Friends Provident International Avis 261

I consider this the worst investment I have made in my life - and my money is locked in for another 20 years....

the fee structure is horrendous - I wonder what I thought when signing the contract in 2010. they sell you funds (from other parties) and then - on top of those guys' fees - take a horrendous "fund mirroring fee" on top. all they do is "mirror" an existing fund! no own research, no knowhow - you could just buy this fund anywhere else without that layer in between.

so even if the underlying fund performs rel. well, you do not see money for a long time. most of the performance is eaten by the fees, every single year!

the online platform is extremely bad - all you can do is see you valuation at the same day. no valuation / performance reports (probably on purpose) and if you need tax statements, tough luck...

customer service is sometimes responding, but often they just ignore your messages.

I got in touch with FPinternational through a company called DeVere in Dubai, they sell you a dead grandmother if you don't run away fast enough. useless...

when I moved back to Switzerland, their Swiss subsidiary got in touch. but then I heard that they are not even allowed to advise Swiss residents, probably the authorities know why...

unfortunately my money is locked in for another 20 years - if I'd take it out now, I would lose more then 60% of the value! after 10 years. this should be illegal. but it is not and I was an idiot.

people - please don't be like me! there is so many better alternatives out there.

Unreliable, essentially no support. Would not recommend to a friend

My investment since 2008 is now less than 50% of the principal amount. I was expecting for a turn-around? It might be mismanagement on the part of FPI's Financial Consultants?

I foolishly started a pension fund with this company in 1995 (in one of its many former guises). In 26 years my savings have barely grown. In addition they are awful to deal with - ignoring emails to their alleged "customer services" department. A few years ago I withdrew some funds - they made me send my sample signature several times - & didn't send the funds until threatened by my financial advisor. I'll be withdrawing all savings at the earliest opportunity.

I had contacted in order to restart my investments under a investment scheme started in 2008. Please would you guide me as to how to restart. My contact number is 0503876950

They answered my queries promptly and provided all the clarifications requested, more than once, showing patience and understanding.

I have been saving with them since 2011. I was not happy that things were not properly explained at the start in terms of funds being locked in, and the huge loss should I terminate prematurely. I was however given a solution that works for me, and my advisor has been communicative whenever I reach out to him.

I would use them again, just a different type of plan.

Bad bad bad

Their charges and surprise fees are the most expensive in the market. It is simply a really bad product, that returns not much on a spam of 25 years. You will basically lend money to a bank for free, because the return is low and the charges are super high.
If you decide to take the money back, you will only get 20% of the initial units.

There are waaaay better plans in the market, just look for it.

There is not much I can say about FPI customer service per se. The few occasions I needed to contact them I usually had an appropriate reply. But then again I've never had any big issue regarding my policy.
The real big problem is FPI itself as an investment strategy. There are 2 things you have to bear in mind when investing with Friends Provident:
1. If you decide to withdraw the totality of your money before the maturation date, the redemption fee is huge. You will loose a lot of money.
2. The fee structure is never very clear but they are clearly very high. That will have a substantial negative impact on the performance of your investment in the long term.
If you have a moderate financial literacy it would be better to set up and manage your investments with some other institution.

No Trust in the Company. Deposit has gone missing.
Poor customer service and always a different person replies. I have no trust in Friends Provident. Have been chasing up a deposit that has gone missing. Staff don't seem to care and no action taken. Every two days I am calling or emailing and getting nowhere.

Friends Provident....where is my money?

Absolutely dreadful customer service. Pretty much nonexistent. The website function to update details has been broken for weeks. I have asked for a call, no one has called. Terrible terrible terrible service

Very difficult to have a contact for any help. Contact keep changing and does not confirm actions.
Payments are difficult and costly.

1. No phone contact for Middle East area;
2. Update credit card is difficult and no confirmation message, no where to prove what has been updated etc; not professional;
3. NOBODY in your office for Dubai customers, no where to have support!

Very poor service. I recently made a fund switching instruction which was pending for more than 3 weeks despite my repeated enquiry online and phone calls to its customer service team. There were actually other incidents where routine transactions were not executed timely with no proper feedback.

I have been using FPI for more than 15 years and I am surprised that when you send back a reply, there is no attachment although you indicated that there's an attachment. That is after waiting for nearly a week.

After three days of going around in circles with no joy and my numerous emails getting no response I finally got a response from Paul, and between him and Lynn things got sorted at lightening speed and with great efficiency ( the only reason I’ve given 3 stars). If only I could have contacted them from the start I’d of been a happy customer.

Very helpful team to manage my fund retrieval request in a timely and quick manner.

Very friendly service and quick responses.

I would be so pleased to write a positive review for Friends Provident the original name of the company I purchased a policy with in 2012. I taught at AIS international school in Egypt and my school and agent Mr. Sproul arranged the policy. Mr. Sproul left Egypt unannounced in 2013 but I stayed with the company. Dan Griffiths became my agent and helped me stay with the policy at a time when several other teachers terminated their policies unfortunately at a loss to them. Mr. Griffiths left the company and since that time my policy has only been available to me online. I invested $9k and my policy at this time is $9.9k. My policy states that 2015 is the maturation date but in 2015 the online date changed mysteriously to 2021. I have contacted customer service three times to request information on cashing in my policy to no response. The maturation date has changed once again to 2026. I need support to terminate my matured policy and have no way to contact the company. My positive review depends upon the return on my investment and communication with the company. A lawyer who reviewed the material explained that the policy was not a retirement plan but a life insurance policy. If I die I would like to know how will the company refund my heirs listed by name only on the policy. I am ever hopeful I have not been scammed.

No feedback, no engagement!

I can retrieve less than what I have paid in 10 years ... no growth and it is shameful. A bed decision on my part.