Windsor Life Assurance Co Ltd

Introduction: I have been a customer of Windsor Life for about 15 years so I thought it might be useful for me to share my experiences with you. I took out a private pension and a long term Additional Wealth Plan with them shortly after buying my home. A little background on Windsor Life: Windsor Life Assurance was purchased in 2004 by Swiss Re Group, which has been a well known insurer to other insurance companies since 1860. Its headquarters in the UK are in Telford and has managed more than 75 million in funds under management. It specialises in investments be they lump sum, regular savings ... more

Windsor Life has just been voted the worst for not paying out annuities in new research published by 'Which' (June 2009). They were also slammed as 'duplicitous' by David Blunkett for not paying out money due to a penniless widow (May 2009). It is clear why they are slow in paying out. They hold on to your money to make money for themselves. That is stealing. I personally have had very bad experiences with Windsor Life. They delayed in paying out my endowment policy and really screwed up my plans. Their projected forecasts are also nothing like their final payment - be prepared to let them run ... more

I have been a customer with Windsor Life (formerly GAN & General Portfolio) for over 20 Years. Overall I have had very bad experience with this company. Over the years I have noticed many errors on my yearly statements of varies policies I have with W/L. In order to sort them out I was kept hanging on the other end of expensive phone calls achieving nothing. When I wrote to W/L there was often no reply or like in many cases it took 6 weeks. Then the problem was not addressed and I would receive a wad of projections to encourage me to invest in more poor products. In my experience W/L is not ... more

I was forced into having an income protection plan with Windsor Life when the company I was claiming from sold my policy to them. I have been ill for a number of years but in 2008 my diagnosis changed and I began to make a slow recovery. Being an honest person I informed Windsor Life of my new circumstances and that there was now a good chance that, in time, I would make a full recovery. Their reaction was to stop all payments on my policy even though I was and am still not fit to return to work. This was done without a medical exam or any other input other than by an arrogant ass who worked ... more

I took out a critical illness policy with a predecessor company of Windsor Life (GAN) in 1992. The policy was £39 a month and set up to pay out a lump sum of £60,000 on the diagnosis of a critical illness. In October I was diagnosed with prostate cancer - early stage and the cancer had not spread beyond the prostate, but had the potential to do so if untreated. I contacted Windsor Life to make a claim under the policy and expected all sorts of problems given the negative press surrounding Windsor Life. However, my experience of the company is the complete reverse of that of other reviewers ... more