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In recent years, I’ve regularly heard from readers who have faced service snafus at Vanguard Group. Many of these folks have stuck with Vanguard’s exchange-traded funds, but moved their accounts to Charles Schwab or Fidelity Investments, with an eye to getting better service.
Over the past 12 months, however, I’ve heard far fewer complaints from readers. Does that mean service has improved—or does that just reflect the fact that the disgruntled have moved on and those who remain are willing to live with occasional poor service?
We have been with Vanguard for decades as well. We have a simple DIY portfolio with only a handful of funds to keep things simple. Recently Vanguard contacted me to provide feedback on the firm. I used to think Vanguard was the best but my feedback now had it about a 5 out of 10 for ‘would I recommend them’ due to other firms improving (I.e. Fidelity,Schwab etc) and VG not improving as much. The website is not as good as it used to be for DIYers, and now there is quite a bit of hard sell for their advising services which use an (albeit quite low) assets under management (AUM) model. I am a little put off by the constant selling up of these services that I do not believe I need and I wish their online tools were better. I am not leaving VG but I hope they are aware of some perceptions customers have of their ‘slipping’ against the competitors.
I moved my vanguard account to Schwab 3 years ago because of their terrible website and long waits for customer service. Schwab waives any fees trading vanguard mutual funds. It has worked fine. I had been with vanguard for over 25 years. The problems started when they required everyone with mutual funds accounts to switch to a vanguard brokerage account. It was a disaster.
With the advent of Vanguard ETF’s, there is no need to accept or be concerned about subpar service from Vanguard.You can maintain the same index investments with the Vanguard ETF’s than you could with their mutual funds. I can’t think of another reason to go with Vanguard. I would suggest Fidelity as they have met every financial need I have had for the last 25 years…HSA, 529, 401k, 403b,Fidelity Giving Account, ABLE account, Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, SEP, bill payment, checking, annuities,credit card, debit card, brokerage with stocks and bonds and local offices for when things get too complicated.
I find that Vanguard moves money very slowly compared to other platforms. It takes up to three days for funds to show up in my checking account whereas Fidelity seems to move it in a day. I have immediate use of funds at Schwab after transferring from checking.
Everything is slow. It’s as if they work with fax machines only.
Fidelity has slightly better portfolio presentation pages and navigation than Vanguard. Vanguard has better searching of individual bonds for purchasing. Vanguard offers S&P 500 ETF VOO which trades instantly, while Fidelity offers FXAIX mutual fund trading at COB or requires alternative ETF – most with slightly higher expense fee than VOO. Fidelity enables turning-off withdrawal capabilities through their site, but Vanguard requires written contact. No experience with Schwab, but friends say it is good.
No use of their relationship managers, but their web robo analyses suggest a more conservative and diversified asset allocation. On the service side, Vanguard has been overtly helpful with establishing the cost basis of a complex transfer and a sixty-day, IRA withdrawal and rollover utilized as a short-term loan. Never called Fidelity.
I am a 25+ yr investor with Vanguard and consider myself a Boglehead. All of my investments are with Vanguard. I do want to share a big issue I faced with the liquidation of my husbands accounts on his passing. He had an investment account at Vanguard and his 401k at Fidelity. With Fidelity I was transferred to an ‘Estates Department’ straight away. I was given the name and phone number of a representative who was obviously trained to work with grieving and distressed people. She was efficient, explained the process and scheduled a follow up call in 2 weeks to check on whether the beneficiaries had contacted Fidelity. She said she was available if I had any questions. She checked back in 2 weeks. Very impressed – white glove support.
Vanguard – not so much. And I have given my Relationship Manager this feedback – there is no department of trained individuals – you rely on the customer service line and they were not as supportive – no contact info, no follow up and they even asked the beneficiaries for death certificates which was not necessary. All beneficiaries felt Fidelity did a better job handing the process and one switched their account from Vanguard to Fidelity because they had such a bad experience.
I recommended to my Relationship Manager that they should have a dedicated department or team to handle these transactions. Disbursement of investment accounts is a certainty and for most grieving beneficiaries an experience they never thought they would have to do. There is a big opportunity for Vanguard to improve in this area.
The experience you are describing with Vanguard is the opposite of what I experienced in 2017. At that time Vanguard did specifically have a dedicated bereavement team to help with death transitions and their white-glove service was precisely what you describe with Fidelity. Has something changed at Vanguard?
Actually a lot has changed at Vanguard – fee based personal advisors / wealth management based on a % of portfolio, private equity offerings, and loaning funds from your account??? I wonder what Mr. Bogle would think about some of these ‘products’.
My experience was last year.
I’m a long term Vanguard guy and have no complaints. Several years I did have a challenging customer service experience but nothing recently. In my retirement FB group, there is strong bias to Fidelity with Schwab and Vanguard trailing. People in particular seem to like the website at Fidelity and also their service. Vanguard ticked off folks for getting out of the solo 401k business and also the whole mutual fund tax issue a couple of years ago. That said, anecdotally I also notice fewer complaints about Vanguard in our group. I recently heard an interview with the new CEO and they reportedly recognize the issues with retail investors and are working on them.
Fidelity managed my first 401k with my first healthcare employer, as well as two subsequent employers. I thought it was a good website, with good live service when I needed it, which wasn’t often.
But I chose Vanguard for my IRA because I preferred their funds. And when I chose to consolidate, I rolled all I could to Vanguard. The reps were very helpful–as the folks taking in the money should be–but so was everyone else. The website fits my needs. I’ve noticed little tweaks that make it easier and faster to make a transaction. I know that live service went through a slump several years ago, but I can’t speak to improvement, as I haven’t needed to make a phone call for quite a while.
We have had our investment accounts with Vanguard for more than a decade. I rarely call for customer service, but when I have they have been helpful.
But recently I’ve run into an issue. On my phone I can’t log into their app, but I can on my wife’s phone and our Chromebook. When I called for help it seemed as if the only suggestions I received were the same ones I had found when I Googled for help. She was friendly and politely apologized for not being able to find a solution and said we will keep looking into the problem. I expected to be referred to an upper level tech person, but one wasn’t offered
I have been with Vanguard for 25+ years. I had a 401k with them that I then rolled over to an IRA. When my wife retired we rolled her 403b account into a Vanguard IRA. In both instances Vanguard was especially helpful in the conversions. We also have a brokerage and cash plus account with them.
From the website perspective I have done quite a few transactions over the site and regularly check balances and have not experienced any issues.
I recently consolidated most of our accounts into Fidelity. While I can’t say if Vanguard’s customer service has improved, I can tell you that the complaints you mention are one reason I chose Fidelity.
I oversee brokerage accounts with Citi, Fidelity and Vanguard as I help my parents with their investments as well. As a DIYer, web experience and live customer service are my top values. No doubt Citi’s web experience is the worse but their live phone service is good, which I think it would have to be given their poor website. Vanguard’s web experience is ok but not great. Not as user friendly as Fidelity and I’m quite certain there are glitches in the portfolio performance calculations. Also like Citi, Vanguard has limited live customer service. I like the Fidelity web experience very much and their live customer service (weekends too). I’ve even grown to appreciate their web tutorials and articles which I don’t get as much of from Vanguard or Citi.
For many years we’ve had accounts at both Vanguard ad Schwab. I’ve always admired the Vanguard philosophy and John Bogle’s legacy there, as well as their broad fund and ETF offerings and rock bottom fees. But compared to Schwab, their customer service has always been lacking.
I’ve experienced a number of website/technical issues at Vanguard over the years and each time I’ve tried to get their help in fixing the problem, they “refer” it to the IT team, who generally does nothing. In contrast, when I call Schwab with a problem or question, I invariably get a rep who makes it his or her mission to help me and/or get it fixed pronto.
That said, I recently had a few things to address with Vanguard, including converting some Vanguard funds to Vanguard ETFs, and some very helpful folks did a great job. So maybe things are improving?
We’re long-time Vanguard investors who became account owners 10 years ago when I opened a taxable account to boost retirement savings. After ending work in Dec 2022 we consolidated investments there. We’ve had good customer service so far using their web site’s secure messaging or phone calls.
I like how their web site is focused on needs of long-term investors vs others which seem focused on trading.
Vanguard has steadily invested in their IT infrastructure and apps. Their phone app let me deposit my 401k rollover check from Fidelity the day I received it. And their web site is now mostly cleaner, using modern web UI tech (they’re still replacing some of the old UI in less-used areas).
The web site and phone app offer modern industry-standard security for login which I deem essential. It’s more convenient than the codes others are still using.
I appreciate your analysis, David.
I have had a Vanguard account for decades. I rolled over my 401k from Fidelity when I started taking RMDs. On the rare occasions I have needed to call the representative has been polite and helpful. I wouldn’t say the website is as good as it could be but I find it adequate.
I used to be DIY and had no problems with Vanguard or with Merrill Lynch phone and on-line support. Things got more complicated with SEPs, 503b, transferred IRAs, Merrill brokerage, donor advisory fund, etc. Phone support for both dwindled and became more difficult to access. Three years ago I began using the Vanguard private consulting service and I highly recommend their services. The 0.3% fee is a good value for me and my wife—they help with education and retirement planning and implement investments. They also eliminate service problems and are available to do things like help adjust investment thresholds when dividends trickle in and move money from a money market savings fund to checking and investments. There is a bit of a firewall between the consulting service and setting up their donor advised fund—not sure if that is a regulatory barrier? My spouse hates finances and they could also handle financial affairs if I were to die before her.
We’ve been using Vanguard for decades with no real complaints. They were very helpful when we settled my mother-in-law’s estate ten years ago, and when I started a solo 401k eight years ago. Our accounts are consolidated and pretty straight forward, so we don’t need a lot of support. Fidelity seems to have more options – HSA, annuities, so if I were starting new I might consider starting there.
I moved all my investments from my retirement plans at TIAA to Vanguard the day after I retired. The Vanguard customer service by telephone helped tremendously with that complicated process. My other Vanguard transactions have been online, which I’ve always found easy to navigate.
I for one have never had any cause to complain.
I have a Vanguard account, but I don’t like their website. I use the phone app for checking balances. The portfolio is distributed among several VG mutual funds.
Fidelity is a better fit for me. They have several local offices nearby, better website research and is easier to communicate with someone. Have considered moving the VG account.
Years ago I inherited IRAs from my parents which were in TRowe, American Funds, and Fidelity, (an example of why retirees should consolidate their retirement accounts with one company), so I have dealt with all the major mutual fund companies.
I have had funds at Vanguard for decades. About five years ago Vanguard messed up the calculations for an inherited IRA RMD which necessitated my requesting the IRS not “fine” me 50% of the under withdrawl which was granted. Other than waiting (not an inordinate amount of) time for a customer service representative (CSR) the service has been fine.
At this year’s Morningstar Investor’s Conference Chistine Benz interviewed new (last year) Vanguard CEO Salim Ramj who stated, “ Back in March…J.D. Power ranked us number one for the first time in a while in terms of our client experience for DIY investors.”
Regarding the other fund companies recently I was taking an RMD from a TRowe account to pay bills. Since this is an inherited account they require me to call to request a withdrawal which Fidelity and American Funds do not. The first check was made out to my parent’s estate so my bank would not cash. Called TRowe they said I would have to reopen the estate (which had been closed for five years). I pushed back and had another check issued, they said I would receive the check within 10 business days, which I did not. Called again and they said the representative never put in the request, and left for vacation. Told them I needed a check overnighted as I had to pay my bills. Their response, “we can’t do that”. My response was, “you can, you’re just not willing to”. Asked to speak with a supervisor who had the check overnighted.
On a lesser note the first time I call, every time, the CSR says they can’t hear me and asks me to call back. My wife has been telling me for more than a year to transfer the funds to Vanguard. Thankfully that fund will be emptied early next year.
When I was setting up the American Funds accounts years ago everything needed to be sent via snail mail, not the case with the other fund companies.