We have just had a very persistent lady on the 'phone trying to get us to use De Vere for pension advice.
There was a previous post which made interesting reading and gave several reasons why you should not use these people.
They must be looking for English names in the ;phone book, so be prepared.
I had a young man call me yesterday from these people, wanted to know if I or my husband had worked in UK before moving to France. I asked him why and he quoted proposed government changes to private pensions and said they had many satisfied clients who had been helped. I asked him why he was calling me, and then told him to stop right there as we don't have either company or private pensions. He said "oh well the government aren't touching state pensions yet but if they do I'll call you back".
they made contact with me via Linkedin.com under the guise of assisting expat employees of American Express. My gut instinct was to not follow up. Glad I didn't now.
I am not in the phone book, my other half is with her Italian name. I get too many such cold calls, have not had this one (as yet) though, for it to be the off chance. They ask for me by name, some UK ones getting my title right, which leads me to believe that there are other sources who I imagine sell their lists. As for De Vere, yes the less said the better on recollection.