I have been attempting to withdraw (and now am looking to close completely) my premium bond account with NS&I.
It was set up many years ago, but I was able to make a deposit in February 2017 over the phone without any requirement to prove my identity.
Fast forward to October 2017. I filled in the necessary withdrawal form to take back some of this money and posted it back to them, but after several weeks without receipt of funds, I called NS&I for an update.
I was told that they had received the form, but that they had no proof of signature on file for me and so therefore I would need to complete a different form for this, before they could action the request. No attempt was made to notify me of this, so if I had not made the follow up call myself, I clearly would never have seen any movement on this front.
They could not explain why it was a different process to deposit money as it was to withdraw money, even when using the exact same bank account details, as I had managed to do with ease before.
Nonetheless, after a couple of weeks, this form arrived in the post, which required my signature and that of a witness who was not family and working in a profession (company director, or solicitor etc). After posting this completed form back to them and putting in a call to them a couple of weeks later, they said they had not received the form, so would post another one out to me.
A different and incorrect form arrived in the post yesterday from NS&I, so I am now going to have to call them up - yet again - to request they send the correct form to me this time and if they successfully manage to do so next time, I will have to bother someone again to fill out this document for a second time to witness signature etc and hope for the best.
This experience is unforgiveable and the need to rely on their acknowledging receipt of paperwork, only via standard post (recorded delivery is not guaranteed to work either apparently) means that not only is NS&I completely unfit for purpose, but it is also not a method for storing funds that can reliably be reclaimed in their own, already slow, stated time period.
For a Treasury backed institution, it is a disgrace and for someone in need of reclaiming their money within a reasonable timeframe, it is an experience that might cause great anxiety and financial difficulty.
Avoid NS&I at all costs and if you currently have a premium bond account with them, I would advise you to take heed of this all to common negative customer experience.
Reviewed on: 24th January 2018
