Barbara Friedberg, MBA, MS is a former investment portfolio manager with decades of financial experience. If your bonuses depended on retained customers rather than keeping costs to a minimum, maybe there would be a different result. If you are an average man on the street with little knowledge about dealing with investment companies, you will have a difficult time trying to make a withdrawal from Vanguard. 'Vanguard's range of tracker funds is the best (and best value) in the UK currently. Vanguard brokers not helpful at all. Their position is that my mother predecessors my stepdad which in fact she didn’t. Our leasing office reprinted the letter on their letterhead and I re-faxed the document on 9/20.

That was their business. Fees and minimums: But good luck getting an appointment. I am pulling all my money out of vanguard. ", by Randy C., by Karen, My Friend had a 401(k) and a non-retirement account at Vanguard. Financial advisors: Cons: Long wait times, no local contact, gave up on moving funds. I suggest folks consider using Fidelity or some other low cost firm. Then I get a letter from Vanguard saying the address has been updated to the new address. By entering your email, you agree to sign up for consumer news, tips and giveaways from ConsumerAffairs. Nada. Will be moving my IRA's from Vanguard . Since John Bogle left service has gone downhill. Well to say the least, this is the worst company I have ever had the displeasure to have contact with. Vanguard's Customer Service is SUBPAR. I was denied twice because I did not meet the minimum threshold to make a withdrawal. The mandatory restructuring at Vanguard has been torture. by Chris Wiedemer, Worst experience I have ever had with any brokerage firm I have dealt with to date! Cons: The website is busted and there is no browser capable to deal with it. Suddenly, she remembered that Vanguard could do Voice Verification instead of medallion signature guarantees. Told in the letter to contact Vanguard "immediately, " I called repeatedly - nine times - over three days, waiting at least fifteen and up to thirty-six minutes, and sent two emails on a form they have that promises a reply. Hold time on phone is at least 2 hrs....hope you didn't make any plans for your day ! Why?

He also had no explanation for how the Voice Verification could have been set up without my participation. by THOMAS BURKE, There are no commission charges for transactions. It took several attempts, with long hold times, to speak to a human. 2.) 1/19/2018. The widow called me upset and on the verge of tears.Tell everyone you know to get away from Vanguard as quickly as possible unless they hate their heirs in which case Vanguard is the perfect torture chamber.. by Walsh, According to the manager the closing of the account, the mailing of the check to an old address and their inability to get my address correct is all my fault.

Monday, 9/24, I called Vanguard around 9:00AM to find out my paperwork was AGAIN denied because 1. He put me through to someone so I could close the account.

The only way to close the account in your name that you had no part in creation, you must terminate employment with your current company and lose all benefits gained just to get rehired without the account.3.) by JM Miller, The cost bases is one way to do that. Law suits should be considered for inability to trade or see holdings.Impossible to get thru by phone or leave message (told message box full).Is it time to find another place to have your funds? All rights reserved. I no longer trust this company. I have been trying to do a simple Roth conversion and over the course of three days I've had to contact Vanguard at least six times spending up to an hour on some occasions on the phone with them trying to get a simple Roth conversion completed. So they agreed to cancel that and send a new one to my home. Website doesn't deal with what I need. Beware! My mom passed the next day. Phone number: +1 877 662 7447. My employer invested my retirement plan and deferred compensation plan with Vanguard. Many, many calls to customer service. Cons: Can’t believe anything they tell you. Have been trying to transfer funds for 30 days from my mom's inherited IRA...keep getting run around waiting on hold for 2 hrs...team says waiting for dividends to get deposited which is BS....they cant even send money from one account to another account inside their own company. Pretty crazy to have an account in your name taking money out of your paycheck without any consent whatsoever (having direct deposit really hides this until tax season). Each time advised "more information required". So I sit here? 2. Lost my 401k rollover check (after they cashed it); can't make appt w/advisor; long, long holds on the phone, Terrible customer service, lack of communication as to current funds, loss of documentation mailed by request, conflicting answers from representatives. The annual management fee is 0.30 percent of AUM with a $50,000 minimum investment account. What a horrible company. Four months later and still no assets transferred. We have managed to accomplish this without turmoil at Fidelity, Santander, and BNY. Delays of this kind can be very concerning and costly $$$ .
They out right lie to you saying things will be done or mailed and don’t do it. Three days pass and I get the phone call. All cost bases were gone. Long paper work delays, checks mailed to the WRONG address MULTIPLE times. However they had, and were now just avoiding responsibility. It's been eight months of back and forth and I'm yet to receive a penny of my money from them. Getting through to them during business hours recently has been beyond difficult. the Customer Service Rep. told us a check would be cut and sent over night to be with guaranteed delivery before 3:00 pm on Friday Oct. 12th.
Scary. Can I for the love of god finally open this account? In 2002 I became unemployed after a massive stroke. Their titles are senior client service people and yet I'm receiving no customer service. Street, I have been a Vanguard mutual fund investor for about 50 years. I can hardly wait until I don’t have to deal with Vanguard any more! I suspect they terminated me from their services because I DARED to mention ADA Accommodation for an older customer, and I also mentioned I was in a same-sex marriage and that I was HIV-positive (for 30 years). No information. I still haven’t received a copy of the agreement. If not, there is no use in trying to resolve this matter. The first is an unacceptable wait time to speak to an advisor ( greater than 30 minutes). WHAT A FREAKING HASSLE----MORE COMPLICATED THAN MY 1040. So I called Vanguard to discuss this problem.

Other than that, I would give them 1 star for their brokerage. Consumer reviews could be edited by the website staff to keep TopRatedFirms.com free of inappropriate or offensive language, Unfortunately clients look for reviews such as these when they are frustrated and not before they commit funds to Vanguard. Never, Never, Never invest at Vanguard.I would have given them a NEGATIVE 5 stars if I could!!!!! You get what you pay for. The customer service reps are NOT trained to work with common people with little knowledge about how to remove or transfer money invested with Vanguard.

So in summary, if you have money going in and have patience for dealing with antiquated set up system on accounts and only plan to add you are probably OK. According to my own experience, do NOT use their service for trading! They require many of the forms to be notarized, which is a pain but understandable.

Every time I call I get a different representative and I have to start over.

I opened a small biz 401k. No comment.

I'm done - especially after reading the tons of 1 star reviews, many if which I can identify with. Vanguard is poorly run, their staff, although courteous, are poorly trained and can't communicate the entire necessary instructions when asked. Yes into Vanguard. We value your privacy. She said because I used profanity she'd end the call. It too bad , it was not always like this. We use cookies to improve your experience on our site and to show you personalised advertising. How in the world in the middle of a pandemic can you have the audacity to deny a hardship withdrawal because I am not asking for enough? Are overly optimistic in their ability to solve Issues and problems, Never perform up to their commitment. The website for self service was very confusing. by Melvin, I have assets I have been attempting to transfer, in-kind, to Vanguard for four (4) months, It took me probably two months to make my initial account managers understand (yes, two account managers in two months) that I was attempting to transfer assets, not just dump cash into a personal investment account. I called two other numbers, one of them allowed me to keep my place in line by them calling me back. I have been trying for 30+ days to get the distribution check from my 401K after retiring. I also pointed out that under the IRS regulations, I am allowed to take distributions without withholding.After talking with a representative who had no clue, and after being held on the line for a long hold time, I was told that they would try to process the transfer of the two securities between the accounts.Now, I see that even though I requested the full $15,000 value of the two positions moved, they only moved $200 worth of the two positions. We asked to speak with a supervisor to try and get to the bottom of why it has been over a month and this rollover has still not been accomplished. For example, after waiting an hour to speak to a person, that person transferred me to another department, where I just ended up in an interminable hold. I spoke with a supervisor who told me that a direct deposit is allowed, and implemented it.The third month the check was direct deposited.