embarkplatform.co.uk Reviews 49

Tied up with Hornbuckle Mitchell. Customers are treated with complete indifference. The worst possible customer service. Incompetent inefficient. I have got out I think by the skin of my teeth.

Long term victim here. I've finally given up with these people I have a SIPP based pension which is basically commercial property. Any time I try and engage with them for repairs, insurance etc. they are a complete nightmare. Stuff doesn't get paid, they don't answer emails, never the same contact... and forget phoning them, they are never available and don't pick up when you call them direct. The fees are extortionate, it's quite insulting when you look at their level of 'service' and the made up fees they charge for utter ineptitude. Steer clear of this bunch of cowboys, it beggars belief that they are still allowed to operate!!

Embark are really exceptionally poor in their ability to manage peoples pensions. I am currently as client- I say currently as this last episode has caused me to look at an alternative platform provider and will be moving away from them. I am due to receive my pension on the 11th June, but Embark forgot to carry out a sale of shares to fund this months salary so I will not be paid on time- and wouldnt have been paid at all only for the fact that I questioned why no shares had been sold did it come to light- Embark should be paying me for managing my own pension as they are completely incompetent- I have basically paid them fees to actually not do anything.

Embark part of Lloyds Banking Group are not a company anyone should be dealing with. They are unprofessional in every way. I have been trying to move my pension since July 2022 and they have held me back from doing this. They are withholding funds and saying that the funds have been transferred when the funds have not. They are refusing to honour my complaint, I have no access to my pension at all now and I am left having to go to the ombudsman. Please please do yourself a favour and make sure you do not use this company. They are scammers.

Am in the process of moving to pension bee, have been on embark platform through hoyl independent advisers and wish we had never touched them in four years have not made any profit at all stay clear of both

Very uncooperative and bordering on abrupt and aggressive responses to very reasonable questions regarding my pension fund. The lack of transparency of the justification of the funds performance is a real concern. Vanguard LifeStategy 80% Equity Fund are indicating the fund has lost -1.75%, Jan 2022 to Jan 2023, whilst Advance by Embark the Platform I am investing in are saying the fund had lost over -10% in value. Even considering the charges at -2.5%, these percentages do not stack up. In essence I've lost over £10k in less than 12 months. I will be approaching the Pensions Ombudsman regarding constructing a case together for this "unjustification of disparity" in the figures. Embark I feel have just fobbed me off, differing my query the financial advisor that recommended this platform. Embark have informed me that all the information is on the Embark Platform, my F.A will be able to do an audit trail regarding the demise of my funds, but I feel the transparency of these transactions clouded. Please invest your money elsewhere.

I gave one star because you can't give zero. I have been trying to transfer an isa from embark to another provider. This saga has been ongoing since early summer and is still unresolved. Nice on the phone then nothing ever happens. Spurious reasons for I activity and they don't take responsibility for anything. I want to move the isa due to low growth and a very unclear fee system. Getting details on that is all but impossible. Wish I'd never dealt with them and feel I have lost money. Terrible company.

Customer service on the phone was great. My call was quickly answered and they are very kind and patient and guided me through a transaction I was struggling with.

We didn't choose Embark but when Alliance were sold our SIPP's went over to the Embark Platform. The trading platform is archaic, difficult to navigate and slow. Getting funds out was worse than drawing teeth and when the trading platform stopped accepting trading orders (which Embark were unable to explain let alone resolve) we had to wait over two months before suddenly the issue was solved (we were not the only ones affected by this problem). We've now moved to Interactive Investor but Embark have proved incapable of dealing with even the basics and after almost 5 months we're still waiting on them to confirm the funds and allow us to make a withdrawal. Dreadful service and a dinosaur of a financial services company. It galls me to think that we actually paid them a fee for this 'service'. Avoid at all costs.

Poor customer service. I withdrew money from my pension last year as I had unused tax allowance following redundancy. Transaction was completed on 4th April2022 and confirmed by Embark, however they then pushed it into next year and I was taxed on the payment. I contacted HMRC and they agreed in writing that Embark can put the transaction into last tax year. Embark flatly refuse. Net result is I will pay over £4,000 extra tax this year. I will move my funds away from Embark at first opportunity.
Rubbish "customer service" !

My late father had money invested with Sterling which was transferred to this outfit. He died in November 2021 and so far, like another reviewer, we have not been able to close his account and have his funds released to my 82 year old mother. Embark make constant demands for forms to be completed, things to be signed and ID to be produced. They have now asked my brother and I (executors of Dad’s will) to send them two forms of ID each and a letter from a professional person verifying that we are who we say we are. This despite the fact that we have gone through the full legal and ID process to obtain Grant of Probate and the money won’t be going to us. It’s Mum’s money and will be going to her account.

It is now becoming clear to me (and this has been confirmed by our financial advisors who are dealing with Embark regularly) that they make endless demands in order to deliberately obstruct attempts to withdraw funds and close accounts.

I dread to think what would happen if my 82 year old Mum should pass away before this money is released. Perhaps this is what Embark are hoping for.

In any case my next step is a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman and a public campaign to name and shame Embark through Paul Lewis’s Money Box programme and a local radio show called On Your Behalf. I want to make sure the word is out and as many people as possible know to steer well clear. My father was a hardworking, honest man. He didn’t earn a lot but he lived wisely and spent little. The thought of people like this attempting to profit from his death is as disgusting as it is heart breaking.

Very difficult to get through to... when you do you get passed from pillar to post.
Try requesting to speak to Head of Dept for customer service to he told they aren't available.

Tells you everything.
Probably at home while the staff field their calls. Tired is an overstatement.

Moving to AJ B

My clients have been sold by Zurich (Sterling) to this mob. All I want is a generic fund fact sheet for one of my clients, but Embark do not make them available (like everyone else does), you have to sign up to their online services with an account including a user and a 'Super-user'. After several days of to and fro, I receive confirmation that I'm set up, so I go to use the platform - nothing, just options to add users, or edit users. The chat function is unhelpful, keep banging on about 'Super users', and telling me I only need that to unlock my account or change password! How can I unlock an account I can't even get into? What a shambles this lot are. How can they make something so simple this complex?

Please bear in mind that Embark owns Stocktrade so you could unwittingly have your funds with Stocktrade even though Embark is not your investment Platform. One example is SIPPs with Suffolk Life which is now owned by Curtis Banks. I have no criticism of Curtis Banks but they do use Stocktade hence a subsidiary of Embark!

Avoid like the plague. I’d rather catch coronavirus than have anything to do with these people. My Isa was transferred to them from Sterling (Zurich) at the beginning of the year. First thing they did was mess up my regular monthly withdrawal. Since then my personal advisor has been trying to get my funds transferred elsewhere. We have finally managed to move most of the money after nearly 3 months but for some reason they have retained a small amount which we are still having to chase. Appallingly bad.

Wife and I have ISA,s with Embark. Contacted our financial advisor two weeks ago to release money for a new car purchase. Avoid this company if you need your money back at any point. They still haven't responded to our financial advisor two weeks later. They have made us look silly and unprofessional with the car sales company we are dealing with. As a result we are having to raise extra money through a HP agreement. My wife and I are disgusted with this company's response and they have caused us a lot of sleepless nights recently. Looks like legal action is only response we have according to another reviewer to retrieve our money in any decent time frame

Impossible to deal with and make it as hard as they can to withdraw your money. My mother is 80 and a widow and had been sent round the houses by Embark while trying to close the accout, to the extent that this made her ill. They do not answer letters and send you round in circles. It is almost as if they don't want you to withdraw your money......

Trying to move my funds from Embark to a pension provider. I wouldn't even give them one star but no stars isn't an option. Unhelpful would be an understatement of the response from their service desk & transfer team. Dates have come & gone & nothing's happened. Pursuing a complaint but not expecting anything positive. Don't go near them, I wish we hadn't. Enormous stress & worry has resulted, not that they are remotely concerned.

I have an ongoing claim with FSCS and Embark still haven't sent the documentation required. They were given 2 weeks it is now 6 weeks. Are they hiding something. Customer service has not improved since they were called Liberty SIPP.
Such a shame as they could be an amazing company

Same APPALLING experience as other reviewers. My ISA was moved from Alliance and am now trying to transfer to another platform. Have had to raise formal complaint about delays and lack of communication.it has made no difference- they ‘are unable’ to give a timescale for the transfer to complete. Totally unacceptable. AVOID AVOID AVOID