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JustinLa Mesa, CA
Customer Service
Reviewed March 1, 2024
After the last few phone experiences over the past two years, I decided to do some checking to see if it was just me, or if Vanguard changed how they deal with their customers. I've been investing with them for over 31 years, and in my view, there's been a huge decline. And since there's no email address for them to voice my complaints, I thought I'd make them public. I used an AI platform (Perplexity) and asked if their customer reviews have in fact declined, and they have. See link. I wonder how John Bogle would feel about this? AI Result: **.
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SeanBellevue, WA
Customer ServiceInstallation & SetupStaffProcess
Reviewed Feb. 23, 2024
If you fortunate enough to have some measure of inheritance but unfortunate enough to have those before you choose Vanguard, here is what will happen. 1) When they are notified of passing they will lock the account so you do not know what is available. You will then be forced to setup a Vanguard Inherited IRA Brokerage Account. This is lengthy and buggy process. While other institutions will quickly cash out your inheritance, Vanguard will initially attempt to setup your mandatory Inherited IRA for immediate re-investment. You will have to spend ~40 minutes with a Vanguard representative to get the account setup in a way that the money will not to immediately back to Vanguard.
2) Once you set things up you have to wait 5-7 days for the funds to transfer. They won't so you'll have to call in. They will tell you that there was a problem with the setup and have you go through it again. When you ask for email/text updates for account status they will tell you that is not available. 3) The second setup will fail. So, another 5-7 days, and wiser you will call back. You will have to work with a rep to submit the forms a 3rd time. (I spent over 90 minutes on this round in order to get myself and the other beneficiary completely registered and confirmed in the system.) 4) Your 3rd attempt will fail. By now you realize Vanguard is just trying to make whatever $ it can on your inheritance before it has to shift to holding someone else's funds. You'll call back a 4th time. You will end up on hold for at least 15 minutes while the rep "reviews" your account. The rep will then hang up. #notshocked
5) When you call back the 5th time you will learn that there is some other form that was not filled out. Vanguard could have contacted you that the form was missing after the first call. Instead, they sat on it after repeated rounds until they needed a new reason to delay the funds transfer. 6) Once you complete the suddenly missing form, you will want confirmation that the transfer is taking place. Vanguard will be unable to provide it. You can try to escalate but all of the managers will conveniently be whatever coast you are not calling from. The rep will promise someone will review your case and call back in 24-48 hours.
After a month and almost 4 hours on the phone, Vanguard will still have locked up your inheritance with no payout in site. There will be no way to see the status of your transfer on the account you were forced to setup. If there is a problem, they will not contact you. That is against their policy as it would short-circuit the artificial delays they put on inheritance payouts. If you are considering setting something up for beneficiaries. Do yourself a favor and use anyone/thing/planet than Vanguard. P.S. I wrote 90% of this review while on hold with Vanguard.
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JeanWest Chester, PA
Customer ServiceStaff
Reviewed Jan. 19, 2024
I have been a Vanguard client for at least 3 decades. Sadly, after Mr. Bogle left, the company has gone downhill. In the past, advisors were accessible, well trained, and made it clear that their first priority was to support the client. Yet, now the general attitude seems to be: with millions of investors, we are too big to bother with you! There are some exceptions, of course. I was in the end satisfied today having finally gotten through to someone in the investment department who stopped blaming me. It took all morning to decode a message found on my home page and the person at the Helpdesk seemed ill-equipped to deal with basic matters, yet held back in transferring my call.
The next representative on the investment team simply blamed me and held to what he believed to be rigid Vanguard requirements. I called back and, finally found someone who listened to my concerns. He may have solved a problem by suggesting that a fee could be refunded. I say "may" because communication is sometimes so poor, that actions benefitting the client are often delayed or not carried out! I do like Vanguard's mutual funds and decided that it is better not to distribute them into my other accounts. If one can forego any need to communicate with Vanguard or make changes in the account, it is possible to be satisfied with their low fee account. Otherwise, you can easily land in a mire of uncertainty, confusion, and costly delays. It is sometimes difficult to believe you are interacting with a financial institution. I have had better experiences in poorly run discount stores.
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JaviOzone Park, NY
Customer ServiceStaff
Reviewed Jan. 3, 2024
It's hard to get to a real life person. When you do, they don’t know what they are doing. You spend hours on hold each time you call. Sometimes you will have your call drop after long times of wait. They profit from your money and outsource jobs overseas. Red flags upon red flags. I don’t know how they are still operating.
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AmieJennings, LA
Reviewed Jan. 2, 2024
My husband had a 401K through Vanguard. The company he worked for started it up 17 years ago. When he retired he drew it all out so we thought. There was a few hundred left in the account. After three years he decided to pull the rest out. Well that was a big process. It was a big hassle to get out. I would never invest in this company for my personal use.
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IsaacWashington, DC
Process
Reviewed Dec. 19, 2023
This has been an awful process all the way through. I left a job on 11/10/2033. I tried for 2 weeks to make a request, by 11/27 I finally could, by 11/29 it was out with a maximum date of arrival of 12/12. As of 12/19 I have nothing. I started the process for reissuing the check which they said to stop the first check it will take 3 business days for whatever reason then they will send another check. That puts me at receiving this check I've been trying to get from the beginning of November to after Christmas. I won't be able to get all the things for my daughter and niece I planned to for Christmas and now have to see them disappointed on Christmas. If I could give Vanguard a 0 or negative I would.
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JoelSan Antonio, TX
Customer Service
Reviewed Nov. 28, 2023
I have been a Vanguard client for many years. I was rolling over one account from Vanguard to another broker. I called Vanguard to double check to make sure the order was in good standing. They said everything is in good order and the funds would be processed and the other broker should get funds in business 5-7 days. I called after 8 business days and the funds had not been sent. Vanguard made a mistake in not processing my order, and I lost money by my money sitting in a cash account. No one ever called me about this. I called back and spoke to management, no remedy for their mistake, and me losing money. They just lost a good long standing customer.
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WaficFairfax, VA
Reviewed Nov. 9, 2023
I invested money in Vanguard Mutual funds and ETFs. They have to avoid the best Low cost transaction costs. I was surprised to read those negative reviews. I urge anyone who wants to deal with Vanguard to Educate himself with their regulations to avoid disappointments.
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M.Walnut, CA
Customer ServiceSales & MarketingStaff
Reviewed Nov. 9, 2023
Word to the wise. I inherited from my late sister a substantial portfolio with Vanguard. My sister worked in securities and managed her portfolio with much success and continued growth. It took me over a month for Vanguard to do the transfer to just my name was problematic. Then I called numerous times and had appointments with advisors that I wanted to interview to manage, (for a fee) my portfolio. The appointments came and no call from any of the Vanguard advisors? Yesterday I made another call to Vanguard to find an advisor (for a fee) and after discussion with Mario in Sales, because I inherited my portfolio, he advised me that "Vanguard was not a good fit for me"?
Being in sales myself this is a sad bit of advise when my portfolio exceeds $500,000. According to Marco, (in sales) inherited portfolios, you are not qualified to pay an advisor to manage your inherited accounts? Today I had my financial advisor at Fidelity contact Vanguard for a complete transfer from Vanguard to my existing Fidelity accounts. Fidelity is very happy to manage my new addition to my existing portfolio.
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KimKapolei, HI
Customer ServiceStaffEase of Use
Reviewed Nov. 7, 2023
I called to try to figure out why my 401k loan was deferred/defaulted when my employer has been taking out the payments from my check to repay my loan. The website isn't intuitive and the quarterly statements aren't clear or specific on when they received or didn't receive a payment from my employer. Called customer service and spoke to someone that was extremely rude and not very helpful. He said the last payment they received was 8/4/23 and didn't receive the next payment till 8/18/23. How does that justify a default? He said it was because they received a late payment in April.
I wanted to see a transaction history. He tried to tell me how to access the views from the website but I didn't see the same view he was seeing. So he ends the call by saying he couldn't hear me and to call back and hung up on me. I still don't understand what happened with my account, other than now I have to pay more in taxes because they say I defaulted on my loan even though my employer was sending the payments. I will be sure to recommend a change in provider and switch to Fidelity!
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