BE WARY OF FIDELITY! I have an account with Fidelity. Days ago, I sent them 25,000 via EFT from my…read morebank. They acknowledge receiving $25,000 but didn't make it available for trading, so I called them. They said they were experiencing a higher than normal rate of fraud, therefore they were taking 16 business days to verify EFTs, and until it was verified they wouldn't let you do any transactions with it. I am losing money, because my bank pays me good interest on my cash. If I had known that they were going to be so inept, I would have either gone with a different investment company, or sent them a wire transfer rather than an EFT. The first customer service person I spoke with was extremely rude, blaming me for making the deposit, claiming there was a warning online about a 16 day hold. However, the warning only said it might take a little while longer (what sounds like two or three days) to do the transaction. They DID NOT STATE it would take 16 business days. I called customer service two more times and they wouldn't make an exception. This is a STRANGE CUSTOMER UNFRIENDLY corporation that abuses its customers. I would not recommend that you open any accounts with Fidelity. They should consider changing their name to INFIDELITY.

Fidelity runs the benefits for one of my mother's pension payments. I have been trying for two…read moreyears to get access to handle my mother's account as she had a stroke and is incapacitated (can't speak/paralyzed). On my first phone call (got number from monthly statement), they wouldn't even tell me what company the benefit was coming from. They just informed me that they couldn't help me and I would need to call my mother's company. This was many years ago and my mother never told me what company was paying her pension. After a couple of more calls, I finally got someone to tell me what company to call - the guy whispered it into the phone. I called the company and they gave me the number to call Fidelity back, along with my mother's information. I was given an address and told what information was needed (SS#, DOB for myself and my mother, and a copy of the POA). I was told it would take 4 weeks to get the POA approved. I called back 4 weeks later and they said they show nothing in the system. I told them the address that was given to me and they advised that it was the wrong address that I was given - wrong PO and zip code. Being that they provided the other address, I asked where the first package would have went. They told me to contact the post office. I asked if I could email or fax the documents to them. They said no. I advised that Yum Brands (Pepsi) allowed me to do this and had all of the changes done in one week. They said there was nothing they could do. Just to resend it and wait a month to see if it gets processed or received. This company knows absolutely nothing about customer service and other than one individual who let me know what company was paying my mom's pension, probably at the risk of losing his job, all other individuals have been short with me and rude, even after providing all pertinent information about my mother to prove that I wasn't scamming them. The result is me having to file an extension on her tax returns until they release 1099 tax documents, since my mother's address is no longer valid and they send out "do not forward" documents.