Foresters Friendly Society Reviews

Name: Foresters Friendly Society
Address: Third Floor, Enterprise House, Ocean Way, Southampton
Rating: 4.41

4.4 Rating 658 Reviews

85 %

of reviewers recommend Foresters Friendly Society

Company Reviews

Metrics

Info

4.4

Based on 658 reviews

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Postal Service
Average Delivery Time	Within 5 Days
On-time Delivery	Greater than 66%
Accurate And Undamaged Orders	100%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Email, Live Chat, Telephone
Queries Resolved In	Under An Hour
Customer Service	4.5 out of 5

About Foresters Friendly Society:

Foresters Friendly Society has been helping with family finances since 1834. As a mutual society, we don't have shareholders so our profits are instead distributed to our policyholders in the form of bonuses and also through our Foresters Extras membership package.

Visit Website

Phone:

0800 988 2418

Location:

Third Floor, Enterprise House, Ocean Way
Southampton
SO14 3XB

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Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Sort by: Most Recent Most Recent Highest Rated Filter: None None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“Easy to deal with. Friendly staff. Good rates of interest.”

Helpful Report

“Great service grom Foresters”

Helpful Report

Hi, thank you for leaving a positive review. Best wishes, Foresters.

“Easy to set up a lifetime ISA, you can top up your account any time you wish and set up a direct debit rather easily and quickly. Downside is you can't sign into your account to see how much is in there. Also, did not recieve my egift card reward for 3 months continuous savings, which was one of the reasons I chose foresters friendly society. I feel like I've been ripped off slightly.”

Helpful Report

Hi Kirby, thank you for your review. We have just launched the initial phase of our member portal in July this year and it is currently accessible for new plan holders only. Existing plan holders, like yourself, are being issued invitations during a phased introduction throughout the rest of 2023. We appreciate that you are eager to sign-up for the portal, which is great news, and we will be in touch to advise when you are able to register for your account. With regards to your egift card reward, could you please contact us by email memberservices@forestersfriendlysociety.co.uk or call 0800 988 2418 so we can look into this for you. Kind regards, Foresters.

“5 star service at all times”

Helpful Report

Hi John, thank you for your 5 star feedback! We are glad that you have had a positive experience. Kind regards, Foresters

“In the main I think this is a good savings account if my other accounts are anything to go on although I would like to keep track of it which so far I have been unable to do also the gift for taking out the account is rubbish why you couldn't stick to M&S vouchers I don't know at least they were manageable with no fuss”

Helpful Report

Hi Edward, thank you for sharing your feedback with us. The initial phase of our member portal has just been launched in July this year and is currently accessible for new plan holders only. Existing plan holders, like yourself, are being issued invitations during a phased introduction throughout the rest of 2023, and once you have access you will be able to keep track of your savings. We appreciate that you are eager to sign-up for the portal and we will be in touch to advise when you are able to register for your account. We also recently changed our incentive to an eGift Card to offer a greater choice to our members. The eGift Card can be swapped, in full or in part, for more than 200 of the UK’s favourite brands including M&S. If we can provide some assistance for you with this, please contact us by email memberservices@forestersfriendlysociety.co.uk or call 0800 988 2418. Kind regards, Foresters.

“You'll notice their site is very flashy and looks very presentable, albeit you can't actually login and see any of your information - this is allegedly being rolled out but as a customer for over a year with £12k invested, I still haven't had an invite. Thus all comms has to be by email or phone - with emails regularly going unanswered. My investment was put under a MVR meaning I can't withdraw without a penalty (about 5% of my pot). Whilst I understand this is in the T&Cs and am fine with it, their was no underlying communications to state this prior to my investigation into my fund. Secondly, they can't state when it will be lifted. Nor is there any real information available via their service desks or their website. They will refer you to their website for news but it offers no more than a buried comment about some pre-2023 funds being under a MVR and no ability to find updates or any other method of being updated other than pinging their service desk every day. The website is set up for sales, thus the information is jarringly lacking on their site once your money has been taken. Personally this feels like a bit of a farce and the lack of transparency is very very worrying - I'm pulling my funds out as soon as the MVR is lifted. (If I can every find out when)”

Helpful Report

Hi Dean, thank you for sharing your feedback with us. We have just launched the initial phase of our member portal in July this year and, as you state, this initial phase is accessible for new plan holders only, with existing plan holders being issued invitations during a phased introduction throughout the rest of 2023. We appreciate that you are eager to sign-up for the portal and we will be in touch to advise when you are able to register for your account. It’s important to remember that the savings plan you have opened with us is a longer-term investment which is designed to be held over many years. Investment volatility is not unique to Foresters and is being experienced by all investment providers and their customers. So, while short-term investment value changes can be unsettling, it’s important to maintain a longer-term view as well. As a result of investment volatility, a small proportion of plans that have invested in our Order Insurance with profits Fund in previous years have a Market Value Reduction (MVR) applied to them but no MVR is currently in place for plans taken out in 2023. This is the first time in our history that we have had to apply an MVR. As an adjustment that can be applied to the value of your investment, if you choose to cash-in or withdraw from your plan during volatile investment conditions, which reduces how much you get back, it ensures that everybody gets their fair share of the returns from a with profits fund and is designed to protect members who do not take their money out of the fund during poor market conditions. You will only see the effect of an MVR should you wish to withdraw your money at the time there is an MVR in place. An MVR can be added, removed, increased or decreased at any time and, as we are unable to predict future investment market performance, we are unable to advise how long the MVR for previous year’s investments will be in place for. Our investment team are continually looking for additional opportunities to improve returns whilst remaining within risk tolerance levels. Best wishes, Foresters.

“Money stuck in this bank earning little to no interest and cant remove it unless I give back £400 cashback they offered me to sign up - drawn in with a deal to get stuck in for an entire year. Will read the fine print in future and avoid businesses like Foresters Friendly.”

Helpful Report

Hi Daniel, thank you for your feedback. We understand that our Member Services team have been in touch and have clarified the cashback offer terms and conditions with you. It’s important to remember that the savings plan you have opened with us is a longer-term investment which is designed to be held over many years. Investment volatility is not unique to Foresters and is being experienced by all investment providers and their customers. So, while short-term investment value changes can be unsettling, it’s important to maintain a longer-term view as well. If you do need any further assistance in future please contact us by email memberservices@forestersfriendlysociety.co.uk or call 0800 988 2418. Kind regards, Foresters.

“Quick easy and straightforward to set up”

Helpful Report

Hi David, thank you for taking the time to leave us such a positive review. We're glad you found it quick and easy to open an account with us. Best wishes, Foresters.

“Nice and easy to set up”

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Hi Nikhwat, thank you for taking the time to leave us a review – we really appreciate it! Kind regards, Foresters

“Great and friendly provision of information in order to help me make my investment decisions”

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Hi David, thank you for leaving us a great review! We are glad that you have had such a positive experience! Kind regards, Foresters

“Perfect let's see what happens in future years hope it grows”

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Hi Ranjit, thank you for taking the time to leave us a review! Kind regards, Foresters.

“The application for the over 50's life plan with Foresters was quick and easy to complete. There were no awkward or intimidating questions. The paperwork with acceptance of the plan tacking around a week to be issued, with payments starting over a month afterwards.”

Helpful Report

Hi Gary, thank you for taking the time to write such a great review! We are glad that you had a positive experience. Best wishes, Foresters.

“Online applications were super easy (I took out 3 JISAs for my children in a matter of minutes) and there is now an online Portal open for registration for new applications!”

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Hi Nick, thank you for taking the time to leave us such an amazing review. We're glad you found it quick and easy to open your children’s accounts with us. Best wishes, Foresters.

“Terrible customer service. Really poor handling of my claims on termination of policy. Avoid investing with this company at all costs. Would have given zero stars if possible.”

Helpful Report

Hi Richard, thank you for your review. We appreciate that you felt the claims process was onerous however, for some plan types, we do require adequate documentation for establishing identity at claim stage which ensures that we protect the money and security of our policyholders. This safeguards the plan so that only authorised individuals have access to the payout. We appreciate your cooperation in fulfilling these requirements and we can confirm that our claims department were as flexible as they were able to be, whilst still adhering to our procedures. If you have any further concerns or questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact our claims department. Best wishes, Foresters.

“Very helpful quick response”

Helpful Report

Hi Louise, thank you for taking the time to leave us a review and letting us know your positive experience. Kind regards, Foresters

“Excellent Customer service with a friendly personable touch, I am very happy with my child's savings plans and look forward to being able to view these online as soon as this becomes available.”

Helpful Report

Hi Laura, thank you for taking the time to leave us such a wonderful review and for being a loyal member. Best wishes, Foresters.

“As a member of the Foresters Friendly Society, and having held a policy before, I would have liked the opportunity to select which Court I could belong to. Also, even though I put Foresters Friendly Society in the search engine, it still came up with the other Foresters. Had I not known of this other lot, I could quite easily have gone onto the wrong site.”

Helpful Report

“Great service, I've had a couple of questions about my plan and have been assisted promptly by their advisors.”

Helpful Report

Hi Carolina, thank you for your feedback! We are delighted to hear that you had a great experience with our service. Best wishes, Foresters.

“Been trying to get my money out for several months now and they never reply to emails, calls etc”

Helpful Report

Hi Andy, thank you for bringing your feedback to our attention. We sincerely apologize for the experience you had, and we genuinely appreciate your willingness to provide us with more information so that we can address the issue promptly. We have thoroughly checked our records, but unfortunately, we couldn't find any of your emails regarding this matter or find your details as a registered member based on the information provided. To ensure we fully understand the situation and resolve it, we kindly request you to contact us directly via email at claims@forestersfriendlysociety.co.uk or call us at 0800 101 8312 to provide some further information. We look forward to hearing from you soon and resolving this matter to your utmost satisfaction. Kind regards, Foresters

“Easy and straight forward to use the website”

Helpful Report

Hi Joanne, thank you for your wonderful feedback! We're delighted that you found our website easy to use and straightforward. Our team has worked hard to create a user-friendly experience, and your positive comments mean a lot to us. Best wishes, Foresters.

Foresters Friendly Society is rated 4.4 based on 658 reviews