My former employers had investment accounts with Fidelity and I since moved all that money out into…read moremy current employers account (Thank God!). I decided one day that I wanted to start a Roth IRA and since I already had accounts with Fidelity in the past, why not just use them right? WRONG! That was a bad idea!
So I logged into my account and opened a Roth IRA, things were going OK until I tried to fund it, then the website wanted to send verification texts to me, but when my older accounts were created I accidentally transposed the prefix for my phone number, no big deal, just change it right? WRONG.
In order to change your phone number on Fidelity.com you have to get a verification text sent to your phone, which would be fine if you still have the same phone and you didn't type it in wrong like I did.
As you can imagine, this was frustrating as I was experiencing an infinite error loop, as I cannot accept a text message to an incorrect number, thus I was unable to change my phone number.
I tried to contact customer service via chat (her name was Wendy), I was told she could not help me, & was advised to call 800-544-6666. When I called & entered my social security number, I was redirected & told the department I needed was CLOSED, even though the rep told me it was 24/7.
I went back to chat, & was told the same thing by the same rep (Wendy) She was not helpful at all, basically called me a liar that I received that message that they were closed, she rudely insisted she could not help me & I had to call, I tried again same thing, got a message stating they were closed.
I then went to chat again, & got Wendy again, this time the conversation got heated, & she basically cut me off. I tried again & got Miguel & asked to speak to a supervisor, & he cut me off, & then I was blocked from being able to use chat.
So then I decided to call again, only this time, I said I was a NEW customer, which technically I was, I never had a personal account with them just 401Ks from employers. I spoke to a seemingly nice gentleman in India, who actually pretended to help me, but as we were talking I was locked out of my accounts online. So not only did I get blocked from using chat, I was now kicked out of my accounts entirely, then he told me I needed to visit a local branch to "verify myself" (hence this review).
IS THIS HOW YOU TREAT YOUR CUSTOMERS?
ALL I WANTED TO DO WAS OPEN AN IRA ACCOUNT AND CHANGE MY INCORRECT PHONE NUMBER. Sounds simple right? WRONG! Trying to open a new Roth IRA and change my phone number led to me being locked out of my accounts entirely and being forced to visit a local branch just to unlock my web account.
The funny thing about this, is I didn't even have any money in there yet! :D
****Imagine if I actually HAD money in there! I would be locked out with no access to my own funds!!!****
My recommendation, STAY FAR FAR AWAY FROM FIDELITY!!!! The website is garbage, the customer service is beyond horrible, and the security policies are absurd! Find another place to invest your money!
I would rather buy a safe or put cash under my mattress than to trust these people with my life savings! NO THANKS!!!
I guess I don't have to worry now, my account is locked forever by these incompetent fools, so I will just take my business elsewhere, and thank God almighty I didn't have any money in there to worry about.
Goodbye Fidelity, not nice knowing you.