Experience Requesting a Vanguard Flagship Rep for Accounts?

[Whisper66]

I remember a time long long ago when we had an actual flagship representative who would meet with us on the regular and take care of stuff like this.The good old days of Vanguard….

The above comment from Scout on another thread got me to wondering....

How many people have specifically asked for a Vanguard Flagship Representative to be assigned and what was the result of that query?

I had a Flagship Rep for years and then one day noticed he had been removed from my account for a couple months. I called VG and said I needed them to reassign my Rep. It was quickly done. I'm sure I met the OLD criteria of >$1M in my account but don't really know what their criteria was for removing him nor their current critieria for assigning one.

My sister never had a Flagship Rep, probably didn't have quite enough to merit one using the old rules. She was running into some issues that weren't easy to resolve so I suggested she tell them she needed a rep if they wanted to keep her as a client. She was assigned a rep. who worked her issues.

So just wondering about others experience.

 

[Midpack]

I had an assigned rep many years ago, his picture was on my online account webpage, and he didn’t change often. Then I just had a phone number that seemed to be a team of reps, but they weren’t nearly as knowledgeable - almost always ‘we’ll get back to you.’ Now I don’t have a team that I know of, it’s hard to even find a phone number and search rarely answers my questions. ! If I do get a live person, it’s hit and miss - from clueless to very sharp. I’ve never asked for a rep, I probably have a question I can’t figure out myself less than once a year.

 

[Koolau]

I would assume that Vanguard is like most such companies. They want to offer the most perks for their customers, yet keep their costs low. Over time, it seems most MF fees are getting lower and lower. Doing that has to hurt something. I'm guessing the first kind of thing to be affected is any personal assistance. I've been offered assistance, but I wouldn't use it so why bother.

 

[PatrickA5]

For years I had an assigned Flagship rep that was good at his job and friendly. Then he left and was replaced by a young lady that was nice, but clueless. Then I got assigned to a group. Then I got assigned to phone number that nobody wanted to answer. Then I moved everything to Fidelity.

 

[Whisper66]

I should have mentioned why I've insisted on having an assigned rep. I only use him occasionally and never for portfolio advice. Never needed or wanted that. One benefit he provides is I don't have to go through the general phone support folks when I don't want to. I hear many complaints about long wait times to get to a real person. When I call and identify myself with my voice.... my call is transferred automatically to my rep. He answers or calls me back pretty quickly. I can also avoid the general phone support system by setting up an online meeting with him and he always calls promptly at the assigned time. So I suppose having a rep is one possible way to work around poor call response issues if you are having those. The other benefit I've seen is I have him handle anything that I can't handle easily online with Vanguard forms by myself. For example, I needed to distribute assets from my deceased parents trust to three beneficiaries. How to do this was not clear using their forms. So I called and had my rep handle those details per my instructions. And when he's not the right person to handle something for me, he sets up a meeting with the right person and checks to make sure things were handled ok. Trust account issues I've worked are things I would not be confident the general phone support system would handle cleanly...I really wanted a person specifically assigned to our account to handle them.

Thanks to those who replied already.

 

[Midpack]

I only use him occasionally and never for portfolio advice.

How often is occasionally?

 

[Whisper66]

How often is occasionally?

Most years I guess I talk to him from zero to two times. However, last couple years I took over managing aging parents assets which I consolidated into Vanguard accounts. Then when my parents passed last year, I distributed the assets in their accounts to their beneficiaries. These last couple years I probably talked to him maybe 5-8 times each year to assist me completing executor / trustee responsibilities. Most of the help I needed had to do with properly filling out forms related to complex Trust accounts. Knowing how to properly fill out Vanguard forms to make things happen wasn’t intuitive when working with a complex Trust. That work is now done so will be back to 0-2 times per year most likely.


FWIW - I've also introduced my wife to him and had her handle some specific transactions on our own personal accounts. Goal was to ensure she had a point contact to work with in the event of my passing.

 

[OldShooter]

I should have mentioned why I've insisted on having an assigned rep. I only use him occasionally and never for portfolio advice. Never needed or wanted that. One benefit he provides is I don't have to go through the general phone support folks when I don't want to. I hear many complaints about long wait times to get to a real person. When I call and identify myself with my voice.... my call is transferred automatically to my rep. He answers or calls me back pretty quickly. I can also avoid the general phone support system by setting up an online meeting with him and he always calls promptly at the assigned time. So I suppose having a rep is one possible way to work around poor call response issues if you are having those. The other benefit I've seen is I have him handle anything that I can't handle easily online with Vanguard forms by myself. For example, I needed to distribute assets from my deceased parents trust to three beneficiaries. How to do this was not clear using their forms. So I called and had my rep handle those details per my instructions. And when he's not the right person to handle something for me, he sets up a meeting with the right person and checks to make sure things were handled ok. Trust account issues I've worked are things I would not be confident the general phone support system would handle cleanly...I really wanted a person specifically assigned to our account to handle them. ...

Pretty much the same story for us. Although our rep is at Schwab, having someone who knows me by name is very very handy when I decide to call with a question or a problem. This only happens once or twice a year.

 

[gauss]

Does the fact that Vanguard is actively pushing paid Advisors have anything to do with the reduced availability of Flagship reps?

This wouldn't surprise me.

-gauss

 

[mickeyd]

I rarely have needed VG handholding since being a VG client +/- 20 years. The few times that I have needed help, the random Flagship rep has been good enough.

 

[Koolau]

I rarely have needed VG handholding since being a VG client +/- 20 years. The few times that I have needed help, the random Flagship rep has been good enough.

I've called a couple of times for help in doing something at Vanguard. More of a technical request on my part than needing real assistance. Never a big problem doing that other than the usual robot phone for 5 or so minutes. YMMV

 

[HI Bill]

My former flagship representatives were helpful in creating retirement plans, which for me, were secondary confirmation of my FIRECALC and Monte Carlo Simulations. The first one one in 2015 wasn't very good, and I had to have him create four versions of the plan to get it right. A latter rep was helpful in creating and inherited IRA, and moving funds over. Unfortunately, they now only seem to have four levels of paid options: Digital Advisor ($3K min.), Personal Advisor ($50K min.), Personal Advisor Select ($500K min.) and Wealth Management ($5M+). They still have a page that describes Flagship Services, but it looks like it's now paid for $1-5M.

 

[Whisper66]

…….They still have a page that describes Flagship Services, but it looks like it's now paid for $1-5M.

Interesting. I’ve never paid for my Flagship rep. Maybe that’s because I use him so little and not for general “wealth management” support. He’s mainly just a point contact with some accountability to resolve problems I may run into.