Columbia Threadneedle Investments Reviews 157

Very poor administration. Several months to reply to a request. They have lost documents that I have sent them on more than one occasion. Investments themselves were fine.

*I have been working with Ivy from the escalation team and nothing has been resolved yet.Once again we are experiencing stall tactics from your organization as has been the case the last year.

This is the worst investment company I have ever dealt with. My attorney seconds that. I am listed as a beneficiary for an account my deceased mother had with Columbia Thread Needle. It has been 9 months since my attorney and I have been trying to get them to release the funds and still no payout.
It is costing money and time to continue the pursuit but I refuse to let them keep the money that my mother bequeathed to me.
This company is an embarrassment to the investment world.

My mother died in 2018 and I still have not been able to transfer her Columbia Threadneedle shareholdings into my name. The administration at this company is terrrible, and complaints go nowhere.

What an absolute disgrace- latest call & still on for over 19 minutes & initial lady, Hansa, who spoke to me has disappeared and said be back with me soon, that was over 10 minutes ago. No customer service then comes back after 23 minutes to say can I hold whilst she finds someone. All I’m trying to do is access MY money from MY account

If you like the people you will be leaving your money to, do not do business with this company. Schwab was SO MUCH EASIER to deal with after my mom's passing.

The issue is about Proof of Address but thats not really the issue. The issue is shocking, shocking customer service. I have had an investment with them for 27 years and want to cash in. They have been sending me info to my current address (for last 15 years) including recorded delivery/signed for. Not enough. But the problem is simply lack of response to my calls. Call 1: the resolution team will call you back. No they didn't. Call 2 one week later: the legal department will call you back. No they didn't. Call 3 one week later: the resolution team wil call you back. No they didn't. I make a formal complaint and am told I will get a call by close of business the next day. No they didn't. Call 4: one week later: same as call 3 and awaiting outcome.
Update 4 December: As you see below, only because of this review was I contacted by ColumbiaTreadneedle. This issue is now resolved through the Complaints Dept who acknowledged unsatisfactory service and I have received compensation. I will now withdraw my funds and put them elsewhere.

Do not under any circumstances give this company your money. They intentionally deploy roadblocks to withdraw your money. Just lost $5,000 from an estate settlement because they require a medallion guarantee even though they know and told me online the all the big banks don’t do them

Columbia Threadneedle are the most unhelpful company I have any savings with. They don't seem willing, or is it able to support customers. Other companies are proactive and helpful. It makes me feel that all they want to do is hang on to my money and make withdrawals as difficult as possible. I regret the day I started to invest with them.

They litterally steal money from babies. What else could you possibly need to know?

Having read the news today, I am amazed a company can turn £300 per child saving into £13 in 11 years. Wow! That’s some investment model unless…. Hope the regulator gets their teeth into this.

[This is an updated review] We recently contacted Columbia Threadneedle to 'cash in' our shares in a JIA we had started for our son 18 years ago. Initial experience was poor and as everyone else here, I imagine, we 'googled' for reviews about CTI and saw the string of one-star reviews. In actual fact there are two sides to this, and our case was resolved superbly! Hence I want to call out to anyone reading this, do not be phased by the Customer Service person answering your call. Instead insist that you want them to refer to the Resolutions and Specialist teams and add that you will raise a formal complaint. That gets their attention and gets your case looked into by a team who are experienced and experts in dealing with complexity and detail. We received a call from the resolutions team and they were extremely polite and very clear about how our case would be resolved. Our case was resolved promptly (with no added hassle to us) and to our satisfaction, thank you Jessica. Some feedback to CTI, you need to better train some of your front desk staff to not use language that is intimidating and worrying (e.g.: one of the associated names on the account has failed identity verification, and they will need to pass ID verification by sending notary or post office certified copy as proof of identity and address... BOOM!), this kind of language causes customers unnecessary stress. Given that CTI's own resolutions team explained that there was a perfectly legitimate reason to address the issue in this particular case. Also please update your forms, Banks do not issue cheque books any longer!

AVOID AT ALL COSTS

An absolute joke of a finance company.
DO NOT trust them at all.
It's taking weeks to get our daughters CTF monies back from them on maturity with more excuses than ever to prevent them transferring what is rightfully hers!

There are so many issues with withdrawing. I complained till i found an avenue to report. Check my display picture. Get your issues resolved my reporting.

No way to contact them
Sent recorded letters to both addresses

Was told to Send a letter with photo ID from account 212042172
P O BOX 11114
Chelmsford
CM99 2DG
Letter with driver license posted 02/09
LETTER was delivered on 4/9/24 signed by SATHEESH

PO Box 10033
Chelmsford
Essex
CM99 2AL

I have been with this company for several years, including when it was BMO and before. I recently received a letter, dated 11 Sep, informing me that they were changing to paperless correspondence and that if I wanted to continue to receive paper then I needed to change the correspondence preference on their website. I tried to do this but there was no such option. I sent them a secure message and received the response that that option would not be implemented until the end of September 2024. Why did they not specify that date in their letter? Wasted my time and that of anybody else who tried to make a similar change. This is not good customer relationship.

Our investment was for long term, and receiving statements. But since we didn’t access their website for our account in a 2 year window they submitted the balance to Maryland Unclaimed Property. The last communication with MD stating potentially another 12 weeks. This started 10/19/2022

This is having a significant impact on lost income potential! We believe this unethical!

As with all other reviews below, it is excessively difficult to withdraw money. I live overseas and had to verify my address and bank account three times, each time by snail mail to the UK. The first time it was returned to me, and after some time of nothing happening, had to call them in the middle of the night, to find that they have two addresses, and the return address wasn’t the right one. After that, they didn’t properly verify it, so I had to send it a third time.
Then they wouldn’t accept my bank account, then wouldn’t send a cheque overseas, then wouldn’t accept a different address to send it to, and only finally sent it after threatening to make a complaint. I then had to physically send the cheque back to the UK to cash it in, and by the time I finally managed to get the money out of the country, had lost over £4,500 due to the exchange rate changing.
It took me over six weeks to get the money, and I was forced to take out a loan to meet financial obligations as they had refused to release the money. In addition, after finally agreeing to release the money, they didn’t send the cheque for 7 working days after closing the account (apparently their policy), which is illegally using money that isn’t theirs to boost their bottom line.
In summary, their policies are dodgy to say the least, their procedures and website are a joke, and their customer service is terrible
Avoid this company at all costs if you can. If I could give 0 stars, I would.

My daughter received her Child Trust Fund cheque in early April 2024 (we have been living in Canada since she was 3 years old). They refused to wire the money, insisted on sending a Sterling cheque. She banked the cheque in Canada in April and CT claim that they released the funds to her Canadian bank in early June 2024. Here we are, almost early September and she hasn't received the funds (and needs to pay her university fees in 6 weeks time). We need urgent clarification from CT that they indeed wired the money to the correct account, and help with tracing the wire.

I needed to help my father, who I have PoA for, to transfer some of his CT investments to another provider. I spoke with Brandon a few times (there was a problem with the PoA on our end) and he was really helpful and friendly, and explained everything for me. Although the CT platform is dated in comparison to others once the PoA issue was sorted then the transfer instigated via another platform was then sorted within 24 hours.
Customer service was quick and efficient and each time I rang the call was picked up almost immediately which I really appreciated given that with most companies today you’re held in a queue.

Columbia operations include investment trusts and schemes, inherited from F&C. These can provide good value investment such as their Junior Investment Account. Unfortunately some of the administration is cumbersome and has not transferred smoothly to the digital age, which, understandably can be frustrating, particularly if you need to meet compliance requirements. Never the less, I found it easy to contact them by phone and received prompt and helpful assistance when required.