Anyone ever leave Vanguard?

[MRG]

LOL!!!!

I had an inherited IRA at Vanguard - but at the time my dad died they were beyond incompetant. My sister (executor) was handling it and we were both beneficiaries. They lost not just 1 death certificate - but 4 or 5.... they death certificates were sent certified mail with the appropriate forms... and Vanguard would acknowledge they received the forms but somehow were losing the death certificates in the same envelope. It took 3 months to finally get it all processed. My sister rolled her money to Schwab immediately because she was so disgusted... I waited another year... but ended up moving to Schwab.

If I had a dollar for every death certificate lost by all fund companies.:sly:

Depending on when you were doing the transaction the process is different. This isn't totally specific to VGI but the industry in general.

In the way back machine, you sent the cert in and the paper was passed around the office. In that world many difficult(death claims generally are) transactions were lost! They tended to get stuffed in drawers and lost. Fund companies knew this and had manual processes that were only so good.

Then in the late 80s- middle 90s, imaging became the standard in the back office. The work became impossible to hide but many times the process of pulling the original death certificates and sending them back went sideways. I suppose the scan folks could have been confused about the process and bypassed scanning the death cert and send it back. The images and the work might not get married correctly and been lost.

Around the recession volumes increased and big organizations had a volume problem, technology improved around scanning rates and OCR capabilities, today the biggest fund companies don't have to touch the stuff to go back to the client. It should be impossible to lose a death cert.:sly: I'm sure it's still a problem.

 

[nwsteve]

I went with Vanguard early in my investing career, eventually reaching Flagship status so was supposedly receiving the best service available. After multiple administrative screw-ups and dealing with CSRs who had little to no ability to problem solve, moved everything to Fido.
While there are occasionally disappointments at Fido, overall the benefits of having competence and ability to work issues and a true interest in client satisfaction, Vanguard offers nothing I can not get many times better at Fido. Examples include one of the best in industry website, awesome tools for planning and trading, excellent customer service.
BTW, with Fido handling the transfer, I had all my Vanguard positions transferred to Fido in a week. I converted my Admiral funds to ETF equivalents (Vanguard rep gave the third degree why I would even think of such a thing) so lost nothing with regards to fees.
It is almost as if, the lower their fees go, the worst their administrative skills to seem to be. For example, a few months ago I received notice of an upcoming change in my DM's account. Whoops, she has been deceased for nine years. Took a 30+ minute call to reach the correct person and to actually get the account closed even though it was supposedly done when all the funds were distributed at her death in 2008!
If you are just parking your investments in their core funds, you will probably be satisfied but you expect anything more , start looking for a better option.

 

[friar1610]

Count me among the non-power users who have very few transactions and find the site perfectly satisfactory for my needs. No more than 5 discrete funds across a joint taxable, his and hers Rollover IRAs and a VVA. So not too much to screw up either.

 

[pb4uski]

I've been a Vanguard customer for over 30 years. I like the variety of funds, their low cost (historically the lowest and still quite low in the universe of what is available).

I don't do many transactions so the website meets my modest needs though I concede it is a bit klunky. I have had occasional issues with transactions over the years and my Flagship rep has been a godsend in sorting things out... so IME overall their service is ok but not great.

I do occasionally get frustrated with their bureaucracy. I recall wanting to do a gains trade to realize a capital gain for tax purposes and wanted sell and buy the same fund in the same day (Total Stock) and their frequent trading restriction got in the way because technically I was selling and buying. I got around it by selling Total Stock and buying S&P 500 (65%) and Extended Market Index (35%) which amounted to the same thing. Have also flipped between Total International and FTSE All-world ex-US for the same reasons.

 

[Rustward]

Never used them myself, but they don't get very good reviews on Yelp.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/vanguard-group-malvern

Every Yelp review gets at least one star.

More comments here:
https://www.consumeraffairs.com/automated-investment-services/vanguard.html

 

[Hyperborea]

For those with Schwab how is the security? I had them for stock and options from a former employer and the security was pathetic. Not that long ago passwords were limited to 8 characters with no symbols and were case insensitive! This got "fixed" but I was unsure of how well. I've also heard that the their 2 factor authentication is badly implemented.

For reasons other than their security I've been considering them but the security issue has kept me at bay.

 

[easysurfer]

Been a Vanguard customer for a long time. I don't do transactions much as try have set up mostly on auto pilot (except for the annual rebalancing).

 

[aja8888]

I'm about ready to leave Vanguard.

It took me three phone calls and several online attempts to get my e-mail address changed. Three weeks after FINALLY getting it changed, they send me an e-mail (to the new address) saying I need to change my e-mail address since they cannot successfully send e-mails to it??

After three years of taking RMD's, I have yet to get them to actually mail me a CHECK for the actual RMD withdrawal. Apparently, their forms don't allow making a check out to me, but I can have the check made out to a third party or have the funds reinvested or sent to a bank.

 

[RobbieB]

Good to know.

I've never had a problem getting my broker to send me a check made out to me. After all, it is my money eh?

I'll add them to my list of companies I'll never do business with.

 

[Fedup]

LOL!!!!

I had an inherited IRA at Vanguard - but at the time my dad died they were beyond incompetant. My sister (executor) was handling it and we were both beneficiaries. They lost not just 1 death certificate - but 4 or 5.... they death certificates were sent certified mail with the appropriate forms... and Vanguard would acknowledge they received the forms but somehow were losing the death certificates in the same envelope. It took 3 months to finally get it all processed. My sister rolled her money to Schwab immediately because she was so disgusted... I waited another year... but ended up moving to Schwab.

Schwab has cheaper ERs on their index funds these days and cheaper trades.

I still have my sons' 529s at Vanguard... My dad started these. Despite Vanguard having *finally* received the death certificate for the inherited IRA - they could not transfer that information to the 529 group. And you guessed it - they lost the first one I sent so I had to send a 2nd one. Since these have to be certified copies - the hassle factor went up.

My husband has been slowing moving his IRA money to Vanguard... He's super conservative so it's been like pulling teeth to get him out of CDs and into Wellesley. Fortunately, their customer service is decent for getting the money *into* vanguard... just not so good if you die or want to roll out of vanguard.

They have the same incompetency in moving money into Vanguard. I have been their customer for 35 years too, but I didn't noticed their incompetency until recently. I'm not the only one. My secretary had the same problem. I think they must be overwhelmed with the massive growth to low cost funds and Vanguard is well known for it.

 

[almost there]

2 letters in the mail, 4 emails, 4 messages on their site and a couple phone calls recently saying I had a problem with my email account. In the end, it was an error on there end. Nothing wrong with my email. They seem to perform great as long as you don't use them much or do much of anything. I figured I was the only one. Looks like there are a few of us out there.
Am sure most folks that are happy with them, will remain happy with them. Change isn't something many folks like. But after 20 years with Vanguard I think its time to move into the 21st century.

 

[Lsbcal]

...

After three years of taking RMD's, I have yet to get them to actually mail me a CHECK for the actual RMD withdrawal. Apparently, their forms don't allow making a check out to me, but I can have the check made out to a third party or have the funds reinvested or sent to a bank.

I've only used electronic bank transfers. Generally I'll make the transaction on a Monday and the money is at the bank on Wednesday. Why bother with paper checks?

 

[Bikechuck]

I am retiring in July and my wife in December of this year. A few years ago I established a Roth with Vanguard and had pretty much decided to roll my 401Ks over to them as we retire.

However I have come to believe that there is risk (administrative not financial) in having all of our eggs in one basket. That in combination with all of the complaints that I have been seeing about VG service has me inclined to keep my VG Roth and possibly add to it and to roll my 401Ks to Schwab or Fidelity.

Vanguard does know they have a problem and I read that they are planning to hire as many as 1,700 new staff to get a better handle on things. I hope that works out for them as they have a great history and have contributed much to U.S. investors.

VG did make a mistake in initially setting up my Roth as a regular IRA but they quickly corrected it after only one phone call when I pointed it out and I did not experience a lengthy wait time. The people that helped me were professional and courteous at the time.

 

[almost there]

Paper checks being mailed is the way Vanguard rolls with IRA transfers. They said I could set it up for electronic transfer, but mailing would be much faster the way they are set up. Am on day #8 waiting for funds sent from Vanguard... Was told 7-10 days is about as fast as they could do it. I offered to pay extra for overnight, but no. Not an option. Tracking also not an option......... The more I think about it, the less I like it.........




"The people that helped me were professional and courteous at the time."
Agree, they are always super nice and knowledgeable on the phone. Its just everything else.

 

[COcheesehead]

On another note, sites that keep changing and updating can also be tedious for some.

The updates aren't that bad. I really haven't noticed too much trouble finding things, but FIDO has to have one of the best websites going. Great knowledge bases to learn from, great planning tools and I think, easy to use. I couldn't imagine moving from FIDO.

 

[Alan]

Paper checks being mailed is the way Vanguard rolls with IRA transfers. They said I could set it up for electronic transfer, but mailing would be much faster the way they are set up. Am on day #8 waiting for funds sent from Vanguard... Was told 7-10 days is about as fast as they could do it. I offered to pay extra for overnight, but no. Not an option. Tracking also not an option......... The more I think about it, the less I like it.........




"The people that helped me were professional and courteous at the time."
Agree, they are always super nice and knowledgeable on the phone. Its just everything else.

Last year DW transferred her IRA and Roth from Fidelity to Vanguard and it was done totally online in the Vanguard online account, extremely painless.

Obviously they are not so keen on moving money out.

 

[almost there]

Alan, am thinking you went the wrong direction. LOL


Have moved $500k out of VG over the past 12 months.
Am thinking its time to complete the transaction. Ha Ha!

 

[Alan]

Alan, am thinking you went the wrong direction. LOL


Have moved $500k out of VG over the past 12 months.
Am thinking its time to complete the transaction. Ha Ha!

I've never had any problems with either Vanguard or Fidelity but in moving back to the U.K. Vanguard are easier to deal with for overseas residents from my research on expat sites. Their ETFs also report into the UK tax authority so their equity dividends get the appropriate UK tax treatment. (Currently first £5k is free of tax then taxed @ 7.5%, as opposed to non qualified dividends being treated as regular income, for us taxed at 20%) The cap gains on the sale of shares of VG ETFs is also treated like the sales of individual securities so the first £11.5k is free of tax then, for our situation taxed at 10%.

 

[almost there]

Sounds good. Nothing is one size fits all.
Comparing Schwab to FIDO right now.
Both will slip me $500 to make the move.
And both seem about equal in fees & features.
Only have about 200k left at VG. So will probably make the move soon.

 

[FIREd_2015]

Left Vanguard for Fidelity 10+ years ago during one of those frequent flyer miles offers for an account transfer. No regrets. Looks like Fidelity is still offering miles for $$ (50k miles for $100k) at least for non-retirement accounts. My understanding is that the 50k miles offer is available once a year. So, in theory, one could transfer assets over slowly and accumulate quite a few miles. Here's the link to the United Airlines miles offer. Delta miles are also available - just change the /United to /Delta to see the offer Delta.

https://rewards.fidelity.com/offers/united

 

[Katiek]

I have an inherited IRA with RMD's and they've sent me a check automatically for the RMD's the last few years with no problems.

 

[nwsteve]

Alan, am thinking you went the wrong direction. LOL


Have moved $500k out of VG over the past 12 months.
Am thinking its time to complete the transaction. Ha Ha!

Wow--I hope you are taking advantage one on the many inducements they offer for new money. It has been awhile but I got 1500 cash added when I moved my balances from Vanguard to Fido. I do not remember the exact amount but less than you have moved--say around 400K.
Just ask the rep you are working with what incentives are currently available--everything from cash to miles to free trades are usually available.
Try to get anything like that from Vanguard!! LOL

 

[FIREd]

I agree that Vanguard is not the best trading platform. For more active traders, I hear good things about Schwab.

VG has grown too fast in the last few years and their customer service has not kept up apparently. But I only had to get in touch with CS twice in the 12 years that I have been at Vanguard, so this has had a limited impact on me so far.

That being said, since I simplified my portfolio to a handful of VG index funds, I have had no complaints.

 

[almost there]

Customer service over the phone is always great with VG. Its everything else I am tired of.
These days it reminds me of an AARP Consumer Cellular service commercial. For folks not familiar doing anything on line. From their ancient web site to the time it takes to do anything. Sent them a Docusign to move money on 3/9/17. They put the check in the mail 3/15/15. And this transfer was from a money market fund...............


Have some VG funds paying a div. soon. After that, I think its time to go.

 

[Cobra9777]

Even with the recent growing pains, I think Vanguard would be a great choice if you only own Vanguard mutual funds and do very little trading, account changes, and other non-routine transactions.

We prefer ETFs over mutual funds. Our portfolio is about half Vanguard and half iShares and we house everything at Fidelity. We are very satisfied with this arrangement, although I'm sure that Schwab, E-Trade, and others would be a fine choice as well.