Angry Towry clients launch website and petition
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Disgruntled Towry clients have launched a petition calling on the Government to force the FSA to take action against the firm for delays in transferring their funds away from the company.
The clients that set up the petition are ex-Edward Jones clients who have been trying to transfer their assets away from the firm but say they are facing delays of up to four months.
The petition states: “We the undersigned, as Towry customers, request the coalition Government to instruct the FSA to take enforcement action on Towry under its obligations to treating customers fairly.”
The website, www.treatingcustomersshabbily.co.uk, is also calling for advisers to sign the petition.
The website states: “Why have we set up this website? Because Towry are ignoring our complaints, our phone calls, our letters and our emails. And they are still not transferring our assets.”
In June Towry chief executive Andrew Fisher (pictured) admitted there were delays with in-specie transfers, but said the backlog should be cleared in a month.
Towry head of marketing Peter Foster concedes that Towry has failed to respond quickly to some clients, but insists the firm is not ignoring concerns and is on track to clear the backlog by the end of July.
He says: “There have been some instances where we have not responded to clients, but in particularly busy times we may not be able to get back to clients in a particular timeframe. We are not ignoring these concerns and are working hard to clear the backlog.
“We have 55 people working to process the transfers and we spoke yesterday about appointing more. If clients have any concerns about their assets I would encourage them to contact us and we will work to resolve the situation.”
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Readers' comments (18)
Anonymous | 14 Jul 2010 11:53 am
And to make matters worse Towry have apparently now confirmed that moving forward, they will be charging clients £20 for each line of stock they (try to) transfer. This effectively punishes those held in the queue further still.
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Anonymous | 14 Jul 2010 11:57 am
Is this the same Towry Law that rose from the ashes not so long ago leaving a trail of debt...that are the champions of fee only clients(yawn,yawn)..that receive large 'trail fees' (commission) from clients year on year and do nothing for it...hardly surprising if it is !
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Anonymous | 14 Jul 2010 12:05 pm
Could it be when Andrew Fisher / Towry lose countless thousands / hopefully millions in renewal commission (remember this is the same person who doesn't like Indemnity / but has inherited £6 Millon in Renewals) might be relatively 'Skint' & need to get back from Fees to Indemnity again!
Maybe won't be so fond of the RDR then!!!
Poetic justice me thinks!!!
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Anonymous | 14 Jul 2010 12:22 pm
Toady Laws Mr Fisher normally wants the lecture the industry on ethics and professionalism - where is he now? Let us not forget Mr Fishers involvement with PFS who may regret getting into bed with him now his halo has tarnished!
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Mr Smug | 14 Jul 2010 12:22 pm
Initially this gave me a nice warm feeling inside but then I realised that crappy service from IFA's like Towry reflects very poorly on the rest of us.
Particularly galling that Andrew Fisher likes to take pot-shots at other IFA's when his own business is clearly in very poor shape.
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Anonymous | 14 Jul 2010 12:26 pm
How can Peter Foster say that Towry are not ingnoring concerns? Yet more spin coming out the company. There was a concern from many clients right back in late February when it became apparent that their transfers were taking more than 30 days to complete.
How is it in any way reasonable to say that they are not ignoring client concerns when it will take at least until the end of July to catch up! Six months to address a concern is totally unreasonable and this whole matter should be investigated by the FSA and any commission earned by Towry over the unreasonable delay period should be returned to clients along with any other costs applied to the transfer process.
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Anonymous | 14 Jul 2010 12:41 pm
Yes this is the Wonderful fee based Towry Law that, try as they might, were unable, apparently, to give up their trail commission. And yes, they are giving the industry a bad name. I suppose Andrew Fisher has loads of qualifications though, so that should keep the FSA happy.
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Julian Sunley | 14 Jul 2010 1:08 pm
I agree with a previous blogger, initially this story made me smile as maybe a few alleged chickens are coming home to roost, but on the flip side this sort of negative publicity cannot be good for the industry as a whole and in many individuals eyes may tarnish opinion of all financial planners.
It's such a shame things have to get to this point. I shall watch how this unfolds with interest.
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Anonymous | 14 Jul 2010 2:01 pm
Clearly there can be no justification for treating erstwhile clients in this manner. However, to what extent (if any) is this unfortunate situation being amplified, or even orchestrated, by ex-Edward Jones advisers with an axe to grind?
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Jackanory | 14 Jul 2010 2:52 pm
Ok so 8 weeks to transfer assets for my client only to find that TL have not fully transferred so has necessitated me to call TL on a number of occasions, lots of answer phones lots of messages to reply lots of no replying !! As I hold assets with TL I thought well lets call MY Financial adviser (Who is the same as my clients) Another answer phone many times over and not the decency to reply to ANY of my many requests. So am I an EX EJ employee just whinging ? Or a concerned IFA / Client trying to get a response ?? I have no axe to grind, other than the frustration of TLs incompetence !! Enough said
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