Prudential Plc

A company full of swindlers. Do not believe anything they say. I did and took out an annuity. I cannot touch my money and they get it when I die. I get paid lousy interest but I heard a lot are far worse off. My quarterly payments started off on 16th, then 17th. Now it is 20th of each quarter. I suppose if the greedy company are doing this to millions of others, they get even more free money. I complained and I must wait 8 weeks for someone to look at my complaint. It would be longer, but over 8 weeks and you can ask the Financial Ombudsman for help. I suppose their five star reviewers work for them?

Just asked for my very small pension pot, sent all the forms to them, they said I would receive payment in 5 working days, nothing paid, I’ve contacted them 3 times and they say they are looking into it but can take 11 days, I’m fuming.

What has happened to the trusted institution, founded in 1848, that was Prudential!!

Diabolical customer service.

Will be transferring out asap.

Have you tried to get through to The Prudential , you have more chance with the Tax office , it wasnt that hard when i was wanting to talk to them when i was setting my pension up .23 minutes now and still no answer !

The only reason I give the PRU a one star rating is because there were a couple of very helpful agents, namely a Mr Colin T and a Mr Stray S. These two gents did all they could to address the issues I had.

A breakdown: On 08 May 2026 I signed a Docusign that my financial advisor sent me. To date - 09 June 2026 - he only received very limited and fragmented information about one of the policies that I hold. Nothing was received about the others. I phoned up PRU and they told me that if he phoned them they would email him those documents. He called, and guess what, they told him that they don’t send emails. Very clearly a case of PRU can’t even give the same and correct answer to the customer.
As you will see this problem has popped up on other occasions with them - they seem completely incapable of praying from the same prayer book.

I was also informed by PRU that I did not need a financial advisor for two of my policies and could make the drawdown decision myself. A few days later I phoned to do this and was informed by quite an arrogant chap who I will refer to as Mr T. who told me that I had to get a financial advisor. Previously on 02 June I was told by someone else I did not have to, and today, 09 June 2026 I was told by another agent that I did not need a financial advisor for my drawdown policies.
I asked ‘T’ the value of a certain plan which he gave me but when I asked him what the 25% tax free bit amounted to, he abruptly answered, ‘GET YOURSELF A CALCULATOR AND FIND OUT”. Is that the way and manner to speak to customers??

I filed a complaint on 29 May 2026 and I asked for a copy of the audio recording which I am legally entitled to. The agent told me that I would receive an email - now bear in mind that PRU do not send emails as I found out on 09 June 2026 - in five working days. To date (09 June 2026) PRU have not communicated to me about the audio copy. When I raised this matter with the arrogant Mr ‘T’ he went on the say that the complaint was being dealt with. I asked him time and time again why I had not received the email with the link to the audio recording which I was told on 29 May 2026 that I would receive in five working days time. ‘T’ then cut me off. Once again demonstrating how customer orientated PRU really is !!!

The stories could go on and on and so in frustration I have filed a case against the PRU with the Pensions Ombudsman.
To date three complaints have been logged against PRU. They are very happy to take your money, but come pay time on retirement, they seem to go out of their way by giving misinformation and non-consistent information time and time again.
Quite frankly I feel that government bodies should step in to deal with companies like the PRU. Maybe one day they will.

VERY IMPORTANT ...This is a helpful hint. When I had a pension with Prudential and could not access it I had another - more reputable - pension company arrange an electronic transfer into the fund I had with them. Two weeks later the money left their building ...no effort on my part other than completing a simple one page form authorising the new company to do so on my behalf. I keep coming back to this website 2 years later to see if they have changed...they have not, so they don't deserve your money. If you don't have another pension - open one. I am sharing this because going to your MP or the Financial Ombudsman is a waste of time and so is asking the Prudential for your money. The longer they delay the more interest they make on your money.

Still trying to access money,a very small amount .
About a year now.They say they don’t get paperwork so send registered.
An hour to get through then on hold 2” minutes while they find the policy.
Totally incompetent.

Prudential are blocking access to my annuities the 6 digit pin is failing. Tried calling them but say sorry I can’t hear you .Absolutely useless think again before signing up to this company. Eventually managed to access the site and view the documents in question.

I have just spent 37 minutes trying to get through on phone - it took nearly 20 minutes even befor I got through juts a clear page with red dots

very disappointing

Absolute trash - I've been paying into two life insurance policies for over a decade. I only wanted to change the account that I pay the premiums from. The chatbot was useless. The phone line, once I'd held on for ages, was equally useless and couldn't locate my policy. They're very happy to take the premiums though. Disgusting - they clearly don't want to be contacted, and once you do, they simply can't help. I've no confidence in them at all.

I have never had any problems with prudential pensions and always have been treated with courtesy and prompt payments.👍👍

Good morning does anyone know a Mr.Ethan Carragher the chief accounts manager of Prudential Finance Trust.

As per other 'customers' if zero stars were an option I would choose that. Prudential insisted that a payment to beneficiaries of a whole life policy needed probate. I took advice from my Solicitor and called the company. Answered by a totally incompetent member of staff who repeatedly said " I get it"! When clearly they didn't get it! I wrote a letter of complaint merely to receive exactly the same paperwork that I'd been sent when I informed the company of my Mother's death! Quite happy to take people's money but not so keen to give it back! Now in the hands of my Solicitor!

I am extremely disappointed with my experience dealing with Prudential. I was originally advised that my bereavement claim would take around 4–6 weeks to process, however I am now well beyond that timeframe with no resolution in sight.

Throughout this process I have repeatedly been told there are “issues on their end” causing delays, yet I am given no meaningful updates or clear explanation of what those issues actually are. Communication has been poor and inconsistent, and I often feel as though I am being passed from one vague answer to another with no real progress being made.

The level of service has been shockingly poor. The agents I have spoken to seem disorganised and ill-informed, at times not even understanding basic details of the claim. On one occasion during a live chat regarding a bereavement claim, I was even asked if the deceased policy holder was “speaking” to them, which was deeply upsetting and completely inappropriate given the nature of the situation.

Overall, the handling of my claim has been incompetent and distressing. I have had to raise three separate complaints due to the ongoing issues and lack of proper service. At a time when sensitivity and efficiency should be expected, Prudential has fallen far short on both.

I would strongly advise others to consider this level of service before choosing to deal with them.

Never dealt with before, but have recently. Can only say what a shambolic company. Calling them is long job. Did policy name change from 1994, sent all docs inc depol solicitor letter. Now 3 weeks later still not changed name. Was going to do the tax free 25% from balance. Now I’m going to withdraw all of it! They are a joke..

If zero stars were an option I would choose that. Prudential wrongly insisted that a payment to beneficiaries of a whole life policy written in trust needed probate. I complained and their Complaints Manager upheld my complaint, agreeing that probate was not needed. They sent us a payment mandate form which we returned. When I rang for a progress report I was once again told probate was required. I complained again over a week ago and still no response. This firm is utterly useless and potentially failing. Why else are they so bad at paying their commitments to so many people. I will be referring to the Ombudsman and have now also referred their wider failures to the FCA.

Absolutely terrible company. So far, I’ve been waiting 20 days to receive a pension pack. I’ve been given incorrect information by one of their financial advisers. It’s as though they just don’t want to give me MY MONEY. I wish I could’ve read all their poor reviews when I started the pension all those years ago

My family has used the Prudential for more than 50 years. After a recent death I have found them to be indifferent or incompetent: promises of call backs not met: complaints badly handled/unanswered with timelines seemingly made up off the top of the call handlers heads: very disappointed

What a terrible company asked me if I was divorced on more then one occasion because of the pension sharing i told them yes 11 years ago now after 5 weeks they want proof. Looks like they dont want to give me MY money. There making it very hard work. Plus they never get back to you on there message service. Just been told it will take 11 working days for them to make a decision on whether I can have my money. What a joke of a company.

So much has been wrong I have submitted a 7 page document of complaint to Prudential - to which I have yet to receive a response one month after submission. Seeing on Trustpilot that so many other customers have experienced exactly the same issues, makes me concerned that Prudential could end up going out of business if they don't do something to change what appears to be a norm of appallingly bad service.

Highlights of the issues I have experienced include:

- Misalignment and confusing information received from Prudential – particularly relating to an apparent lack of understanding in relation to the Shared AVC Plan processes.
- Gaps in communication from Prudential and examples of misinformation.
- Prudential failure in proactively providing me with account details.
- Prudential failure with GDPR compliance.

If anyone from Prudential wants to contact me to validate the truth of what I am saying, then please feel free - I have accurately documented the whole painful experience.