Well that’s not encouraging - the smaller of my two pension pots is currently with ReAssure - I kept it only because my IFA suggested I should as it has a useful bonus built-in from the days when it was with Legal & General.
I had another pension pot that started out with Barclays and then got bought up by ReAssure (they seem to make a habit of hoovering up pension contracts from other providers), but that one I consolidated and is now part of my primary pension pot which is with True Potential.
Hopefully when it comes time for me to either buy an annuity or start drawdown, ReAssure will have got their act together…
I wish you well. They may well be fine if you’re buying an annuity, as you still can whilst a UK resident.
The whole 100% drawdown process felt like the last thing they wanted anyone to do, which is hardly surprising as they’d much rather earn money from your money rather than letting you enjoy it.
I’ve had the dubious pleasure of making drawdowns from 3 separate pension schemes belonging to Phoenix Group who own ReassureNow, and Standard Life’s pensions business..Of the 3, RN were easily the most painful to deal with. Similar to @Badger’s comments, they didn’t even offer drawdown as an option on their website for those wanting to do so, and I had to call to try to persuade them to let me have my own money.
My RN scheme was a former Legal & General one, transferred by L&G to RN when the former exited the pensions business. RN were (and probably still are) very process heavy, maddeningly slow, and unresponsive, but I did get my money out in the end..They also spontaneously gave me £100 without me asking for any compensation.You will need to build up significant reserves of patience to deal with them! I got the strong impression that the staff are not particularly highly trained and are basically acting as processors (no criticism of the staff, it’s the ‘reduce everything to a minimal cost process’ management culture that governs what they do).
Best of luck for when you need to access your money…
Thanks very much for the info @George1 - forewarned is forearmed!
Like you my pension with them is a legacy one from L&G. As mentioned I kept it bcause of the bonus payments, but I may take advice on whether to get the money out of their clutches now, rather than wait until I need to withdraw it.