I recently transferred my IRA to Vanguard which had written instructions on the allocation. I subsequently phoned in to modify. The receiving clerk failed to read the updated notes which resulted in a week or so delay for implementation. Today I made a duplicate order in error (for a large amount) and was dismayed to learn that the phone center cannot cancel or change an order made online. In fairness, they state this on the website. Surely the techies can refine the site to catch some errors. I worry that Vanguard is getting too large and cumbersome to address our issues. At 3 trillion and counting some upgrade in customer service might be in order. Low cost doesn't have to mean poor service, or does it? read more

This review deals strictly with a 401k rollover to Vanguard IRA account. Late last year tried to rollover my government 401k to a Vanguard IRA. I sent my gov't form to Vanguard, they completed one page (required) and sent to gov't TSP office to complete the withdrawal. TSP kicked it back because my wife didn't put a date next to her notarized signature. MY FAULT.... Fixed the form, resubmitted the new one to Vanguard and they then sent in the old form again...several weeks later I'm again told the withdrawal can't be accomplished because of the date issue. I contacted my "concierge" at Vanguard who had blammed the error on their clerks, and told her to take charge and get the form done correctly and submit. She acknowldedged doing that. Two weeks later I'm contacted by TSP who said they withdrawal check had been returned as undeliverable. I had them read the mailing address Vanguard put on the form, and indeed the zip code for the PO Box was one number off. It has now been over two months delay that have resulted from Vanguard's mishandling of my paperwork which have resulted in several thousand dollars in lost revenue on my balance. As of today I still do not have my money in my Vanguard account. I chose Vanguard because of their low cost funds and ETFs, and I'm sure I'll be happy as pig in doodoo when my money finally gets there. But, as Amy P pointed out in her 12/30/14 review....the support staff is truly horrific. I am truly shocked that a firm with such a stellar reputation with investors could have such horrible customer support. Add the significant financial loss I've taken as a result...and its a double whammy. read more

Vanguard site frequently is excessively slow or unresponsive. And the customer service agent claimed that there were no issues with the site!!! read more

Why can't they answer their damn phone? Why doesn't their website work? I have been trying to transfer money to them for weeks and no progress has been made. Horrible customer service!!! read more

I am a huge fan of Vanguard's philosophy, but this morning their telephone hold time was 30 minutes! Reportedly, their site has been intermittent this morning and they've been having to do transactions with pen and paper. Furthermore, a few days ago their entire website was totally down for the hour before market close! This was confirmed with the telephone rep. Thank goodness at that time I was able to reach a rep to place a necessary trade. I don't know what's going on there lately, but they certainly have some room for improvement. read more

This is the worst company I have come across. My wife enrolled in brokerage option through her employer retirement plan and still pending for the past three weeks. There has been no updates either via email, phone unless we call them. The representative promised to resolve this pending issue last week but to no avail. To call them unprofessional would be an understatement. Just wanted to ensure that no one else go through this torture process and if they have a choice, should look for better alternatives. read more

I've been banking with vanguard since the early 90s and Im done with them. Theyve made so many mistakes in the past 2 years, changed the rules of their accounts and just mismanaged a ton of things. Now they think its OK to spam my account page with ads. theyre a joke now read more

I tried to rollover my 401(k) from my previous employer but it took more than 1 month and it is still not done. First, they send me the wrong form for me to fill out. So the money is rolling from the old employer to the same old employer. Then they took the money out of my account and then Vanguard is simply hold it uninvested because I filled out the wrong from that they sent me. Every time I call, they put me on hold for 30 minutes before I can talk to a human. Now, they claim they tried to contact me multiple time unsuccessfully in the last month -- a false claim since I never got a voice message or mail from them. It's sad that they claim they are pro-investers for retirement accounts, but their actions shows that they don't even know how to do 401(k) rollerovers and they do not respect their customer's time. Feels like dealing with Sprint customer services back in the 90's. read more

After speaking with Brad this afternoon, I'm convinced that Vanguard has made a conscious decision to lower the bar in customer service training. Never before has a customer service rep suggested that I hang up and call back later to try to get someone else. From the beginning, it was almost obvious that we were not working with the A team. Inquiring why my info was needed after already inputting it into the automated phone system, Brad responded, "I don't know, it just is." That's really insightful Brad. Brad informed me that he was unable to pull up my account and that I should hang up, call back again and see if someone else could help me. I questioned how this would have a different outcome if all of the customer service reps have access to the same system and Brad had a brilliant response of, "I don't know, I can't seem to help you." It's a good thing that Vanguard's fees are so low because if they increased them at all, there's absolutely no compelling reason at all to give them any money. Regardless, I've stopped recommending Vanguard to friends. The customer service would be laughable if it weren't an actual financial organization. read more

I have been with Vanguard for many years and rate them top notch. You have to make your investment decisions and that's how it should be. They don't sell you anything. They are low cost. I suspect the negative postings here are from other stock brokers that have to compete with them. Use www.yahoofinance.com if you want research. Also free. Here is a real story. I am 63 years old. I have a high school classmate that has been with Edward D. jones for years. I asked him when he was going to retire? He said "I am making so much money at this I will never give it up". Absolutely true. Please use Vanguard and let the other brokers prey on someone else. read more

John Bogle is turning in his grave right now. It is a shame what Vanguard has become. I had my assets with them for over 40 years and the last several years the customer service has been horrendous or nonexistent. They used to have excellent customer service. I finally closed my account in 2021 and I'm very happy with Charles Schwab. However, it was a nightmare trying to transfer my funds from Vanguard to Schwab because of Vanguard's incompetence. I spent hours on hold trying to get them to transfer my funds. Now I can't get my 1099R tax forms for 2021 from them. They stated on their website that I will not be getting any tax forms for 2021. This is incorrect. I had a 2021distribution on my IRA account that I need to report it on my taxes. I will have to file my taxes without that form. This is outrageous. I called Vanguard up yesterday and waited an hour on hold with no response. Yesterday I call them again and utilized their "callback system", which means they call you back and you don't have to wait on hold. They never called me back. Today I called again and waited two hours on hold and finally gave up. I am so glad that I am done with Vanguarsd and never have to do deal with them again. Run as fast as you can away from Vanguard to either Schwab or Fidelity. Both are very good. read more

The worst service I have ever had. My employer uses them and the service is always the worst experience. I'd rather deal with overseas tech support than them. Also their fees are highest hands down. Please take your business elsewhere. Don't be like myself and learn the hard way. read more

I have been satisified for the most part with funds and service for nearly 30 years, with one recents glaring exception. Their 1099s are done incorrectly and the response is That is the way we do it so you can just deal with as you wish. Specially all 401k distributions are marked in column 2a as fully taxable, instead of column 2b which tax not determined. My brother who deals with other brokerages places says his 1099s are marked in 2b. I I'd talk to a Vanguard and her explanation just seemed to be that is just the way we do it though she admitted a patrial part of my distribution was not taxable. She did promise she would send my complaint to someone. read more

Vanguard has good funds but try doing anything while living out of the country. They lock me out of the website and you have to call customer service to buy or Sell anything. With a 14 hour time difference it's a really cumbersome ordeal to do anything In a timely fashion. I am in the process of looking for its replacement Please don't review this business if you received a freebie for writing this review, or if read more

I have been a Vanguard client since 1984 - 28-years. This is a unique company founded by the brilliant Jack Bogle and uniquely owned by the investors. I have received excellent service from Vanguard and the culture of the organization is focused on client service and low-costs. I highly recommend Vanguard for your investment needs. read more

After two months of NOT being able to log in to my personal account, I started asking the Vanguard reps if Vanguard only hired Walmart Drop Outs. Every year when I move to our southern home from Alaska I have a difficult time logging on to my account. This year there was even greater difficulty because SOMEHOW, the drop outs at Vanguard changed my mailing address from my box number post office that I have used for over twenty years, to my street address that only UPS and FEDEX uses. To get this corrected I have written three letters, one using a notary as per V's request. Also made seven phone calls but when talking to the dropouts, nothing happened. What was ironic, the day I made my sixth call to V, I received a letter from the same using my P.O. box number. After all these letters and phone calls I learned that there is very little education in being kicked in the head by a mule, the second time. FIND A COMPANY WITH A BETTER SECURITY SYSTEM, Vanguard's system stinks! Martin Fabry read more

They lost my 401k rollover check in the mail. They don't send your checks via secure mail... they use standard for everything. I wonder where my $60 "disbursement fee" went then that they couldn't afford a service that lets you track such an important piece of mail. When I asked their customer service rep why this is the case she simply said "ma'am we mail $1MM dollar checks via standard mail all the time".... reassuring? read more

I attempted to get into my account online, but they required a security code (I had the correct password). The problem was it was to be sent to a phone number I no longer had. Fine! I called them they asked me some questions of "public record" and they were absolutely irrelevant to me in every way, except one. Since I "failed" they said I could get access as long as I would send a notarized statement with my social security and so forth. I did immediately. Today, I tried to get on. They told me because I had failed their questions there was a lock on my account. I told them that is what the notarized statement was for. It did NOT matter to them. Today, I will move my account to Fidelity where the customer service is EXCELLENT! No more vanguard EVER!!!!! read more

Just started working here this past week. Villanova degree finally paid off, to bad I had to die alittle for four years straight going to the most boring college in the world. This place is awesome, I'm so proud that this is my first employer after college, and all my family members are so happy for me that I got in with such a stable company especially with how things are looking for some of my other close friends who still haven't found work yet. Campus is beautiful, like a small college, all the buildings are built with the same material so it keeps a nice cohesion with the art direction of the place. They have walking trails for people to just relax on during sunny days and top notch security making sure the place is safe. So far everything has been awesome, I have a feeling it will stay that way for a long, long time. read more

Hi Whosoever is responsible....if there is anyone who is. I have tried to Rollover money into from my previous employer & this the worst organization I have ever worked with, very very very ad customer service & one of worst way of working. They use ancient technology to work through any paperwork & are terrible at communicating. Very stupid way of working even after I put them on a conference call with my previous institution & even they are frustrated now getting the information to Vanguard. I do not wish to put money in this organization, but forced to because of my employer or else never a good choice. read more

Possibly one of the nicest organizations to deal with after losing a loved one. The estate transition team was kind and knowledgable to my mother who was confused about shifting around investments and ensuring that everything was put in her name. The woman that she spoke with spent about 30 minutes going over everything with her, speaking in laymen's terms, and even offered her direct line for when my mother received the transition paperwork, to assure she had a direct person to speak with, should she be confused or have any further questions of how to proceed. Considering some of the other companies we dealt with... this one received top honors and followed through on all their timelines and shifted everything over with little effort. Would recommend them to anymore. read more

This customer service rep was very rude, rushed me off the phone and was noticeably frustrated with me from the start. It was an awful experience. read more

They sent my wire transfer to the WRONG account. Now Im stuck without cash when I need it and having to wait on the phone for HOURS to speak with customer service. I dont care how great the return is, Im pulling my funds. If you dont have access to your cash when you need it then no amount of return is going to make a difference. . . . read more

Not very good customer service . I called early morning to get a check overnighted to me for a family emergency and the girl said they could not do that . Never heard of not cutting a check the same day for an emergency. read more

WORST customer service I have ever experienced with a brokerage or banking institution. They are a big sell on the front end when your "concierge" facilitates the transfer of your assets from another custodian, but don't even expect a confirmation that Vanguard ever received your funds. Once they have your money, they don't have the time of day for you. They tape all of their calls, but apparently never review them for the quality and consistency of information and service. I must have dealt with 8-10 different "IRA Specialists" by phone and email to accomplish a simple transfer between existing accounts. It's been weeks and it's still not done. I was given misinformation and have filed two sets of forms requiring Medallion signature guarantees (that I paid for) and then was told I didn't need those forms. Their "IRA Specialists" sent me the wrong forms! EPIC FAIL! read more

Recent death in the family forced me to try to wrangle a Vanguard account for the estate. I've encountered the same problems other reviewers have noted: abysmal customer service with long telephone wait times, misinformation, and conflicting info along with a convoluted paper trail. This firm used to be an industry pioneer of low-expense funds, but the rest of the financial world has caught and surpassed Vanguard. Since they have no brick-and-mortar offices, good luck if you have a problem. I see no reason to use Vanguard as your brokerage, and I've sold all of their funds that I held in other accounts in order to evacuate a sinking ship. Need a place to put your money? See Fidelity, Merrill, or Schwab! read more

This is one of the worst customer service experiences you could have with a provider in the year 2018. As others have said, reaching someone on the phone is next to impossible unless you have something an automated recording can answer. I wouldnt call you for my balance, I can see that on your website. It took 5 minutes of various words to finally get a live person. Note, that word I used was "FRAUD". Then it bounced me to a live person. There is no mechanism for sending a message unless its after business hours. So expect to wait on the phone forever if you want to talk to someone. I called week after week to find out where a disbursement check was, with each and every CS person telling me to wait, it takes 7-10 business days. I called again today, and the CS person tells me it was mailed 15 days ago. Clearly the check has gone lost. I blame USPS for that, but thats another zero star review. I ask for a replacement, and they wanted me to provide a Fedex account number so I could have it shipped to a Fedex office and pick it up there. They have NO other options for sending you a check (with the potential for that check to be worth a LOT of money, if its a disbursement) other than that. So, to get a check that you can track via tracking number, your only option as a consumer is to have your personal Fedex account (and we all have those) and pay for the service for them to send it not to YOU, but to send it to a Fedex office for pickup? Is this really it? So, to review: multiple calls over several weeks, with no one ever saying "by the way, if you dont get this check here is what we can do..", then finally having someone honest enough today to say "yeah that check is missing, here is what we offer", and lastly, that resolution being what I can only describe as insensitive and poor. And wait another 15 days. I would give them zero stars for this experience if I could. read more

I recently wrote two checks on my money market fund that had more than enough funds to cover the checks. After two weeks I received a message from them stating that they would not honor the checks because my account number had been changed and I needed a new set of checks with the new account number even though the account registration had not changed. When I called customer service I was told by a young and immature representative that I needed to fill out a form to receive the new checks and it would take ten days to receive them. I told him that I needed to cover these checks immediately and asked him if there was a way to expedite the payments. He was clueless. I told him that I had account numbers changed in the past and that the old checks were honored until the supply was exhausted. Again, he was clueless. I asked to have the funds transferred to my bank so that I could write checks on that account but he told me that I had to speak with someone in a different department. After being on hold for several minutes I was transferred to another kid and had to explain the whole situation to him. I asked to have the funds electronically transferred and he said it would take at least two business days. Anything faster? Nope. So I accepted the electronic transfer and hopefully I will have the money in my bank account to pay the vendors. Now I have to contact the vendors and explain the situation to them. I expect that I will also have to pay late fees and return check fees all because Vanguard wouldn't honor my checks. In short I am very disappointed with Vanguard customer service. I've been a customer for over thirty years and have never encountered such terrible service. As soon as I can I am transferring my balances to one of my other financial institutions that are more customer friendly. There are other companies that may charge higher fees but their customer service is flexible and there when you need them. read more

Vanguard was basically the holder of my company stock for the last 15yrs. 4 months ago I decided to move my stock out of Vanguard and diversify with a company that had been managing another portfolio for me. Upon hearing that I was transferring from Vanguard, my financial advisers grimaced and said, Vanguard usually likes to make the transfer process difficult. No kidding - 4 months later, after every possible excuse for why the transfer kept failing, I finally got tough with Vanguard for their foot-dragging. Did they think that their stalling tactics would endear me to keeping my shares with them after 4 mos of their game playing?? Think about that for a minute - 4 months you are out of the market. 4 months you can be losing thousands of dollars. Today I received correspondence from a 3rd party company that they were holding my shares and wanted to know what I wanted to do with them. I had no idea who this company was or how they came to be holding my shares. I contacted Vanguard who said they were unable to reach me so they handed off my stock to this 3rd party company. Funny, I only have 1 phone, my cellphone and the number has never changed. Additionally, I never received written correspondence from Vanguard that they were handing off my shares - guess they forgot my address too. I was incredulous. Vanguard had "washed their hands" of the fact that I wanted to transfer my shares from them and instead, parked my stock with this 3rd party company without telling me. All because I committed the crime of moving MY money from their inept hands. Hey Vanguard - guess who's never going to get to manage my finances? You. And it's all because of how you chose to handle a simple thing like a transfer. Glad I found out how you work before I retire - who knows what kind of hoops you would have made me jump through then. read more

Vanguard bounced a check when I deposited it in my checking account. After the second quarter of 2016, Vanguard sent me a dividend check from an account in my IRA. That triggered a distribution that I did not ask for. My instructions to Vanguard were to take all distributions from investments in my IRA and deposit them into a money market account in my IRA. When Vanguard was made aware of their error, they put a stop on the check that they just mailed to me, so it bounced. When I called a representative about it he admitted the mistake, but insisted that Vanguard did exactly as I had instructed them to do, which was definitely not what I had instructed them to do. I hung up in frustration. I sent two letters to Vanguard about what happened. One was to McNabb himself. Vanguard did not acknowledge receipt of the letters. Thinking that they do not do letters anymore, I sent two e-mails to them in addition. No acknowledgment. I am planning to invest in another investment company going forward. Vanguard is a good company if you intend to invest in their index funds and never take your money out, but for some reason they make a mistake that impacts you in a negative way, you have no recourse. Vanguard just ignores you. read more

I have invested in vanguard mutual find for 20 years and still do. However, I just find out thru their FAQ that if you invested in their mutual funds and do not own them thru their brokerage account , they are not protected by SIPC as they used to. Their brokerage phone associates do not even have correct knowledge about the brokerage services and accounts they provide, e.g., they told me I cannot transfer my vanguard mutual fund into the brokerage account and all investments not stocks or efts are not under SIPC protection. I trust vanguard company due to their lengendary mutual funds reputation. Now I do not know what to think. Guess, I will keep my new money away from them which is a pity since their index 500 mutual fund is a pretty good fund so far. read more

I closed my account at Vanguard and asked them to mail me a check. I ordered this on 9/3. The envelope came yesterday, 10/3. The envelope was dated 9/28. Need I say more? I will: Vanguard is just like all the other bad companies out there. Cheat your customer and make a killing. read more

the customer service with vanguard is AWFUL. you talk to a rep for help & to get answers to questions & they are very elitist to you & say things like if you don't like this or that take your money out. i asked for a paper copy statement to be sent to me because i had not received the original one & was told go to a computer & print it off or just look at it online but we aren't going to send you another stmt. nobody ever wants to do anything for you there. plus got a letter saying now they will charge $25 for every time you request a withdrawal from your account. they already take out a fee for managing my acct on a quarterly basis. they want to penalize you & try to keep you from taking your money out of the acct you have with them. then they don't want to do anything for you. i look forward to getting all my money out from them & never returning! read more

I've been happy with Vanguard for over 10 years now; if you can think for yourself and desire to save on costs - Vanguard!

They have many nice features and a great website but they also have a vary nasty habit that pretty much makes them unusable. For no apparent reason they can place a week hold on your account. The hold need not have anything to do with your account but after being place you are not allowed to trade or remove funds for a week. They don't notify you of the hold and they don't seem to be able to remove it once you bring it up to their attention. read more

What a garbage company. Their website makes no sense and looks like it was built in the early 2000s. Their instructions on how to transfer funds are only for transferring IN, and they hide how to get them OUT. They hold your IRA hostage and refuse to allow it to be pulled from another company until you snail mail them all the information that they already have. read more

This company has caused my husband and I all kinds of heck this past week. We needed to withdrawal from his 401K and we talk to someone and thought we were good to go, that wasn't the case. We have talk to 11 different representatives and everyone of them have told us something different. This company should not be licensed to do anything much less investments and 401k. They have no idea what they are doing. I really wish my husbands company would use another company. My 401K was with Edward Jones and they are 100% better than this company. This is a honest review, our withdrawal check is being sent to an old address that we have not lived at in 1 1/2 yrs and that was changed on our Vanguard account but they still sent it to an old address; we have no access to the old address so we just lost a lot of money and there is nothing we can do about it other than putting in a change of address and pray it goes in time. we called Vanguard and they said they apologize but there is nothing they can do. So if your okay with being pushed around and losing money and being on the phone and having every person you talk to tell you something different then this company is the one for you. Otherwise take your money out and run!!!! read more

On April 4, 2019 I logged into my Vanguard Simple IRA account to make a contribution for 2018 before the April 15 deadline. I processed a $6500 contribution and received a msg that the contribution would show as a transfer from my bank within 1 or 2 days. I just received my bank statement and there is no transfer!!! I checked my contribution history on Vanguard there is NOTHING!!! These pricks just cost me over $2000 in taxes!!! read more

There is zero customer service. I spent 2 days trying to get through to talk to a human about the status of my request. On the second day, after waiting 55 minutes on hold, a gentleman answered. He was not with the department I needed to speak with. He told me I was not allowed to talk to the people in that department. Ummm, ok. I tried emailing. It actually states on their web site that you CANNOT email them during business hours. I don't even know how to respond to that When trying to get answers from the man I spoke with, his replies were "It could be any number of reasons why it hasn't updated your account" "I have no way of knowing that" My personal favorite..."We are dealing with technology " when I asked if they received my fax. Fax machines are not "technoloy". Crayons would be more effective at this point! I was given 2 ways of sending my info...standard mail or fax. I was told emailing was not secure. Yet my fax was lost so I am not sure where that falls in regards to security. So at the end of day 2, I have ZERO info as to the status of my request, which at this point is very time sensitive. I was told to call back tomorrow and maybe it will be updated. If not I can resend everything and start all over because the first time must have just been practice. These people manage money? They can't even control the fax machine! So when I do not get my own money from my account to deal with a hardship request and I am evicted....I wonder if any of them need a mom with a couple kids and a couple cats to split the rent? read more

I have been using Vanguard, as well as other firms, such as Fidelity and TIAA for many years. Vanguard is an outstanding company, and I have progressively transferred most of out investments to them. They pioneered low cost funds, which has resulted in Vanguard to grow from a relatively small company in the 1980s to the second largest mutual fund company in the US, slightly behind BlackRock, with over $6 trillion in management. This has led other companies, most notably Fidelity and Schwab to lower the expenses on their funds to compete. However, those firms have "loss leaders" such as Fidelity's zero funds, but make up the money from other higher costs funds, which their Wealth Advisers may steer you to. Vanguard's expense ratios are low across the board. Vanguard is organized for buy and hold investors. It is not a for profit company, it is a coop--investors own the funds, and the funds pay Vanguard to manage the funds. I have never had any problems with their customer service, though I don't use the phone with them a lot. I found them much more helpful than Fidelity with a recent IRA rollover. I don't understand all these negative reviews. It may be that investors have been trained by companies that give a lot of personal attention (in exchange for high fees) to expect a lot of hand holding. Vanguard doesn't do much hand holding, their goal is to provide the best low cost funds so that your investments will generate the best returns over the years. If someone has read a few books, like A Simple Path to Wealth, Bogle's Little Book of Common Sense Investing, or The Boglehead's Guide to Investing, they will understand the goals and techniques of successful investing, and won't be looking at Yelp reviews to chose an investment company. read more