Vanguard

Worst customer service! If you plan on retiring start a year in advance! I was charged a 20.00 overnight fee, and my distribution sat on someone's desk for two days!

Vanguard is refusing to pay out my 401k funds that they've had for the past 22 years. I have called them several times but nobody will send me the form I need to have the money sent to a new account.

They sent me a letter with all of my information on it such as my address and plan number, but when I call and they ask for the information, they say it's incorrect. So now they won't send me the blank form.

Updated from 2 stars:
The last rep I spoke with was an absolute crouton.

Every time I try and contact them it takes forever to speak to someone. This is after providing the same info multiple times to the IVR system (robot voice).
Once I do, it starts with just an operator who then has to transfer me, causing even more wait time. Been waiting to speak to someone right now for 2 hours. And this isn't the first time.

If you're going to lack in the customer service dept, at least make your app/website more modern and user-friendly.
It shouldn't take a bunch of digging to figure out how do something as simple as edit a 401k contribution... The 'search' field on the website does not help at all.
Whenever I try and log into the retirement section of the website, it again, asks for my login details, then shoots me back to the investor center section of the website. Somehow I was able to access it today and got my issue resolved on my end while still waiting for customer service.

I cannot give them 2 stars. I've been with them over 40 years, have a good chunk of my lifetime savings there, and it has always been great until the last couple of years. Customers were FORCED to make changes that were against their best interest, while getting much less service. Customer service messages (no email) are poorly answered with a lack of understanding customer needs and an unwillingness to solve a problem. Their forced messaging system is not a full up email service, so messages are saved a few days and then deleted. Furthermore, my replies to them show nowhere. (No history or thread of correspondence). I've taken to copying the page image and saving each and every one...what a pain! I write very specific and clear messages to get some simple accounting information that has always been provided until recently, and their answer doesn't even match the question! I gave a representative a flaming review, rewrote my communication simply but detailed, and got the same representative back, this time with an even shorter and less useful response. I'm not asking for anything weird...just some basic accounting information that ANY financial institution provides. WTH? My account is so messed up from this stupid "settlement account" they made me move my money into. I've even asked if there is any other way to leave part of the settlement account in place and let me have a nice working account back. --No, certainly not.
I will say no one has been rude, but they are definitely incompetent. Maybe high school students on a month-long internship? No, wait, a motivated student would make more effort.
Vanguard: If you are trying to make more money for yourselves, see how that goes when you've run off all your customers.
As soon as I do my research and find a suitable place, I will be moving my assets and closing the accounts.
The dates of my bad experience with the company is a range of about 2 years.

I've been a customer of Vanguard for 20+ years. I used to be very pleased but in the past two years their service has hit rock bottom. Folks on phone give you contradictory information, they promise to investigate issues and call back but the call never comes. I've had a repair ticket outstanding for 2 1/2 months for a problem they acknowledge should be fixed but no resolution. Run don't walk to another provider!

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Vanguard really pushes you to look for information on their unorganized and multiple websites, or suffer for calling them. There should be a contact email or text chat option on the website at least. I was calling about an employer sponsored 401k and the wait time is not bad. But the reps that picked up kept transferring me to the individual investor accounts department. The wait times are long for individual accounts (over 20 minutes on a good day). There's a lack of communication between departments and they didn't listen to what I was calling about, only for a reason to transfer me away. I've called the correct number and was transferred, waited an hour, only to be transferred back. I've had to call Vanguard at least 10 times this past year, and they don't seem to document any information given during the calls. They also made me wait 2-3 weeks for mail, only for it to be sent to the wrong address even though I confirmed the address multiple times. The level of incompetence is astounding especially for such sensitive matters as transferring upon death.

Back in 2020 I changed my Vanguard account to a managed account and I have been paying them for 2 years to do absolutely nothing. After scheduling a couple of meetings, and making it clear that I was not happy with the way they were handling my account, I receive a letter stating that they will no longer charge me for managing my account. Why were they charging me in the first place? Not only did they not make any changes to the investments, even though I was losing a significant amount of money month after month, but they were also charging me as well. Well enough was enough. I moved all of my money from Vanguard to a more customer focused firm 2 weeks ago and I'm glad I did. In one of the meetings, and after losing 20% of my account, I asked them how much money they were going to watch me lose before they made any changes to the account. They said they would not make changes because they felt my investments were exactly the way they should be. Really? I have been extremely dissatisfied with Vanguard. By the way, I have had another IRA with another firm side by side with Vanguard, and the other account has done much better in this bad market.

Recently moved, new computer, etc., tried to access my Vanguard account. Could not answer the ludicrous challenge questions, got locked out of my account, called customer service. They offered to send me a PAPER form to sign and have notarized to unlock my account, would not let me speak to a supervisor, or provide any other number of relevant docs, SSN numbers, passport, passwords, etc., but they would unlock my account if I could tell them the name of my first girlfriend or get the spelling of the town I honeymooned in exactly right. Security is important but you also need to have a heart and a brain... One star, I'mm done with these guys...

My father had the upmost trust in this company and now that he has passed on, I find that they are as helpful, honest and polite as he said they were. They are happy to do a bit of hand-holding with me, as I figure out how best to manage my affairs. I could not recommend them more highly!

It seems that they are intentionally making it harder for traders to check buy/sell history and open orders for individual stock or etf.

Dear Mr. Buckley and Mr. Benchener,

Although my father passed away on September 8,2021, my sister and I did not begin the transition process on his accounts until late January 2022. By early March 2022, three (3) out of the four (4) firms my dad had relationships with had handled the transition services requests presented to them. As of the date of this letter - almost 120 days later and approaching five (5) months - Vanguard is the only investment services firm where we still struggle to get competent support, assistance and closure to the transition services process. I am requesting immediate assistance from your offices as this is no longer acceptable treatment for a long standing and loyal customer.

With Vanguard, my sister and I have each spent at a minimum of 12 hours on hold, (sometimes up to 90 minutes at a time), spoken to over a dozen representatives, received cryptic e message communications through the Vanguard Secure Message Center, received contradicting Customer Service instructions as to what had to be done/processed – and yes, even correspondence/confirmation that something had been completed – which we found out to be untrue with a Vanguard Customer Representative claiming 'I honestly don't know why you received that email as this has not been completed'.

Further, a check book ordered on April 5,2022 during one step of the transition services process has gone missing. A written letter from Vanguard referenced that the checkbook was mailed on April 5,2022, but nothing has been delivered. Keep in mind, this checkbook was to replace one on an account my father had set up years ago with my sister as co-signer. When we notified Vanguard of dad's death – Vanguard closed check writing on this account. The problem with this was that Vanguard did not tell my sister – who was a co-account holder! We found out the check writing option was disabled when a $2,000 check written (for expenses related to dad's death) was returned and we incurred an overdraft fee of $45. To date – we are still waiting for that fee to be reimbursed to us for Vanguard's 'oversight'. No one we have spoken to seems to know how to get that accomplished. In the interim, all expenses - including funeral related items - were paid out of pocket by Marci and I – because we had no checkbook or access to funds to handle 'dad' related expenses.

A few weeks back a representative sensed I was about to break down in tears (I was indeed on the verge of doing so after loudly voicing my frustrations with Vanguard) and requested a second checkbook be Federal Express'ed to my home. I received that checkbook, but the one mailed on April 5,2022 is still missing. Similarly, I have an email from the Vanguard representative claiming he was certain I should have it by May 4,2022 (today is May 16,2022).

To date, no one at Vanguard has been able to cancel this missing checkbook nor has anyone been able to obtain a tracking number to determine where they are! Even if we could find competent customer service to locate a tracking number and cancel the checks – my fear is the representative would in error cancel the second check book which was Federal Express'ed to my home - and we would be back to square one. This is how incompetently the transition services for the death of a family member has been handled by Vanguard. To date my sister and I have paid $15,000 out of pocket while Vanguard representatives have pointed to a series of different groups – not knowing of course if I could get a competent body on the phone in less than 2 hrs., or if that person was the right person to handle the request!

Finally, after just short of breaking down on the phone, two representatives stated they would take over as point persons for shepherding the accounts to completion and I was to speak with no one else in the process. One took control of transitioning dad's regular accounts and one took over the missing checkbook, the $45 fee credit and the IRA related account.

As of last Friday, the regular accounts via 'TM' appear to have been transitioned (I am still reconciling them so I can't state that with full confidence) and the IRA/checkbook/overdraft fee point of contact ABC) – who told me to speak with no one else - has gone Missing in Action. 'CL' and I were scheduled to talk last week. However, a combination of six (6) calls, emails and secure messages to him have gone unreturned in any way – by anyone at Vanguard.

Mr. Buckley and Mr. Benchener, please put yourselves in my shoes. Vanguard manages over $7 trillion in assets yet this situation is both an embarrassment and a mess. Unlike Fidelity – a firm with a considerably smaller amount of assets under management - Vanguard does not assign one body or point person to handle all aspects of a family's transition process after a loved one has passed. Vanguard has multiple bodies in multiple groups handling different parts of the transition services - who you are lucky to get on the phone the day you call. If you do happen to have an actual body on the phone, you can only hope they know what they are doing.

I can't tell you how many times in the past four (4) months and counting I have been told by a Vanguard representative (sic): Sorry, you have to contact this group for one thing, another group for something else and a third group for the last remaining item. With a Vanguard hold queue upwards of 90 minutes (one call logged in at 2 hours and 26 minutes including 90 minutes on hold), how can someone get a solution - during their OWN workday!

There was a time many years ago that Vanguard customer service was efficient well experienced and knowledgeable – and Vanguard could do no wrong. I must say, those days are long gone. I have never seen anything like this in my life (and I work for a large bank). I am at a loss for words as to how I can get this situation solved properly by Vanguard. PLEASE provide assistance. I don't know what else to do at this point but beg your offices for assistance.

For weeks Vanguard is requiring two factor authorization via phone. When I called to ask why this has been a problem for weeks I was told that they were working on a known problem. They might get it fixed in a few weeks. It's pain and they can't fix something they created.

When my Mother died, I contacted 4 financial organizations to start the process of settling her estate. Vanguard was by far the WORST experience.
1. I called 3 times and got 3 different sets of instruction what to do.
2. One of the agents gave incorrect tax-related information. Checked with a CPA and Vanguard was 100% wrong. Could have cost us a lot.
3. Called to clarify the conflicting information I was given. Put on hold for 22 minutes. I hung up and a called back to leave a message to have them call me back. Never got a callback.
4. They put a 7-10 day hold on the account for no reason. I was already an authorized trustee and should have had uninterrupted access to the funds.
5. The other 3 financial institutions sent a simple form to fill out and send back. It took 1-7 days to take care of business with them. Vanguard required a notarized signature and a several-page form. They also - in error - sent other forms that were not required. It's been 4 weeks already of back-and-forth, and still the business is not completed.

Summary: Extremely poor customer service. And they don't care. By all means - deal with Vanguard if you are looking for a financial institution that freely dispenses high stress and wastes your time.

This company is run like an old - school Bostonian financial advising firm. The consultants are educated ladies and gentleman with personal experience in finance, investment and/or banking. Many have MBAs or were business majors in college.

They encourage diversified portfolios; the more you invest the more you advance in terms of representation and access to consultation.

I have been associated with Vanguard for quite some time and remain pleased and impressed by their competence and savvy expertise.

Five stars...

Very easy to setup an account. I got an account through my employer and really like it so far. Their performance is solid as well.

El mejor periódico que he leído excelente, noticias verdaderas precisas, se los recomiendo. Mi tía lo compra todos los días

Been with them for 18 years. Every single year, when we compare, we are reminded it was the very best choice we ever made. We like to have "some" say in our investments, not leave it 100% to a stranger, and we like to have someone to "hold our hand", at a very competitive fee. Vanguard does all that for us. Over time, we move more and more of our investments to VGD. Excellent.

Vanguard has the lowest fees of any broker or money manager. It's the best way to manage your savings and retirement accounts.

No need to be complicated - 4-5 Vanguard funds is all you need.

I've invested with Vanguard for over a decade.
Their Website is well designed.

I've invested in the past, They have a great investment platform

I did a roll over of my IRA. These guys were so helpful I have moved almost all of my accounts to them. They have a selection of funds to hold your money and my experience has been great. And their web site is super.
I have been using this site to trade and hold some stocks - the fees are low and the personalized web view of your investments is very helpful.