This is not of general interest, Bromptonaut, but seems more up your street than any else’s and any hints would be welcome.
Along with her daughter, I have been trying for 7 months now to get the widow’s mite of a private French pension paid to a former colleague’s wife. She is aged 92 and stress over this is probably what accounted for her double pneumonia attack 6 weeks ago.
She has an Australian passport but lives on the Isle of Man, which is not part of the UK or the EU. Her husband (along with me and ten or so other Brits, some with “widows-in waitingâ€) worked in a French company operating in Malaysia, now defunct. Its pension scheme for expats is run by a semi-private insurance outfit, which has thousands of French members. It does not supply phone or fax numbers. It does not seem to have any English-speaking staff but her daughter has some French and I know a bit.
All requested documentation has been submitted, in fact three times, but without any result. Currently being investigated are appeals to the French Embassy in London and a letter to a financial agony columnist such as Jessica Gorst-Williams in the Telegraph. What else would you suggest if this came across your desk at Citizen’s Advice please?
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Not sure I'd have many more suggestions than those you've already mentioned.
Presume you've looked into the French equivalents of Insurance Ombudsmen etc. Or any french equivalent of Citizen's Advice? The prospect of Ms Gorst-Williams (or the Guardian's Anna Tims) would no doubt galvanise the sclerotic systems of a UK insurer. Does a press expose play same way in France?
All of that is quite specialized and I think a Bureau with such an inquiry might run it past the 'experts' at CA HQ.
I'd also want to be sure she was getting all she could from UK/IOM or Oz benefit system.
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Thanks for suggestions. I haven't tried to find French equivalents but will try to do so. As regards Jessica, my mere hint of contacting her once over a much-delayed annuity produced an immediate positive response from the provider.
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I have checked and there are indeed ombudsmen ("Mediators of Public Service") and CA equivalents, although the latter may require a subscription.
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Unpaid widow's pension - Bromptonaut
