Phoenix Life Reviews 3,200

Been trying to cash in my partners pension for the last 2 years without success. Called the company to send the pension claim forms but to still waiting. When we call them again and again we are told that they need to speak to us to explain the options available. And yet they claim that they do not give advice and that we need to seek professional advice. We can only seek independent advice if we know the value of the fund. There is no need for us to have a conversation with them if they can't provide financial advice. I am contacting FCA to complain.

I am only giving one star as it’s not possible to give no stars. I cannot get access to my pension benefits as Phoenix Life say I need to do this via Standard Life and Standard Life says I need to do it through Phoenix Life. I have never experience this level of incompetence and lack of care. Even the complaints team acknowledge my questions have not been addressed and yet I still cannot progress this matter. The team all just ignore emails. My matter is with the Ombudsman now to help with this ridiculous matter. I expect they have 100s of complaints from these companies.

Not a good company to invest in. They did not honor the estimates provided at the time the policy was underwritten. I would have been better off saving my monthly premiums in a building society. I would not trust this company.

Customer service - there isn't any.
Huge waits at call center,
Website rubbish / slow.
They send emails as encrypted zip files that get rejected by spam / virus filters,

After being on hold for 30mins said they had to speak to my wife re policy.she finished work early after being on hold for 20mins they said it was too late to deal with her it was 520pm they closed at 530pm.promised a phone call back within 24hrs. One hour before closing again we rang and were on hold for 30mins after going through some security questions the call taker with a heavy Indian accent put the phone down on my wife whilst after asking for her national insurance number.
Tried for 2 days on the app,which for 2 days stated an error had occurred to ring in.
If the call back is received tomorrow my wife will be at work and no doubt they will refuse to speak with me
Terrible service and app

Why Can't I access my money?
Phoenix life make it as hard as they can for you to access your funds. Waiting for 30 mins plus on the phone, sending out the same paperwork daily - WHY ARE THEY CUTTING DOWN THE RAIN FORREST, sending the same information out daily. No one answers the phone. The numbers they give you are for the main switchboard and not the departments requried. And now I have been forwarded to Glasgow and now onto BASINGSTOKE now onto London. They clearly do not want me to access my pension! UNACCEPTABLE. They are great at taking your money but DO NOT WANT TO GIVE IT BACK.

AVOID PHOENIX LIFE AT ALL COSTS

The customer service is awful. We had no option but to use them as my wife's original pension had been transferred to Phoenix Life from Sun Alliance and she had no say in the matter.

When you're on hold, they keep going on about using their website but my wife had no option than to ring them as they stipulated this in their most recent letter. To quote: "please call us so we can talk through....." There is no online option. This is deliberate delaying tactics. My wife was on hold for 30 minutes before talking to someone who just told her what she already knew. And then she could not put her through to the relevant people - line engaged. So she said they'll call back BUT it will be at least 3 working days before they call back - why? Again it's delaying tactics because they don't want to give my wife her money.

In August 2025 I received the age of 60 and prior to that had received correspondence to say that my Pension Policy could be cashed in so that I received a lump son or I could continue and not action was needed.
I decided to cash in my policy and sent to you all the necessary documents asked for with my passport.
I received monies into my bank account which was fine but no Passport.
On 4th November 2025 I contacted your office to ask the whereabouts of my passport and was told that it would be posted to me and that a request to do this asap was generated. I have called the office several times.
On 11th December 2025 Complaint letter sent which said that an investigation was underway and that I could contact you by email to try and ascertain what was happening I have emailed several times to the address on the letter and received no reply !.

Where is my passport and what has happened to it !

Doreen Goodwin

Quick at keeping your money, but not so quick at releasing. Requested pension to be transferred to another provider in December, received a letter on 10th February to say it would be done in 10 days. Still not done, despite chasing Phoenix Life repeatedly by phone and lodging an official complaint, which they said would take 8 weeks to respond to. Awful company to deal with.

23/02/26 I sent a complaint to Phoenix Life, using their online form, to say, and I quote, '05/01/26 16:32 your Katie said that I would be hearing re my Cash-in-Lump Sum, by call back within 24 hours. I have heard nothing from Phoenix at all ..... '. Phoenix sent an auto reply to say now that they would be 'writing' to me. It is now 06/3/26 and still 'nothing'; wondering if they are in financial trouble?

Hi. To the very helpful staff of Phoenix life who have sorted my pension out.
A big thank you to you all, and to everyone out there with a Phoenix life pension treating there staff with a little respect goes a long way.
Thank you Glenn.

My small policy began in August 1986. Forty years later, it is projected to mature at about £500.00 more than I have put into it. I’d have done better in a savings account. Their customer service people try to be helpful but they’re nothing more than a call centre which “escalates” complaints to the financial department. Customer Service manager Caroline Somebody didn’t read the complaint properly and offered me £250 for the “inconvenience” of their having lost my £33,000. The Financial Department doesn’t respond at all. Snail mail letters come from Operations Director Milind Dhuru. Milind Dhuru also can’t be bothered to respond. I had to resort to the Financial Ombudsman to track down the £33k policy. Incompetent and offensive. Sadly they bought my policies from companies I preferred. Don’t trust them to handle your money effectively or efficiently.

A really drawn out process at a time when I could really do without. I tell them every time you found me I didn't find you. Since November 2025 I have submitted all evidence they have asked for, even submitting paperwork going back to my mothers passing in 2003.
Any forms I have filled out I have sent back via email, which takes them 2 - 3 to log onto their system.
I dreaded seeing an envelope through my door from Phoenix as at one point it went over the same thing.
I spoke to several different people up until today, all may I say younger than myself and all told me something different, nothing was ever the same. When I was told I would get a call back with answers, this happened once and then he had no answers for me just promises.
I have waited 10 working days, 3 - 5 days to post and still no money has been deposited into my account, at one point I was told their computer system had gone down and the money needed to be paid manually. Still nothing. All the time I was having to relive my fathers death. Even when I did make a complaint they don't get in touch as promised just saying I will escalate this. I have even now said I don't believe there is any money coming to me.
The whole experience has been stressful and upsetting. A sorry from Phoenix just doesn't work.
In my opinion this company is a joke at the publics expense. If I could give them a zero I would. Avoid at all costs. Have now contacted FCA.

I sincerely believe that they keep holding peoples monies so they can earn the interest on it all.

This company do not even communicate with each other let alone its customers.
At one point I was told the IT system was down and nothing could be paid out as the monies were off shore. That is worrying in itself.

In September 2024 I made an application to withdraw the totality of an investment in their Life funds. To date, after many telephone calls and letters I still have not received anything. The latest letter (they refuse to use email) claimed something that they can't support

Avoid this company like the plague! And beware their changing their name to Standard Life Ltd, because of adverse publicity and poor Trustpilot reviews. So what’s wrong with them, customer service is appalling, promising numerous times to call me back, it just doesn’t happen! Tried their App, just as bad and anything important, like values we’re not an available!

I received my annual pension statement with a projection in 5 years time showing as less than the current value. I queried this and they could not come up with a plausible explanation but said they'd send out another statement. It felt like they were going to pick a number out of thin air so that I would go away. I will be transferring out as soon as I possibly can.

Phoned phoenix life to discuss taking my pensions early and was told that I had to speak to a different department as I had 5 policies and it was complicated.
I insisted it was very important that someone phoned me back and I was left on hold for nearly an hour and then told someone would phone me back within 3 working days.
I then phoned up on the 3 rd working day and was told they are very busy.
Awful company that don't reply to customers.

3 years ago I had to deal with my father in laws pension annuity plans (Phoenix life)as 50% had been left to his wife ....
Alnp0138222
Alnp0138221 respectively
Whilst ALL other organisations were simplistic , sympathetic and easy to use as I was informed by most of central government register that things could be confirmed by them ...
Phoenix life however fall at the exact opposite of the scale ...unhelpful to be polite
In my father in laws case they insisted on original death certificate , original marriage certificate and original birth certificate with nothing more than "its procedure " as a reason for all 3 documents when as stated
no other organisations needed even the death certificate and also baring in mind that both marriage and birth certificate would have been witnessed at policy set up ...
It took weeks to sort , whilst ALLothers were dealt with in minutes...
Forward 3 and half years and my mother in law who was the beneficiary @ 50% of the above policies passed away on 23rd Jan 26 .
I rang Phoenix life on Monday 27th to inform them as these policies would no longer exist as they were set to expire on her death ......only to be told by bethany that they needed to see the wills of both parties ....(why when there is no residual benefit to anyone is mind boggling ) .
Then she informed me that her computer was not working properly and I shall be put on a call back system......!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2 days later I rang back again and this time got a lady called sumreen ...
Send in the death certificate ....
No apology, a minor sign of sympathy and zero empathy to the situation ....just send the death certificate.... not even a cover note I asked ..... well of course like I'm some idiot .....
Just the address ....well the admin department should do ....

Why this organisation can't use the same approach to 90% of all other companies and use the government register for such things and at least try to be a little more helpful towards there clients is beyond me as an ex finance adviser ....
I actually refused 2 years ago via my ifa when setting up my pension to use Phoenix life as a provider and have for the last 3 and half years recanted the facts of this turn of events to many people as a warning.....I am aware this barely scratches there skin but I feel people need to know what sort of company they are dealing with .....

Now they have sent a claim pack for a policy that has no beneficiary as it dies with the client with no residual value ...... the leval of unprofessional conduct is at a new height in my opinion

I have requested an update on my pension account several times with no response. I am trying to sort this out now to save my family having to do this upon my death. I can only feel sorry for any grieving families having to deal with these issues. Get your act together, it’s not good enough!

Decided to purchase an annuity with a different provider & specified the retirement date to ensure I would receive the full value of my pension pot.
They used a date prior to that & I have lost 50% of my fund.
Formal complaint logged in November, the last letter from them was dated 17th December promising a final response in 4 weeks.
The deadline has now passed & I have escalated my complaint to Financial Ombudsman