1. Cannot add beneficiaries to joint accounts. 2. Cannot journal funds between indiv. and joint accounts. 3. Truly terrible, uninformed customer service. 4. The absolute worst, most confusing and most glitch-ridden financial website I have ever encountered. 5. I admire Vanguard funds and ETFs, but will be withdrawing all funds from the Vanguard platform and only buy through other brokerages. 6. If their implementation is this bad, how can their site be secure? How can your funds be secure? read more

I have been with Vanguard for 10+ years through my company and have tried to withdraw funds twice for extremely minimal amounts considering my investment portfolio. The first was in 2015 to help offset burial costs for my stepfather who raised me since the age of 2. I provided alternate documents as requested over a period of 3 weeks e.g. baptismal records, death certificate etc, notarized statement from my mother (REALLY?) and an itemized list of expenses. It was a very emotional and difficult time for me and my family. In addition to providing these documents I had to initiate the calls to check status and each time more documentation was requested and sent. The Vanguard customer service representatives were extremely rude during the final week of calls and ultimately, my request was DENIED solely because Dad wasn't listed on my birth certificate as my biological father. I had gone full circle and had to let it go. A month ago I requested another withdrawal (as allowed in the parameters of the withdrawal process) and have been circling again in the "request for documents" process. This time, they have issues with dates. I've resubmitted the documentation 3 times and WAIT FOR IT... I am told I need to resubmit documents using the very same content I used in the initial document. I have requested a phone call from the customer service supervisor/manager this is to happen sometime in the next day or so. In the interim, I will fax a letter summarizing my experiences; I will call again tomorrow; but will also look into closing the account and open with another financial service company. This is too much!!!!!! Something is definitely amiss at Vanguard and me thinks it's more than just poor customer service!!!!! read more

Trying to move a large account in a living trust. No luck after 2 hours work. Staff does not seem to understand how to do this, although it must be a very common operation. read more

Not very happy with the "new" Vanguard. So, in trying to make themselves bigger and better, they are failing in many ways. For one, their website is not user friendly. Nothing is at your fingertips anymore, as they were before they found fame and glory. More headaches....So, their 403b is now a separate entity with its own website. It would be nice of Vanguard to have an unhidden button to go the that site. You have to dig and if you're lucky, you may find it the same day. By the way, if you do find your way there, the website is just as bad as the nasty 403b customer service. More useless information than I, and probably many other clients, will ever want or need. BTW, don't even try to get a periodic 403b statement. And now the 403b fee is $5.00 per month? Serious? I'll tell you the truth, after reading some other reviews here, I'm getting the sense that I will take my business elsewhere, where there might be a better chance of knowledgeable, concerned customer service. read more

Very bad customer service. I'm sure that they still make plenty of money for themselves though- at least the ones at the top of the organization. read more

Great cost structure. But the service is terrible. Reminds me a lot of Wal-Mart: great prices, awful service.

I've used them for decades.. ALWAYS a good choice...My father passed away recently and the transfer of funds and re-characterization to my mother went smooth as silk.. read more

I have been with Vanguard for over 15 years. I am a buy-and-hold investor and really appreciate Vanguard's low costs and good choices of index funds and actively managed funds. I have good experience with Vanguard's customer services. read more

I removed my original rant because I have discovered that errors can and do occur in any business, especially system errors. I know this for a fact, having worked as an IT Director for a State University. I also discovered that this page is fully monitored. Shortly after posting my comment, I received a pleasant phone call from Vanguard Corporate, and I was additionally pleased to discover that there truly are some people that are especially ready, willing, and able to resolve problems at Vanguard. I would like to state my sincere appreciation and thanks to Carmelina, who made contact with me, and was pleasant, and fully understood my criticisms and frustrations. She proceeded to resolve the problem for me quicker than I would have ever imagined. As we all know, good Investment managers are extremely valuable, but those behind the scene, who step in to help the customers are priceless. Vanguard should be especially thankful to have an experienced and qualified individual like Carmelina employed by the firm, and she should be appreciated by all at Vanguard. Thank you so much Carmelina for all your help. Have a great weekend. read more

I have had a Vanguard account for years. I recently attempted to have monies transferred from my brokerage account to my checking account which I have done many times before. Over 3 weeks time and 6 different discussions with VG staff they still are not transferring my money. They have one excuse after another. There is something seriously wrong at that company. I am going to report it to the SEC as I believe there might be fraud involved. They keep promising to fix their procedure and call me back but never do. They have on occasion put me on hold then hung up. read more

I have a Vanguard account & have really enjoyed working with them. I have experience with several different brokerage groups, but out of all of them I would TRUST Vanguard the most. They have not always gotten back to me as promptly as possible & have not done things perfectly, but for the most part they are very professional and courteous. More than this, I trust them & really value their business model & practices. Great group. read more

Have been with Vanguard for over 20 yrs, after a career as a broker with a Wall St firm. Their transparency & VERY CAPABLE staff is amazing. After being involved with pseudo 20008 theft, run, don't walk, to Vanguard. read more

I have been a customer with Vanguard for 30 years, actually since 1985 so for more than 30 years. Unfortunately the good customer service from 30 years ago is gone. I just had an issue with a customer support person who obviously did not listen to my question. What is wrong with the people they have that answer the phones at Vanguard? I logged on to the web site looking for the 5498 from May 2017. Then I called Vanguard and told the person that I was logged to the web site and just tell me where the 5498s are located on the web site. Then he has to ask all the security questions. So the location of the 5498s are top secret? I am already logged on I told him. All I got was "they do not come out until May 2018". I must have told him 5 times I need the one from May 2017. And then I got "the 1099R is on the web site". No kidding I already downloaded them. He could not tell me where the 5498s are located on the web site. He started yelling I started yelling. What a bunch of incompetents. I think I will move everything to Fidelity. They have better customer service and they know what they are doing. I agree with the one other poster. Use Fidelity. I wonder if Jack Bogle knows what is going on there today. read more

Worst experience to date while settling my Mothers estate. I waited on the phone for 25 minutes to speak to someone to simply ask if I needed to complete the name change verification section of the Inherited IRA paperwork and then was told there was nothing they could do to help me without an account number. Really? You need an account number to answer process questions? The woman was extremely rude and clearly did not like her job. I would strongly recommend that if you care about the pain your loved ones have to go through after you pass, DO NOT USE THIS INSTITUTION!!!!!! read more

terrible customer service. they don't really have answers to your questions just script and repeat everything! I had to tell the guy if he said "AGAIN" to me one more time I was going to loose it. he was talking to me like I was dumb and I really had simple BASIC questions. I wouldn't give a review like this after talking to just one person but this is how it is almost every time I have talked to them. Either go with a diff company or make sure you know EVERYTHING so you never have to talk to them. read more

Still waiting for an account to be opened, been over a month and will probably continue to wait for all eternity. This company is staffed by the most incompetent rejects that humanity can produce. You can wait on the phone for 45 minutes and get a person that only knows how to pass you on to someone else instead of solving the problem - and in the end that person will say "give it a few more days, and check back with us". If you ever wondered how there mutual funds fees can be so low then you now know - they spend the minimum on customer support. I would have set the account up on-line which would have saved me the nightmare of dealing with their phone support, but since I'm employed by a brokerage there is extra paper work and approvals that are required - or so they say at Vanguard. read more

I have a reasonable size account with Vanguard and for the past several years of rolling over a 401k, numerous withdraws, transfers as well as buying/investing in numerous types of funds I have experience absolutely no problems whatsoever. read more

If you like frustration, this is your website. I have no qualms with their investment strategies but their website at times is impossible to use, even to make a simple transfer. Often I have to call their 800 line, and their brokers are always courteous and knowledgable, but their website is one of the most difficult I've ever used, and it makes it hard to make quick transactions without using their phonelines for help.. read more

Been a client of Vanguard for over 20 years. I have logged into my account from work many, many times to make adjustments. Recently they have implemented a security code requirement where a security code has to be sent to your phone before you can log in. Called Vanguard to tell them I cannot bring a cell phone into work and that the number they have on file for me is a landline. They basically said I am out of luck. So the changes I was anxious to make today to my account will have to wait until I am home. This is the first bad experience I have had with Vanguard and it is making me rethink my choice for investments. They should realize that the entire world does not have a cell phone or access to a cell phone 24/7. They could send a code to an email account that I could access from work but it is not set up this way. VERY, VERY DISAPPOINTED. Security is a good thing but should be implemented in a manner that least impacts the customer's experience and Vanguard failed in my case. read more

The fact that you have to wait on the phone for hours to make moves with YOUR MONEY not their money kills me. I have been waiting for over a week to close an account and all you get is a brief silent hold for a team leader that gives you the same attitude as the rep. This company is the worst. I will do what I need to do to get my money out of it asap and back to fidelity read more

I have been a Vanguard investor for more than 25 years and a Flagship member for 15. I appreciate the quality of the money management and the low fees. Flagship representatives appear to be "newbies" who are poorly trained in interacting with clients and very "rule focused". This behavior continues to get worse. I see no purpose to Flagship representatives. They have a very high turn over (which the new representative said is because Vanguard has lots of opportunity and people get promoted). No doubt. But meanwhile, it is not good company policy to assign young, poorly trained, staff to interact with clients. I have much more responsive and helpful service from TRowePrice. read more

I called Vanguard to request distribution of funds from my IRA to my bank account. I provided all necessary banking information and stressed that the money was to be electronically transferred to my bank account on the 30th of each month. No money was transferred to my bank on the 30th. I called and was told that a check would be mailed to me. This required waiting an additional 13 days to have access to my money. They also said my account had not been set up for electronic transfer of funds. They assured me that they had made the necessary changes and the funds would be electronically transferred the following month. Today is the 30th of the month and guess what? No money has been electronically transferred to my bank account. I called and was told it might take an extra day for the transfer to occur. The 30th of the month is not the same as the 31st of the month. I wonder how much financial gain they make by holding onto a customer's money for an extra day? This is clearly a breach of fiduciary duty. read more

I am a USA citizen; expat now in Malaysia; teaching English, I file USA tax returns every year. I am near retirement age and have invested with Vanguard for 10+ years. In January, I requested Vanguard link my Malaysian bank account to Vanguard. It wasn't until 11 April that the account was linked after Vanguard forced me to take an overnight trip to the US Embassy to have their International Wire Transfer form notarized. When I went to withdraw some of my money yesterday, there was a popup saying my bank is not set up to accept, USD. I emailed my bank and they reply immediately that they were. Vanguard says I need to have a new International Wire Transfer Form completed to change my bank information. I am not asking Vanguard to exchange currency only to send my own money to my bank which will accept it. I do not know what to do because I cannot make another trip to the Embassy, it cost me over $1,000 Rm for the overnight trip and fees at the US Embassy. Anyone that make suggestions? read more

Hey I have been with Vanguard for years and have nothing bad to say except the following: Vanguard transferred my 403(b) account to some outside place Newport Group. Now trying to rollover that into an IRA at Vanguard but have to go through Newport; put my phone on speaker and waited for ever for someone to answer the Fing phone. Someone finally did and had a bunch of trouble understanding what she was saying but; I got what I wanted, the form to get the money back to Vanguard and into an existing IRA. Problem is the form tells me to get a plan administrator from my previous employer and other certifications...I retired 10 years ago; am 70 years of age. If I withdrew my money or rolled it over the day before Vanguard transferred control to Newport; no problem. I won't deal with this Newport again. If Vanguard won't answer my questions without going back to it, I will transfer all out of Vanguard. read more

They have very poor customer service, very poor financial officers too who handles your account. The people that answer the call and should be in a recorded line, you think that vanguard should evaluate those recorded lines and improve their service. Very unfortunate for such a big company and people are investing a lot of money, we or the people should be given excellent service. It's so stupid to talk to a poor customer service after waiting and being placed on hold forever! If you have the chance to invest to another company, do so. I am stuck with this stupid company and their stupid customer service coz this is employer sponsored plan! read more

Never have I been so disappointed in a company. Have invested with Vanguard for 27 yrs., buy and hold. Several years ago I opened up Roth IRA for my son and have managed the account for him on the internet. I am sure many other parents have done the same. Suddenly we are notified that the account is no longer available on the internet and is now locked out of any transactions. Talking to a myriad of customer service reps has produced 0 results and much frustration. Supervisors are not available and no one returns calls. I am told it is not possible to speak to anyone at corporate headquarters. It is rather obvious that they could care less about customer service. To think that over the years I have recommended this company to others, never again. We are currently locked out of being able to exercise a stock option which is expiring, therefore a loss will be incurred. Shame on you Vanguard. Complaint to FINRA to follow. read more

It took four tries, and 3 trips to the notary public, to get an account transferred and online. Even the agents were not clear on which forms I needed (not to mention what the forms were requesting). When there was a problem, they didn't contact me - I had to call and see why the account was not opened. I never had this problem at Fedelity. read more

not really clear why anyone should do business with a firm that provides a level of customer service that sets records for incompetence. you need only review the messages that follow to understand this firm could care less about the complaints noted by their customers and the associated grief they experience.. i for one will close our account and use every opportunity to share a negative opinion about this firm. businesses do shut down and i certainly hope vanguard suffers a fate they so richly deserve. read more

I've been on hold for over 1 hour trying to get the necessary form to take my RMD from my 403b account. I've asked to speak with a "person" and only get shunted repeatedly to a "wait\wait" line and no person. Unacceptable! read more

After lots of research into investment companies, we decided to start a vanguard account. I spoke with a vanguard representative at length about how to open an account, transfer funds from my bank account and purchase funds. I opened the account online while on the phone with another vanguard rep. We set up our bank account. Vanguard did the micro deposits and I confirmed my bank account online through Vanguard. When I tried to transfer funds into Vanguard I couldn't. After more calls to Vanguard, I was told that because the names on my Vanguard account and bank account were not the exact same IE: Tom vs Thomas I needed to print, sign, and have a paper notorized with the two different names. I did and mailed it that day. I waited for the mail to arrive at Vanguard and called. I was told it would still take up to another week to verify the bank account. While growing ever more irritated, I waited. Now into one month from initial signup they've lost paperwork and suggesting I change the name on my bank account to the same as Vanguard account. WHY DIDN'T THE FIRST IDIOT AT VANGUARD TELL ME THIS????? HOW CAN YOU LOOSE MY PAPERWORK AND NOT TELL ME???? I see other yelp reviews about their terrible customer service. Shouldn't the SEC look into these yahoos? read more

I have been a Vanguard investor over 2 decades. So far, service seems to be good, when I transfer money into Vanguard. But today, for the first time, in 20 years, I request a wire transfer from my Money Market into a third party, an escrow bank account, the service became horrible. I have been treated poorly, like a criminal under investigation for fraud because they put me through some kind of 'fake' test, asking 4-5 questions randomly generated by computer. Those questions had nothing to do with security. Nobody would be able to pass the test, therefore, 'DENY', I cannot withdraw my money. Vanguard makes impossible for you to wire transfer, ie transfer your money out of Vanguard to a 3rd party. So, if you just want to invest and NEVER EVER have to withdraw money, then yes, be their member. But when there is an emergency, when you want to pay for a home, you need to transfer your funds to a third party, you will encounter a real hard time. Really bad service and bad advice. I will no longer invest into Vanguard. read more

I got divorced two months ago. I have been told several times, that it will take 4-6 weeks to review my QDRO and release the funds from my ex's 401K. I called today and they told me it would be at least 4-6 more weeks to review the QDRO and at that time. If there are issues with the QDRO filed by my attorney's office, it will start the process over. IF the verbage in the QDRO is exactly what they want it to be, then they will start the process to move the funds into a 401K account they set up for me. At that point, they will send me paperwork about my account. Then I'll have to fill out more paperwork to request my account to be cashed out. The lady on the phone said that is another department and she wasn't sure how long that process would take. This is ridiculous. I am waiting to close on a house and this could take months! Not acceptable! read more

I gave them one star because negative numbers are not on the scale. Worst customer relations experience I have ever had. In trying to get a start date for retirement distribution from a previous employer, I spoke with six different people and received eight different answers. I thought private companies were supposed to be better than the government. Ha! read more

There are a lot of positive reviews of Vanguard online, so hopefully my experience will get better. I mailed (snail mail) a letter to Vanguard 9 days ago to open a 403b pretax account because their application process online wouldn't work. I verified with their tech support person that my inability to fill out the application online was the fault of their website . They received the paper application 7 days ago. I called today and no action has been taken on my application so far. They said they would prioritize it. I told the advisor I spoke with that my employer needs the account number of the new account within 5 days in order to make my first payroll debit next month. I asked him if he could pass that information on to the department that was prioritizing my application. His reply: "I'm sorry sir, we've already done all we can do for you". In general, the advisors that I have spoken with so far are mostly far less knowledgable than the advisors at Schwab. I'll stick with Vanguard, at least for now, because they are cheap. I guess you get what you pay for. read more

I used to like them but I think they got too big for thier own good. I have multiple accounts there and recently dropped a letter in the mail asking them to send me an enrollment kit for a few funds and never got them. I sent a follow up letter, still nothing, sent a 3rd letter, no reply. I know some of you are probably asking why are you sending a letter when you can do it on-line....? It doesn't matter. I am the customer, this is what I wanted and it was easiest for me. In today's day and age...if someone in business today doesn't want $$...then I will be more than happy to take it else where. In fact, I am going to start with drawing my funds. Great move Vanguard. Your customer experience is horrible! read more

Can't even begin to explain how bad and unqualified their customer service is. Had some issues rolling over my 401k to a new employer plan and ended up having to call them about 25 times within the course of two months to straighten things out. Most have little idea what they're doing and sent me in different directions, many times contradicting their employees. I will do everything in my power to never use Vanguard again. read more

I was provided Vanguard thru my employer. I submitted funds for my retirement and when my job ended, called to ask that these funds be rolled over into a Traditional IRA with my bank. The reps transferred me back and forth and made the excuse that they could not see my pin was reset. While they denied that the system reset it, I was getting email confirmations that it was reset. They still refused to process my roll over request. So I hung up, when I called back I got a different set of reps. I told the second set of reps my pin is not resetting on your side, but in my emails it says it is reset?? The rep said that the internal rep ALSO has to mark a box to show the pin is reset so we went thru the process again and bingo... some how it NOW magically worked a whole (10 mins later when she hits the acknowledgement button on her side). This 2nd set of reps did process my request and gave me a confirmation number w/email. So I will leave it up to the reader. Do you think I was misinformed by an uneducated rep who just needed more training OR were they stalling and denying to process my roll over request? read more

I put money in a Vanguard account (taxable account) and I made a little money. When I sold, I wasn't sure if I sold, because the web site is confusing. When it appeared that I had converted back to cash, I tried to buy again, but the site didn't reflect my purchase. I waited a week, and still no indication that I had bought anything. Try as I may, I was unable to purchase anything using the funds held in my Money Market account. I tried to transfer additional "new" funds in, because I had this crazy idea that the web site might allow me to buy with "new money". No such luck. I got frustrated, and tried and tried to get my money back out, via my "linked" bank account. No such luck. I emailed Vanguard, and their response was to use the web site to transfer my funds out! This went on and on. I just ignored the money for over a year, making close to ZERO return. I keep at the puzzle, and now it appars they have returned my funds. The "take-away" here is that (1) the Vanguard web site is a puzzle with a bunch or bent and missing pieces. It makes no sense, and was designed by an idiot. That, or they do it on purpose in order to trap customers. (2) the Vanguard people will not help you. (3) Vanguard is a "trick-bag" that I won't get trapped in again. read more

customer service sucks. its like talking to beligerent teenagers on saturday detention or beavus /butthead. they would read off the script repeating over and over again just to piss you off. "security features" would lock you out and you cant trade unless over the phone which is 37 minutes wait time read more

A couple of months ago I established retirement accounts at Vanguard because of the low cost of virtually all their mutual funds. Their costs are low in part because the service is AWFUL. Several times they left me hanging on the phone for fifteen minutes, my maximum. Perhaps they may have answered my questions if I had given them only one minute more. Hoping that this was completely atypical, I completed Vanguard's forms for a trust account three weeks ago and sent them regular mail. After not hearing from them within two weeks and fearing that they have been lost in the mail, I resent the trust application forms certified mail, which provides tracking. They received the certified forms in two days. After not hearing from them within five days, I phoned. They had to admit receipt of the certified forms but said they did receive the forms sent regular mail, something no one can positively deny. What are they going to do with certified forms? Send them to the trust account specialists. For those who value their time, are Vanguard's low cost worthwhile? read more