deVere Group

Cheques given to them to pass on to my Financial account were not paid. The company contacted them and told them that payments were missing from my account and gave 90 days for money to be paid, and Devere failed to inform me of this.

They informed me much later, and as a result my account was surrendered. The company my account was with have told me they contacted Devere several times about my account, and that Devere did not get back to them. Devere's negligence has caused us to lose nearly AED 100,000 of our hard earned money! I have complained, and all they can say is that there is nothing they can do about it.

They do not deny that they failed to do their job as brokers, yet they do not offer any compensation for our loss. This has been a very sad and painful experience!

A BBC Panorama investigation into high commission and administration charges levied by one Nigel Green and the many companies he operates, one in particular which keeps getting negative worldwide publicity, deVere Group. Just google Devere scammers to see the truth about this shoddy outfit. Simon Pratt one of their recently resigned Directors is is hiding from the Hong Kong Tax authorities.

Spencer Lodge another disgraced Director who renagged on a charity ball bid to help Elton John's Aids Foundation. He is just about to embark on opening a international offshore brokerage up in Dubai of all places. As if Dubai didn't have enough already! DeVere currently have three offices fleecing expat's of their life savings.

These people should be on SFO most wanted list for crimes against hard working expat's. There are more names to be added to the list of international thieves of which there are many within the deVere Group.

Be warned, stay clear of the glossy deVere website, & smooth talking salesman who will give you a word perfect scripted meeting. All deVere meetings are scripted to carefully push you into an expensive front loaded retirement policy.

I went on the course. Interview, Joined an office in Europe and then left sharpish. Here is why.

I went to the presentation for devere and I have to say Nigel Green was mega enthusiastic about devere. He did lay it on the line about it being commission only and hard work, but he also said that I would be guaranteed two appointments a day, a coordinator when I arrived at my office and 50K in the bank within 10 weeks. I almost believed him, which was naïve and ***.

Next I had an interview was with a guy who said he was the former coordinator for Nigel Green. He was a real *** and I was a bit miffed as I had travelled a long way to Birmingham for what was in essence a 10 minute chat and a *** aptitude test for 10 yr olds, he was really only interested in whether I had the money to fund myself while abroad and that I was breathing.

Next I went on the course. It was mainly based on learning a sales pitch. I was stunned at the lack of financial training given. It was just a comedy sales course about learning a sales pitch to lead a customer into saying "˜yes' .

It would be almost impossible to fail the course. My trainer gave everyone the answers to the final day tests. The trainer on my last day sat down and he called the manager of my office and confirmed I had passed the course and that I would have a coordinator on arrival.

I started as an IFA not a coordinator. I arrived at my office a couple of weeks later. There were terrible morale issues from the start. Staff were coming and going all over the show, arguing and shouting. There was unbelievable racial abuse towards one black and one asian coordinator by the managers. I was told on the training course I would get help with finding accommodation but when I arrived I was simply chucked a couple of rental website links and told to get on with it. Contrary to what I was told at the presentation, interview and by the trainers, I was told by my office manager I would only get a coordinator after a couple of months and in the meantime, I was handed a list of 100 or so people to cold call and get some appointments for myself. After I had spent the 100 names I was to then find my own clients and was offered no help from anyone apart from some sympathy from some of the other guys in the same boat.

I was told by my manager that I would have to contribute towards office costs which I had no idea about before I arrived. I was told that the training course was free but my manager told me that I had to pay an additional 5% of my commission away on my first few deals to pay for the cost of the course and hotel. Most of the guys in the office said you would only get support once you started earning. It wasn't a good atmosphere. Most just felt they had been sold up the river and everyone was backstabbing everyone else. Some of us newbies would go to the pub after work and laugh about how we were tricked, honestly, you couldn't make it up.

I left devere within a short period because of all the deceit. Ok, all companies make things look a little brighter to get you on board but devere are n a different league and I had a problem working for a company that was happily willing to deceived me from the very beginning starting with the MD in that presentation. This might be the problem; the deceit comes from the top down. This isn't a company you can trust.

The final straw was watching as the manager and a so-called IFA laughed came back from an appointment having taken some guy for 10K in commission for a plan he didn't need and (as they pointed out with more laughs) was underperforming anyway. I didn't think there were really people like that but devere had plenty of them.

Now don't get me wrong, there were one or two guys in that office earning good money but in all honestly, even they agreed with me that within devere there was a culture of lies and deception and you had to put your conscience away in a locked room because you were taking clients for a commission rollercoaster ride. Most people were struggling big time and some had some frightening financial problems spending lots but not earning. Remember devere give you nothing, you pay for everything and some people didn't want to let go because they kept thinking the next deal was just around the corner. I met one guy who had spent near 15K chasing his illusive next sale! During my short spell 7 IFAs left and 6 coordinators walked all broke.

I spent about 3K on my trip and didn't make a bean. I had already decided it was gambling money, set my limit and I was prepared to lose it if it went wrong. I blame myself more than anything for not questioning some of the info I was given which always sounded a bit iffy. The trouble is you are blinded by the thought of earning all that money and it distorts your reasoning, but as one of the guys said to me "If you don't believe anything you are told, then you wont be disappointed'.

My advice for what it is worth is that for a chosen few it will be a risk worth taking but proceed with extreme caution and only do this if you have money you are willing and prepared to lose if it doesn't work out. Whether you make it or not, this isn't your average IFA business in fact it's not an IFA business it's just a sales outfit in IFA clothes. If you think you are walking into a professional IFA company, think again, it's just a direct sales company selling financial products that are poor performing and high paying in commission. Remember the products they sell abroad are banned in the UK. Ask yourself why.

So if you do go for it you have a 10% chance of making money and 90% chance of going broke but if you do want to make it, be sure you leave your morale's at home because you won't need them at devere

Provide as much information as possible, you will not be able to edit your review but you will be allowed to add on to it if you create an account during the submission process.

Like many it seems I was given misguided advice from deVere in South Africa. In particular the failed Strategic Growth Fund. This was through what was called Generali Vision and now Utmost Vision.

Having finally seen a statement today it seems my ‘Pension’ that I was being sold has lost 50% of its value in a decade.

I sent a request to surrender my policy on the 8th of May, I was asked to send more information which did not make sense and was from an automated email with little explanations. After several emails, I sent the required information on 13th May and I am still waiting for my funds!

It's bad enough that I have lost over $29,000 but they are taking forever to repay me whatever little they claim I am entitled to. This company is a huge scam and I will definitely warn anyone and everyone about investing their hard earned cash through one of their products. The response to m initial review proves my point, how can I not know what I am talking about. When I took this policy with Devere I was based in Dubai, not South Africa.

Devere does have offices in Dubai.

I have been contacting the Dubai office to get back my money so I know what I am talking about. Instead of asking for more information they come back with a stupid response.

This company accept absolutely no responsibility for their employees not honouring the promises they made when I invested the money. They offered me no advice despite the fact that they advertise themselves as investment advisors.

I still do not not know the status of the investment or whether they only exist on paper.

The local representative says he cannot advise me. No resolution at all.

Several years ago DeVere moved assets in my QROPS, without approval, then lost money by opening a new savings account with Generali instead of Amending the existing simply to get commissions, I find this out at a later date when I finally found a trustworthy Adviser, but the really difficult part is DeVere keep calling me and asking me to return which is no only unprofessional but extremely annoying ..