Pulled the Plug on Vanguard

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Al

Al

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Over the years I have had accounts with Fidelity and Vanguard. As years went on I transitioned mostly to Vanguard. Recently I have paid more attention to my accounts. The main reason is that I needed to come up with $250K for my retirement apartment.

When logging into Vanguard I inadvertently put in the wrong number and got locked out of my account. Noo problem..I'll call and get it straightened out. Wait- Monday to Friday 8:30 to 9:00. Not the end of the world but a big annoyance. So Monday I call- 42 minute wait time. I did the callback and when the call came no answer. I finally did get through.

Yea things happen, and I realize Vanguard's fees are the lowest and I think their products the best. This "May" be because they are being efficient and lean. But 20 years ago their service was way better. They were instantly available.

They don't even have a "chat feature". I can't even notify them to tell them that their service sucks.

Solution? Fidelity. You can contact them 24/7. I am on here not only to rant but possibly some of you will complain to them...if you can get ahold of them.

Yes one investor punishing them by pulling $400K from their 401K to Fidelity's 401K means nothing. It's the cost of doing business. Thank goodness we have options.

Anyone else experience the same issue?
 
I have three companies with whom I have retirement investments, and that doesn’t include the fourth, which is the US government.

The US government is the worst by far

Of the other three, though I would rate Charles Schwab is having the best app and the best customer service, with T. Rowe Price as second, and sadly, the company that I’ve done business with the longest, Vanguard, as the worst.

The app is cumbersome, it doesn’t give me the information I want, and the presentation is next to useless. It’s designed to be simple, but at some point, you reduce things too much and that simplicity becomes a lack of utility.

I haven’t had to call them in a while, but I am not surprised at your experience.
 
I've been with Fidelity for closing in on 30yrs now. The few times I needed to speak directly with someone there, I've been able to quickly and effectively. I haven't locked myself out of the online stuff in awhile fortunately. Gimme a day or so.. LOL
 
We had the opposite experience. My wife was the executor for my FIL's estate. The Vanguard folks were much more helpful than the Fidelity folks. Before he died he wanted me to help him execute trades online at Fidelity. I called them for an issue he had and they locked us out of the account when I told them I was his SIL. We never got it unlocked before he died. He was sitting right beside me but because I initiated the call I guess they wouldn't talk to him. They said we must talk to their Security Dept who would call at 10AM the next day. They never called. I called back and set up another appointment and they never called. Fidelity was extremely aggravating . I agree that Vanguard's wait time on the phone has lengthened markedly and their website slows down during periods of high volume. Schwab's has completely shut down a couple of times recently during those same periods.
 
Astro14 said:
The US government is the worst by far
Click to expand...
I understand. What I did is find a bank that would issue and cash in government bonds. So the bank that I have been dealing with (Citizens) did not do that. Also they got rid of tellers. They also became unusable. I started putting my liquid money in Fulton Bank. They always have 3 to 4 tellers. I put holding money into an 11 month money market that is paying 4%.

I think the Paradigm for the next 10 years or so will be to cater to us od duffs. But what do I know..lol
 
Al said:
Over the years I have had accounts with Fidelity and Vanguard. As years went on I transitioned mostly to Vanguard. Recently I have paid more attention to my accounts. The main reason is that I needed to come up with $250K for my retirement apartment.

When logging into Vanguard I inadvertently put in the wrong number and got locked out of my account. Noo problem..I'll call and get it straightened out. Wait- Monday to Friday 8:30 to 9:00. Not the end of the world but a big annoyance. So Monday I call- 42 minute wait time. I did the callback and when the call came no answer. I finally did get through.

Yea things happen, and I realize Vanguard's fees are the lowest and I think their products the best. This "May" be because they are being efficient and lean. But 20 years ago their service was way better. They were instantly available.

They don't even have a "chat feature". I can't even notify them to tell them that their service sucks.

Solution? Fidelity. You can contact them 24/7. I am on here not only to rant but possibly some of you will complain to them...if you can get ahold of them.

Yes one investor punishing them by pulling $400K from their 401K to Fidelity's 401K means nothing. It's the cost of doing business. Thank goodness we have options.

Anyone else experience the same issue?
Click to expand...
I've transferred old 401K's to Fidelity recently. When PNC took over bbva they took my roth ira money and shuffled it into a bond. I'm not happy about this at all. I've so far had great results using Fidelity. They even transferred me to a specialist who looked at my bond to see what it entailed and if they could sell it.
 
Al said:
Over the years I have had accounts with Fidelity and Vanguard. As years went on I transitioned mostly to Vanguard. Recently I have paid more attention to my accounts. The main reason is that I needed to come up with $250K for my retirement apartment.

When logging into Vanguard I inadvertently put in the wrong number and got locked out of my account. Noo problem..I'll call and get it straightened out. Wait- Monday to Friday 8:30 to 9:00. Not the end of the world but a big annoyance. So Monday I call- 42 minute wait time. I did the callback and when the call came no answer. I finally did get through.

Yea things happen, and I realize Vanguard's fees are the lowest and I think their products the best. This "May" be because they are being efficient and lean. But 20 years ago their service was way better. They were instantly available.

They don't even have a "chat feature". I can't even notify them to tell them that their service sucks.

Solution? Fidelity. You can contact them 24/7. I am on here not only to rant but possibly some of you will complain to them...if you can get ahold of them.

Yes one investor punishing them by pulling $400K from their 401K to Fidelity's 401K means nothing. It's the cost of doing business. Thank goodness we have options.

Anyone else experience the same issue?
Click to expand...

I know Vanguard customer service is not that great.

The only problem I had with them was an advisor assigned to my account that called me like 10 times and left me a voicemail. It was a cold call type offer and I never requested help from Vanguard.
 
Never had that issue with Vanguard, but it could be due to managed services. Both the advisor and CS are quickly available.
 
Yes. Remember Empower took over my previoius co's retirement last year, maybe September. I went to login to Vanguard and all the funds were gone. I did still have a brokerage account that showed, because when my wife worked there, I was required (by them, not by law), to transfer all my brokerage holdings to them. I never changed them back, I simply opened a brand new eTrade account after she left.

That's when I realized they have banker's hours, not even open on weekends. I hate to admit it but whatever it is I have of their's, is underperforming the S&P. I know there's Wellington and Primecap off the top of my head. I see today there is a compelling argument for Fidelity and even T Rowe.

I live in the area and Vanguard was always a co. I had wanted to work for. But from what I've heard it's vastly changed. When my wife was there, everyone had Day 1 healthcare and they paid 90%. The co match on the 401 was like 12%. It was once a great co. My wife even met Jack Bogle in the co. cafeteria having lunch as he liked to be among employees.

p.s. I don't want to brag, but I have over 7 figures there, one would think I'd have some sort of preferential treatment. I do not. Rather, I should say, I did not. It's now with Empower.
 
My best half has Vanguard and has very good results with their performance but has never needed to contact them. Sounds like it will be a different story then. I had T Rowe and fully satisfied with them. Good luck sorting everything.
 
Schwab has been stellar for me managing my own investments. my current employer uses empower to manage our company 401k & 457b plans.
 
I have about half of my 401k money in Fidelity and the other half in Vanguard. In my case, Fidelity offers more choices/options. Vanguard has "enough" choices, though.

I'm going to retire in about 4 months, and wondering if I should combine the two accounts? Fid is my current employers provider, so I suspect, it would be easier to move the money from Vanguard to Fid while I'm still working?
 
Nessism1 said:
I have about half of my 401k money in Fidelity and the other half in Vanguard. In my case, Fidelity offers more choices/options. Vanguard has "enough" choices, though.

I'm going to retire in about 4 months, and wondering if I should combine the two accounts? Fid is my current employers provider, so I suspect, it would be easier to move the money from Vanguard to Fid while I'm still working?
Click to expand...

100% Fidelity
 
The Vanguard app is nothing to brag about. Not worth moving to Fidelity given how infrequently I use it.

On the other hand, Vanguards special needs trust people are superb. They have been invaluable in helping Jennifer manage her sister’s special needs trust.
 
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