I'm so grateful to be working with Selina Chiu at the San Ramon branch of Charles Schwab. She has taken personal time, both before and after office hours, to carefully think about the best financial strategies for me. Our meetings in her office are always very thorough and focused on my financial needs. I also feel very fortunate to work with her because she speaks Mandarin, which helps me clearly understand what works best for me under her guidance. There is no better advisor for me. Because of her excellence and dedication, I have already referred a couple of friends to her for initial consultations. I truly enjoy working with her and look forward to continuing for many years to come! read more

I was extremely happy having Gillian Qian help me set up a second family trust account for my deceased mother. Gillian was very knowlegable about trusts and did a great job in answering all my questions. read more

Absolutely the worst experience possible. If you're looking for inexperience, rookie management, and atrocious receptionists definitely go to San Ramon Charles Schwab . Two days and two hours, trying to set up the account and multiple attempts with tech support we finally gave up. Any money deposited here you will not have access to you funds for 14 days and you will not be able to do any transfers or anything by text. It will all have to be by phone archaic would be an understatement thankfully we did not move forward with working with this group. read more

I am horrified right now. I have had money in Charles Schwab for quite some time. Because I handle my elderly mother's money and it is a substantial amount, I put a verbal password on the account, which means that ANYONE who they discuss the account with has to give them the verbal password in order to verify that they are speaking with me. I've never been hustled before through my accounts, but today, I received what seemed like a scam call from someone named Lulu at the San Ramon Branch. She left a personal cell phone number, and message asking to discuss my information. I called back out of concern that this might be a scam, and wondering why she had access to my information. First she said she wanted to discuss "my goals" - I told her I had handled my accounts for years and didn't wish to discuss my goals, and then asked her how I could verify that this was not a scam call. She proceeded to tell me that she had my driver's license, my social security number, my account information, and my birth date in front of her - and then told me my birth date. Then, she asked if I had any big purchases coming up and that they could give me a loan. I told her I invest my money to make money, not to take out loans. I then told her she should not be discussing my accounts with anyone without first asking for the verbal password on the account. The horror came when she TOLD ME THE VERBAL PASSWORD...as in "Is ... your verbal password?" I am still upset and shocked as I type this. It's akin to telling someone your social security number to verify them. Just unbelievable. I explained to her that you are NEVER to GIVE my verbal password to anyone, but to ask for it for verification. She then said, "Well I know it's you because your number came up." I then had to explain that anyone could have my cell phone, the reason there is a verbal password is that I am the only one that would be able to verify it. She still didn't seem to get it. I asked her how she had access to my information, and she said "My manager, Jeff Schneider, gave me a link to several accounts to call. I learned that she has only been with them four weeks. I did call a Schwab manager through corporate to complain, who then verified that "Lulu" is a new employee. Since Lulu called from a random cell phone number and not a Schwab number, for all I know, she gave someone else the link to my accounts...the whole thing is just horrifying. I am shocked, livid, upset, and in utter disbelief. And we wonder why accounts are being hacked in this day and age. This is why. I have zero trust in the Charles Schwab San Ramon branch and have taken it to corporate for documentation. read more

Terrible experience with the local branch. I called ahead and was told to just walk in. When I walked in, there was no one to talk to me to help me open a brokerage account and a custodial account. I do not recommend this branch. read more

This review is not just for this branch but my entire experience with Charles Schwab. My parents don't speak English, so I helped them open a Schwab account because a relative wants to transfer a significant amount of assets to my parents. It has been nothing but problems with Charles Schwab. It has been over 2 months since the assets were transferred to my parent's account. We still can't access online banking and they can't exercise their assets. Every time my parents call customer service, nothing happens. The person on the phone doesn't know what the issue is. I have gone into this San Ramon branch with both of my parents three times, nothing gets resolved. I feel like everyone is all telling us the wrong information and no one knows whats going on. I gave up on Schwab and advised my parents to transfer their assets to Fidelity. Now Schwab put a restriction on the account. We called customer service and the person on the phone has no idea what's going on and said they will contact another department. It's been crickets without any updates for months. The one star is for the people working in the San Ramon branch, they're very nice, friendly and try to help. However, no one can tell us what is going on and how to resolve these issues. We emailed the lady who helped my parents to open the account at the San Ramon branch, and now she is non-responsive. The asset is just stuck without any answers. Absolutely frustrating! I would not recommend anyone using Schwab. read more

Financial adviser Jay at the San Ramon branch is always extremely helpful, knowledgeable, experienced and gives great financial advice. Everyone I have referred to him thinks the same about him. He gives 5* service and advice every time I deal with him. read more

They were pretty good at the San Ramon branch, that was before the pandemic. Complementary coffee, note books, pens and various investment material. Once a week they had investment classes, either at the San Ramon branch or in another nearby town, quite enjoyable and educational. They had various speakers but there was this guy very knowledgeable in day trading and technical trading who bring in donuts for the class. My local investment advisor was pretty good, willing to spend the time with us. He also connected us with an inhouse office coworker, a lawyer and had him review our trust. That was also complementary. As of today my advisor no longer works there. I was assigned to an advisor via phone correspondence, not face to face at the local office like before. The new trading platform seems different with less ETF selections and investment research, maybe that's me not familiar with the revised site. The 5 star rating was based on previous experience. I had little interaction during this pandemic but the investment lady I talked to yesterday was really, really nice spend a lot of time explaining things including banking with them and a way to access a local advisor. read more

Great branch. They offer refreshments. Staff is really kind. And they care about cleanliness. Great experience overall.

Schwab customer service via phone is pretty strong, but making transactions in ANY of the branches is pretty clunky. San Ramon is the absolute worst. I've been a customer here for ten years. Thank god I almost never have to come to make in-person transactions because every time I do, I get frustrated that I am paying a single penny in fees to this company. For example: --Apart from making simple check deposits, I have never been into this branch without the person at the front desk having to call their internal help line to figure out how to help me with what I am doing. I am standing in the branch right now, writing this review. I have been here for half an hour. Why? Because the person at the front desk doesn't know whether I can open a new brokerage account for my mother, whose durable power of attorney is ALREADY ON FILE with Schwab. That's right--Schwab accepted the Power of Attorney for an IRA belonging to my mother that I already manage. And it's taking the person who is helping me more than half an hour to figure out whether I can open a brokerage account for my mother using the same document. --Did I mention this is the third person I'm dealing with? When I came in, I explained the purpose of my visit to the manager. I then waited to see one of his associates. I visited with that associate who was completely uninformed around whether I could open the account and she had to call some Schwab help line; once she verified what I already told her was the case, she gave me a form to fill out then kicked me out of her office even though I had questions about the form. It was quite rude. She literally stood at her door and asked me twice to fill it out in the waiting room. Then I got bounced to a third person--the person at the front desk who is on the phone YET AGAIN asking how to open a brokerage account using a power of attorney. Even though the form is right in front of her. --I'm now being told that I can't open a brokerage account for my mother using the power of attorney--A NOTARIZED, LEGAL DOCUMENT--without a letter from her doctor saying she is incapacitated. Yet, the form does not state this and nobody can find the policy that speaks to this. I strongly suspect that THERE IS NO POLICY and that this is an obstruction to access to financial services. Fortunately, I worked in the banking industry previously so I know exactly who to report this to :) The irony of all of this is that I was trying to give Schwab my money. They made it hard for me to do business with them--business that they would have benefited from in fees. All I wanted was for them to take my money, give me a platform for me to invest it, and they could have been collecting fees on those trades for years to come. I am still (as I write this) waiting for them to get it together. I have now been here for forty minutes. This is insane. Do not come here. Madness awaits. read more

I wanted to leave a review because of how happy I was with the help I received at the front desk and was shocked at the low rating for the branch! To offer another perspective on some peoples bad experiences consider the fact that schwab has like a million different products and things to know. The people working there for 5 years may only know 10,000, the people 10 years 100,000 and 25 years 1,000,000. While the woman who helped me did not know the exact answer to my question she was able to look up the answer and find it for me which to me is just as valuable as knowing it by heart. read more

Be very cautious in considering using the Schwab Robo hybrid service. They really did me a disservice in what they put me into. Cost me a lot. Inexperienced advisor. read more

If I could give zero stars I would. I've had an on going battle over customer service with Schwab. Sometime it's GREAT and often it's not. I find this particularly upsetting because my family and I have been loyal clients for many years. For the sake of review I'll speak about this particular location then as an institution. This location has gone down hill for a number of years. All of the great financial planners have left and gone to better institutions leaving younger staff eager to build client books yet totally clueless on how to service customers. I've spoken to several colleagues and the consensus is that they've been transferring out LARGE accounts from Schwab due not only to this location's incompetence but the overall customer service from Schwab. I play by the baseball rule and give people 3 strikes before I execute on other options. Tonight was my final strike with Schwab. Do yourself a favor and leave if you're currently a client, and if you're interested in doing business with them, do yourself a favor and go with one of their competitors. It will save you countless hours on the phone, your time from being wasted, headaches, and most importantly... money. read more

This place is crap now. The worst customer service. Their front desk Customer Service representative is flat out rude. My wife took in a check my mother gifted to our twins. My wife asked about the difference between a 529 and a custodial account. She said she didnt know and told my wife to google it. I had already completed the custodial account application with 2 checks to open the account that day. She said she would take the application but we would have to return next year to make the deposit. When my wife dropped a few names of people that we knew there then she kinda of lightened up on her meanness. If she hates working there so much she should just resign. She could have safe kept our checks after opening the account and made the deposit. It is an OSJ location. In the middle if covid19, she has the nerve to send my wife home and told us to come back next year. I am so mad. So so mad. They dont care about customer service anymore. Stay away from this place. They place every customer in SPC or refer you to an advisor for a fee. Its cookie cutter advice. Take your business and investments elsewhere. They would not even give my wife a calendar unless she sat down with a financial consultant. They are so so cheap and frugal. I will file a complaint with their customer complaints department so they will have to report it to FINRA. read more

This is not about a particular branch. This is about my overall Charles Schwab experience. If there was an online/telephone choice, I'd leave my review on that. I had an account for a year with Charles Schwab. I specifically asked to be able to do options trading. I am a bit of a conservative trader so it was a year later that I decided to buy stock options for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Low and behold, my account was at a level that didn't allow me to trade standard call and put options. Schwab has 4 different levels and my approval level didn't give me the ability to. I was told by multiple reps that I needed to fax in a new application with the higher level request. I didn't have access to a fax. On my own a couple days later, I discovered I could do this online. I requested the higher options level (for what* should* be allowed on a basic options account) kept calling every couple of days with each rep saying "it's in review but I will expedite it; it takes about 2 days". A week later I get an email survey so I put down my dissatisfaction. I get a call and I am finally approved for the level I was seeking, with an apology, and a choice between free trades and $50.. A few weeks later, last night, I decided to do an option trade. I am told I was not approved for that level and never was. I sent an email showing I was approved. Then I am told "you were approved but downgraded 2 days later". WHOA!!!! This is now 2 out of 2 times Schwab has tied my hands on a very time sensitive trade! I was told it was because of my dissatisfaction. Note, I was in Northern California and was dealing with the famous fire over here for a week so I was not "peaches and cream" during the first attempt to trade options. I was told it was "very unfortunate that happened to you but because of it you are going to be 'punished' for 6 months, when you call ask for a review again." Holy smokes! If they want to punish me for being upset, fine. But the fact that my account was downgraded a 2nd time and NO HEADS UP was given to let me know is just unbelievable. Imagine thinking you are set up to trade time sensitive options and to learn that your account was downgraded and you were never informed. That is NOT RIGHT!! Unless you are a perhaps a millionaire, you and your money means nothing to them. read more

My husband and I have experienced horrible customer service twice now from the same man at the front reception desk. Can't remember his name but we had to confront him and then complained to the manager who told us there have been other complaints/issues with him and that she will be addressing the problem with him. Just thought others should be aware of this. read more

Now I know why there are so many bad reviews, should of listened. I fill out form, they go over it, I have to "cross out" errors and re write answers, there solution. Then when I can not get account..I have to call the 800 number to find out why(wouldnt it be nice if the branch would tell me), that i was denied as you can not "cross out". When I called back the San Ramon office..there excuse...it was my fault ...my fault??? It is your firm...why can you not admit..it is YOUR MISTAKE. I had to go back to get my money..guess they thought that was a tip. DO NOT GO HERE read more

I have had an account there a long time. I went in for a simple transaction that I did previously through another firm with no problem. It took two months to complete, they had no idea what they were doing, and they caused me bounce a check for not doing what they were supposed to do. It is the worst place in the world to have an account. read more

This branch offers free workshops with various topics hosted by Financial professionals. I enrolled couple workshops via the front desk rep and online. These workshops are very informative and presented in a easy-to-understad way. The consultant even followed up after the workshop and offered one-time brief financial consultation. No push. They also have a female consultant. I think her name is Min. My friends met with her recently and recommended her as well. The service team is also helpful and efficient. I do enjoy building up the relationship with this branch! They just moved to new place, 3150 Crow Canyon Road, San Ramon 94583. The chili restaurant used to be. Based on my experience, it is better to call branch to set up the appointment instead of just walk-in, and let them know the purpose of the meeting. That would allow the rep to prepare well prior to the meeting. In general, my consultant offered the information I looked for and even provides other alternative recommends. I do like that. read more

Great staff, friendly and informative. They remember my name and actually care about what they do. My only complaint is the language barrier sometimes between myself and the receptionist but this is a small detail because the lady always has the right answer. read more

If I could give NO STARS I would. I just spoke with the most incredibly rude person, Brian Sunderland. He is the worst customer service representative I have ever spoken to. Apparently he is a financial advisor. NEVER DEAL WITH HIM as he doesn't know what he is talking about. All I wanted was a copy of my deposit since I never received a confirmation email and he hung up o me. When I called back, I asked for his name, he laughed at me and said just try and get it. Well my husband got it. Because of him, we are pulling our money and never dealing with Schwab again. read more

Would rather keep my money in a mattress. Make sure you have everything in writing and you understand it. If there's an issue they force you into arbitration at your expense. read more

This branch has always been awesome! When I come to the branch they are always smiling and so helpful. I recently was trying to do a wire transfer on-line and it wasn't going through. I went to the branch and Chandra helped me with the transfer no made the transaction super easy and fast. Thanks so much! read more