Standard Life UK Reviews 

Standard life. I'm telling you. Couple of mins and you're actually speaking to someone! Polite and professional. Even if you haven't got a product with them you should give them a call just to experience what great customer service feels like. I'm sure they'd appreciate it!

After 2 weeks they can't explain the "glitch" that happened when they tried to transfer my funds and I have still not received the money. Everytime I contact them they say " its has been escalated to back office".It is so frustrating.

I asked Standard Life for a simple quote for my pension back in June, I was told it would be sent by secure message, I then received a secure message saying I could not get a quote and would have to phone a SL advisor? I called them and was told they could not give me a quote and I would have to use a SL financial advisor, made an appointment and was told he could not deal with my pension as he only deals with pensions paying out at least £5,000 and because my pension is so small it would not be worth my while paying his £1,000 fee !
Received an email from SL after I made a complaint and was eventually told a letter was posted to me, received the letter at the start of October with the same information they sent me in June !
Why are these companies allowed to get away with this ?
And please Nikki and Shaun do not post a generic reply that the complaints team are looking in to this when it is blatantly obvious that they are not !
you said you had sent an email through trustpilot, still waiting!
Ireceived a response from Shaun at SL saying that they had sent a final response to me, where is it ?
It is not in an email nor is it in my online SL pension account !
If it is the same final response letter you sent me already in June and September it is a statement telling me how much my pension is worth !
It is in no way connected to my request for a quote for an a fixed term annuity, do you actually read peoples requests ?

SUPBERB SERVICE FROM LIFTING THE PHONE TO GETTING TO THE CORRECT DEPARTMENT.

MY CALL YESTERDAY WAS HANDLED VERY PROFESSIONALLY FROM THE TEAM & MY QUERY EXPLAINED TO MYSELF & RESOLUTION FOUND BY THE TEAM.

VERY HAPPY SO FAR THE WAY MY SITUATION WAS HANDLED & HOW SWIFTLY STANDARD LIFE WERE ABLE TO HELP. ALL PEOPLE OF WHOM I SPOKE WITH THAT DAY MADE MY WORLD A FAR BETTER PLACE WITH EXPLAINING THE INS & OUTS OF MY SITUATION.

Thank you Standard Life.

I am still waiting for my account to be set up; They have been sitting on my cash for weeks and will not do anything. I am losing so much money. Customer service is useless.
Wish I had never transferred my pension.
I have now raised a formal complaint and still waiting for a response

Appalling company, dire service, and the atrocious return on my pension investment of thousands of pounds after twelve months was just over £60!! Nothing works, you cannot even log in to their system, and they demand your plan number to file a complaint, which you cannot log in to get! They also show total disregard for complaints about the poor service or return on investments! You'd be far better off putting your pension money into high interest bank accounts! They are a complete joke!!

The whole process was straightforward and stress free.
All checks and balances throughout the process were understood.

Excellent service from start to finish. Can't fault them at all.

Shocking absence of a meaningful response from Standard Life to a simple request and subsequent complaint that remains unresolved after nearly five months. Woeful!

Every time I have call Standard Life the customer service experience has been 10/10. Also, the investment of my funds have exceeded expectations.

Sent them details on 12th August to change my bank account. Six weeks later numerous phone calls and messages and it’s still not changed. The staff just lie to you all the time. They muck up payments and it takes then weeks to put it right if at all they do. Worst company ever. Keep clear.

The transfer was straightforward and quick.

I applied for a £100,000 Standard Life Annuity via Hargreaves Lansdown my SIPP provider, but decided to cancel under the 30 day cooling off period due to zero communication from Standard Life, the fact that Hargreaves Lansdown could not contact them by phone or email and the poor reviews for Standard Life. I formally cancelled on 18/08/2026. Mysteriously I received my Welcome Pack paperwork on 21/08/2026 three days after contacting them. The paperwork was dated 03/08/2026. I was told over the phone the refund would be processed within 10 working days of 18/08/2026. It wasn’t and hasn’t been to date (21/09/2026). They made the first annuity payment of £560 to me against my wishes on 28/08/2026 which I paid back into their account the same day. I was told in writing on 03/09/2026 that the £100,000 would be repaid to Hargreaves Lansdown within 10 working days of that date. I wasn’t. I spoke to them this morning, 21/09/2026, by phone and was told that a task had been raised and it wouldn’t be looked at until 05/10/2026. So nothing will have been done in nearly two months despite two solid fund repayment dates been given, one in writing. The law states that I should be refunded 30 calendar days after I chose to cancel. So that will be 49 days before Standard Life will even look at my refund back to Hargreaves Lansdown – that’s not even make it, just to look at the case. Hence they are clearly breaking the law! To be specific FCA COBS 15.2.1 06/04/2026 R (the 30 calendar day right to cancel) and FCA COBS 15.4.4 06/10/2009 R (The firm must, without any undue delay and no later than within 30 calendar days, return to the consumer any sums it has received from him in accordance with the contract, except for any amount that the consumer may be required to pay under this section. This period shall begin from the day on which the firm receives the notification of cancellation). I would also bet they make another Annuity payment on 28/09/2026 which I will have to pay back. I have started a formal complaint with Standard Life and will be following up with The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). As far as I am concerned this should have been dealt with within the legal 30 calendar day deadline, that I am entitled to compensation and for loss of interest that accrues until the funds are paid back (currently 8%). NOTE: It had taken Standard Life one day to make the policy live after they requested the funds from Hargreaves Lansdown, so there is something they are efficient at, i.e. taking your money! I have never dealt with a company who are as wilfully inept as Standard Life and don’t seem to care about breaking the law.

23/09/2026 - UPDATE 1 re Standard Life's reply on Trustpilot
This looks like the stock reply they seem to give to any complaint. As far as I can see they skirt around the law on a regular basis and in my and other cases clearly break it. I will update this review as and when I hear more and if and when there is a solution.

23/09/2026 - UPDATE 2 re an email I just received from Standard Life as below

I should say I have seen the words "technical issue" mentioned in multiple poor reviews.

I have replied asking for a definitive timescale and highlighting that "technical issue" is not an excuse legally. Bear in mind that originally they said they were not even going to look at the task before 05/10/2026. I have this in writing from them via email.

Their latest email below raises more questions than it answers in my view...

--8x--------------

"Good afternoon,

We have received your cancellation notice. However, we have encountered a technical issue in the process and its being investigated.

We will keep you updated once the cancellation is completed and funds are returned.

We sincere apologise for the inconvenience caused and appreciate your patience."

23/09/2026 - UPDATE 3 re Hargreaves Lansdown finally managed to contact standard life after over a month of trying (see email below). The bottom line is your Financial Advisor has no better access to Standard Life than customers which is a worry in itself! The days tick by with no action from Standard Life which means more compensation and more interest they will need to pay me for breaking the law. There is no grey area here in which Standard Life can hide!

--8x--------------

"Hope all is well.
I was on hold to Standard Life for 45 minutes before managing to get through to someone regarding your case. I believe it is the same line that customers also use.

I can confirm that your policy is definitely cancelled and Standard Life are in the process of returning the funds.

I will keep an eye out for the return of funds and notify you when these are back in your account."

28/09/2026 - UPDATE 4 re an email I received from Standard Life

Complaint received, no action, just says FCA allows them 8 weeks to answer complaints!

STANDARD LIFE REMAINS ABYSMAL.

AVOID AVOID AVOID

Failed again to acknowledge recorded withdrawals from my SL bank account. Failed to transfer funds.

The FCA time and again let's SL get away with unprofessional fiscal behaviours. Now SL won't even confirm I can have my own money from my bank account.

So I am litigating against Standard Life for losses and compensation.

I have had enough of this appalling outfit.

For me Standard Life have been very good. The app is easy to use and reliable. The seminars' provided are a good source of information. The options for drawing money, the charges etc. and the ultimate execution was performed smoothly by the consultant I spoke to "Katy". I couldn't ask for any more, I've been very impressed so far.

Easy to set up through email provided link. Even easier to take tax free lump sum and significantly quicker than expect for funds to arrive in my bank account. Excellent process.

My initial contact by telephone was great. Spoke to a really helpful member of their team who talked me through my options and any tax implications regarding withdrawing a portion of my pension. I completed all the requested forms and sent through the required documentation and got my payments in two lots (tax free and taxable) last week. The whole process took approximately 19 working days. UNFORTUNATELY on the same day my payment came through I received a message via their online servicing saying they had encashed my entire pension amount by mistake and I needed to make arrangements to repay them. The two payments received were the amounts originally discussed which I have in writing. I am
now trying to find out where the balance of my pension is. When I try and communicate with them using online servicing now I am unable to view any emails and have a message saying my contract details are not available to view and I should call them. This is highly unsatisfactory as I live in Australia. I am
now worried sick about my pension balance and have to wait until Monday to call them.

Perfect transfer from another pension. Easy to set up and arrange. Takes a few weeks but definitely takes the strain away from managing pensions. Many thanks.

Standard Life are asking me for a review yet I have had no correspondence at all,regarding my pension pot,so how can I leave a positive review.

Absolute rubbish company for investing your money.
Always come out with the same rubbish policies go up and down and it’s your choice which to invest in however all the policies are rubbish and all appear to lose money. My family laugh because we have watched it for nearly a year and it goes up two thousand teaches 110 000 then goes down 2 grand it never goes higher it seems rigged.
So I am in the stages of moving it to Black rock but just in case I am watching the performance with money I invested earlier this year and so far it goes up regularly so it looks like bye bye SL