Momentum - Client service and poor work practices.

I am finding it very difficult to keep calm and write a review that is not outright ugly and insulting as right now that is my current emotional state when I think about Momentum and how they are handling things.

We have had the most frustrating and poor experience with Momentum. It has got to such a point where we are highly reccomending our family members who have accounts with them to take their money and go before it's too late.

I am only going to point to some matters that have arose in the last few months because there is nearly 2 years of waiting going on in this process. Yes 2 years from my late fathers passing and today we are still sitting with issues.

My biggest issue currently is how things are being done. After much back and forth we managed to submit all the documents that were requested. After the trustee's met they requested additonal information, particularly from the ex-spouse and the current partner. Once that information was delivered it takes another month before the trustees meet again. Then after that meeting they once again ask for additional information from another person. I cannot for the life of me understand why it took them a whole other month to ask for it? If they had met and needed the first set of information then surely they can ask for ALL information that is required in one go. Does that not make simple business and good work ethic sense? Why only ask for it a month later at a different meeting only to now have to wait another month for the meeting to take place again. Only to be told they will now hold a 'preliminary meeting' at the end of next month. What does that even mean? Is this a meeting to discuss what will be held at the next meeting when they decide to have another meeting? There is no clear explanation of what is happening. The issue with how this is being conducted is it leaves open the interpretation of negative agenda's. I beleive this is just a symptom of bad work and service quality but you can see how conducting your service in such a manner can lead people to start thinking along those lines.

Another issue is our requests get completely ignored. Our executor has requested, more than once, for an update on the fund value. No one ever bothers to reply to it. We are still waiting. I have asked a few questions to understand why things are being handled the way they are and again, get completely ignored. This I refer to my above sentence regarding how this can be intepreted when handled in such a manner. Why do you ignore the requests of explanations?

Lastly, I initally only wanted to speak about the recent issues but I feel I must say this. 2 Years, one of the big reasons this is going on for so long is because we were informed that we need a Late Estate bank account in order to proceed. This process took such a long time as we know how government departments function in South Africa these days. Only to be told that due to the act that the pension fund does not fall into the estate. Then why request a Late Estate bank account? We get told that it is not Momentum's fault because the request comes from the tracing agent and not Momentum which I am sorry, but is a very very poor and weak excuse. Does Momentum not appoint the tracing agent? Then it IS Momentum's responsibility to ensure that the tracing agents they appoint are requesting only relevant information required. This excuse is not acceptatble and is another example of very poor work standards and passing the blame to someone else for your mistakes.

I cannot wait to be done with Momentum, and with the way things have gone, I dont ever see myself doing any business with them in future.