at service themselves. <P></P> <P>

10

Paul H.