WARNING: AVOID OLD MUTUAL AT ALL COSTS

My family is currently suffering because of the shocking negligence and incompetence we experienced at Old Mutual (The Mega City Branch). This company is trusted with people’s life savings, yet the level of care and accountability we encountered was absolutely disgraceful.

My parents visited the branch and were assisted by financial advisor to get a certain portion from my father’s retirement fund. During the consultation, the advisor asked my father who should be listed as the beneficiary. My father clearly stated twice that the beneficiary must be my mother.

Despite being told this more than once, the advisor failed to add her as the beneficiary.

After my father passed away, we returned to claim the investment, only to be told that there is no beneficiary listed on the account. When my mother confronted the advisor, he admitted that he “forgot” to add her and called it an “honest mistake.”

This is not a small mistake. My father was the sole breadwinner in our household. The money he saved was meant to ensure that my mother and the children would be able to survive if anything happened to him.

Because of this advisor’s negligence, my mother now cannot access the funds that were meant to support her and the kids. Instead, the money now has to go through the estate process, which can take months.

In the meantime, my mother is struggling to maintain the household. She is now unable to pay for children’s transportation to school, buy food for the family, keep up with funeral insurance policies, and cover other basic necessities that my father worked so hard to provide.

All of this could have been prevented if the advisor had simply done his job properly and captured the beneficiary details as requested.

Families trust financial institutions with their futures, but this experience has shown that you cannot rely on them to handle critical information responsibly. Because of one careless mistake, an entire family is now suffering.

If you are considering investing with Old Mutual, I strongly urge you to think twice and verify every single detail yourself. No family should ever have to go through this kind of stress and hardship because an advisor simply “forgot” to do something so important.