Don’t ignore female clients
Following your article ‘IFAs risk losing female clients after death of their partner’ (Aug 25).
We have never had this problem. Partly because when a client is bereaved, we do all we humanly can in terms of minimising bureaucracy, expediting payments, notifying providers and the like.
It’s the same with terminal illness claims. On occasion I’ve personally visited doctors to pick up signed claim forms.
I suspect the main reason, however, was one voiced by the woman in the first couple ever to join our company as investment clients when we set up in 2004.
They were clients of my former employer. When I let them know I’d be leaving to set up my own business, straight away she said “we want to stay with you”.
She said I spoke to her as well as her husband, but that my former employer never did.
It was true. I’d been in client meetings with my old boss who routinely addressed only the man in the partnership, as if he were the only client, even when it was his wife’s own pension or investment that was being discussed.
Sixteen years on they’re still with us, both in their mid-late 70s now.
The lesson is simple: If you ignore the lady, she’ll walk. And who can blame her?
Neil Liversidge
West Riding Personal Finance Solutions
Exam errors
Regarding your article ‘CII offers free re-sit to all candidates who failed in July’ (Aug 27).
I am a candidate of CII Level 4 Diploma in Regulated Financial Services.
I took the remote exams offered by CII through a third-party provider called PSI and experienced both technical glitches on July 6 and August 21, which were unforgettable.
Unfortunately I failed my exam on July 6.
The CII announced it would be offering free re-sits to all candidates who failed in July.
In their email, it says: “A member of our customer service team will call you by close of business on September 11 to discuss your free-of-charge October re-sit, and free virtual revision course available in September or October.”
Upon receipt of the email, I was wondering why CII would prefer calling every single candidate to book the re-sit rather than communicating via email about how to book online since they have an online booking system which works?
Sadly, when a member of CII customer service team called me this morning, I missed the call. CII left me a voice message saying they would try to call me again in the next few days or I could call them back.
I decided to call them back at the number mentioned in the voice message. On the call, I was told by the robot that all members of the customer service team were engaged and the waiting time for me to talk to the next available member was 29 minutes.
