Charles Schwab Customer Service Complaints - page 3

Schwab offered bonuses for amounts of assets transferred to Schwab from other brokerage accounts, in November 2011. I transferred about $54,000 from my Vanguard account in accordance with terms of the bonus, which was $200.
Despite assurances from the account executive at my local Menlo Park branch, as well as the branch manager, Richard Zak, nothing has happened to add the bonus to my account despite several phone calls and their assurances that this would be taken care of.
While it's not a huge amount, I'm determined not to let let Schwab get away with this manner of indifference.

After 25 years as a loyal customer, I am leaving. They just don't seem to care anymore, and it is time to take them off the gravy train. I am probably in the upper quartile, as far as account size goes, but have been completely ignored this past year. Did anyone else have this experience?

Talking Points ...

Financial Consultants: After my previous financial consultant presumably left Schwab (seems to be a fair amount of rotation) near end of 2010, my new representative has not once talked with me. The only communication I've received from her over the course of 2011 was a holiday card, in which she wrote about "looking forward to meeting me sometime". Isn't that ludicrous? Financial consultants are paid a salary, plus percentage of their customer account balances and additional Schwab services they sell. So, shouldn't common sense lead them to try to retain their accounts (i.e. as pool from which to possibly sell their 'value-added' services)? I guess in my case, 2011 was a good year for her ... expended no effort, yet still netted a profit at my expense. Sorry honey, it's over.

McCarthy Ranch Office: Not hearing from my consultant, I went to this office in late September 2011 and asked to talk with the manager. Receptionist took my name/number and said manager would call me back to discuss. It's now 2012, I am still waiting for his phone call!!! This office seems very dysfunctional. Schwab was there several years, then they vacated, and now they're back. They cater to a large Asian clientele; maybe that is why I got the cold shoulder.

Schwab's Offers: Every time I agreed to go with an approach proposed by my financial consultant (Schwab Adviser Network, Schwab Managed Portfolio, etc.), I had poor to severely negative results (note: Schwab, being middleman, only sells the shovels [faulty or not] and always makes money). In some cases, my capitulation was driven by Scwhab's "deer in the headlights" reaction to market volatility. Throughout the years, never once do I recall a consultant presenting an investment idea that did not include them scoring an extra commission.

Chief Investment Strategist: The pretty and perky Liz Ann Sonders should work for a government institution doing economic forecasts, rather than provide guidance for retail investors. Her presentations are rife with information overload and hedged predictions (net reading: market could go up and could go down .... er, thanks!). Liz Ann, please get a spine and have some convictions.

Opinion Polls: Why again did I waste my time filling out the mid-2011 questionnaire, when absolutely nothing changed for the better?

Holiday Help: If Schwab needs help sending out holiday cards later this year, I'd like to apply. I charge a very reasonable $250 per card signing (note: this is a small fraction of the amount Schwab's compensation schedules indicate my financial consultant would receive for doing absolutely nothing this past year, save send out a greeting card!).

Two complaints:
1) I transferred bonds and stocks from another broker to Schwab. Schwab then deducted some of the cash income from the new account, on a monthly basis to pay estimated income taxes without my authorization and without calling me. They would not refund the withdrawn money even though it had not been sent to the irs yet
2)Even though I have a substantial account, they would not take my information over the phone for filling out their forms and then sending the forms to me for my signature.

On the positive side they have some good trading software and sometimes, but not uniformly, very helpful and knowlegeable people on the phone.

Charles Schwab has the worst customer service imaginable. They treat their customers rudely and with disrespect. In one case, I am a limited power of attorney on one of my Mom's accounts and was attempting to help her with an issue and they kept escalating it until it reached the Client Advocacy area. When it reached there, they contacted risk management and then froze the account so that no one could take any action whatsoever in the account including my mother. She is 83 years old and they really upset her. The situation is still not resolved. They are a terrible firm with an awful culture. They treat the customers as an adversary, not as customers that are paying their salaries. Beware of placing your money here as an investor.

After 20 + years, I've moved my accounts from Schwab.

They made several errors, violations of privacy, and pushed me to an unqualified Schwab Financial Consultant - all in the last few months.

I left last week after realizing that I'd resent every dollar they 'earn' from my accounts. Mr Schwab's support of the Koch brothers funding of the Tea Party and their attempts to gut Social Security, Medicare, and the EPA are unacceptable and not in my family's best interests.

Mr Schwab remains as Chairman. Look past the trivial Schwab foundation donations spread thin over thousands of non-profits and the balanced contributions to campaigns of both democrats and republicans. You'll find a lack of transparency and that the big money goes to support the RNC.

If you are a client of Charles Schwab brokerage, heed well the comments of Jonathan (August 2011), regarding the attitude and behavior of the so-called "Client Advocacy Team" at Charles Schwab -- particularly their Phoenix Arizona office. They are not there to advocate for you, the client. They believe they are there to beat down whatever complaint you may have. If you have a complaint with the potential to cause them any embarrassment or hassle with the SEC, they will beat down your complaint -- and "beat you up" psychologically, if they have to -- even to the point of trying to discredit you. Also, before you accept any advice from one of their representatives, ask to see his or her birth certificate and driver's license, and then do a background check. A number of their representatives had felony histories, and the person I was at the mercy of, was using someone else's credentials and had to leave town in a hurry after being arrested for resisting/obstructing a police officer. I was told by their "Client Advocacy Team" that I would not get back the monies he lost me unless I promised never to tell anyone what had happened. Frankly, that is the kind of threat I would expect from a creepy pedophile, not a reputable broker. If you ever have a problem there, move all your money first - with the oversight of an attorney to document their response to your request, and how long it takes them to effect the transfer (months) -- and ONLY when your money is safe, should you dare to complain. Document everything.

I have been a client of Schwab for over 20 years and pretty much manage my own investments. My Schwab rep at my local branch was very eager to help and led me to believe he could add value. It didn't take me long to conclude that basically his job was to sell me Schwab products (Windhaven, Pimco Bond Ladders) and earn a commission. When he tried to push me into Windhaven funds, and I requested a prospectus for it he actually sent me a glossy brochure but no prospectus. I had to ask him several times for one and he never sent it (just a basis SEC disclosure but nothing about the performance or management of the fund). He also mentioned that he was under no incentive to sell me Windhaven or Pimco. However, when I received the account agreement for the Pimco Bond Ladder product there was fine print that he would get a commission for his referral of the products. Basically he lied to me.

One other big warning (and this is a big one), be VERY careful of firms Schwab recommends in their network of financial advisors. Unfortunately, some friends of mine needed to park money at Schwab while they decided on someone to manage their money. The investment management firm my friends decided on was a disaster. Besides buying a large position in a bad Chinese stock, the firm provided very little diversification among asset classes, and then charged my friends a 30 day termination fee when they decided they needed to leave that investment firm as soon as possible.

After all of my experiences, my advice is to use the cheap brokerage commissions but do NOT rely on their client reps. They are very sub-standard. I recommend you buy a book by someone who knows his stuff (i.e. David Swenson or John Bogle). It will save you money and heartaches from making big mistakes.

Without a doubt the most incompetent group of service representatives I have ever seen or heard of in my entire life. The number of times I have had to repeat fax and authorize changes to my accounts is simply staggering. I cannot take it anymore and I am pulling about $1million of accounts out of Schwab with explicit instructions as whom exactly in the organization failed to process these many requests. I would be stunned if even one of these idiots was reprimanded let alone fired or fined. Schwab "service" is a complete joke!

I am here for the same reason as the previous poster. In this case it is my elderly mother's account. I am sickened to learn of this donation and am wondering what to do.

I just found out Charles Schwab personally contributed $1 million dollars OFF THE RECORD to the ultra right-wing billionaire Koch brothers who pledge to use the money to defeat President Obama by bankrolling the Tea Party. We are seriously considering shutting down all of our Schwab accounts.

I have been a Schwab customer for around 20 years. I (and family members) currently have 5 active accounts with collective balances over $100,000. Schwab has repeatedly failed me miserably over the years (for example, losing my elderly mother over $20,000 in a supposedly "safe" Schwab government bond funds -- less than $2,000 of which was recouped in a Class Action settlement and, most recently, failing miserably to establish online Bill Pay (a pending request from July 2011 still has not been fulfilled at the end of August 2011) or even to correcly deliver a small (less than $300)hardcopy check to a third party for more than 2 weeks (that required a branch visit to initiate and multiple phone calls to fix the mishandled payment). I am at the point of moving my accounts as soon as I have the time to deal with this completely unsatisfactory company. Schwab's policies and operations are not only inefficient at handling accounts, the company and its employees simply don't care.

"We are not your service team"
"We are not your service team"

These are the words that ring out from my conversation with the female manager of the Client Advocacy Team on Monday August, 29, 2011.

In trying get a letter to respond to a government form I spoke with a member of the team earlier on Monday. Then after sending a fax I got an angry, petty, and retributive call back from the female manager over the apparently inappropriately named "Client Advocacy Team." It was basically a call that said "don't call us - we are not here to help you - shut up and go away." It was also condescending.

When I needed a similar letter from Ally Bank, they were happy to help. Their executive escalations group didn't tell me I could not speak to them or that I had to jump through hoops to reach out to them for help. But the wrongly-named "Client Advocacy Team" at Schwab apparently is so caught up in their own self importance that they now don't appreciate phone calls from their customers. Their female manager prefers to treat customers rather like lowly employees that are required to follow her process before reaching out to them, where customers are to be treated either like lowly employees of this woman, or like pawns. Prior to contacting that group I had spoken with several other managers. And I had also been lied to by two employees who told me the letter would be done - then nothing happened. Then I got a denial. And only then did I escalate the issue. Then I DID speak to someone at the Client Advocacy Team. Then after sending a supplementary fax, that's when I got an angry call back from this woman manager of that team telling me "we are not your service team," and basically to F-off and go away.

The FDIC and the Comptroller of the Currency will be hearing about the details.

We are not your service team.

We are not your service team.

This was the message from Schwab's "Client Advocacy Team" on Monday August 29.

signing up for an IRA account and trying to trade in an individual account has been terrible with Charles Schwab.

I completed a set of application forms 4 times - once by fax (the rep said that was all I needed to do), then three other written applications mailed in because I have a Green Card. Each time the rep gave me the wrong information despite my telling him I was a permanent resident.

Then I was given another 5 sets of incorrect information. I am not going into details except to say that a broker told me to apply for a margin account. He knew I was interested in day trading on just one stock - my majority holding. Once I jumped through all the hopes (more incorrect info from them), I finally sold some stock only to be told that my stock did not fit the criteria for day trading and I had to wait 5 days for it to close!

My opinion is they need to train their people thoroughly. I wish I'd never opened accounts with them

Schwab customer service is awful. I'm not sure I have enough time to describe my experience with them here. Even if I did, I doubt you'd believe my story because it is UNBELIEVABLE how many the financial reps are at schwab UNBELIEVABLE. OMG!

I have never had a more difficult time dealing with a company in my life. Though most of the representatives I talked to on the phone were polite, they all had the attitude of “this is not my problem” and “you will have to follow our process”. Unfortunately, their process varys depending upon which representative you talk to.
One representative told me they would email me a document. When I didn’t receive an email, and called back, I was informed that they don’t email that type of documents. Another said they would mail me a form but only to the property address on the loan – which is in a different state!! They had already had me send in a change of address form which I had a receipt showing they had received OVER THREE YEARS AGO.
After sending in multiple copies of the same forms I finally thought I had the problem solved. I was told that I would receive the documents within 5 to 7 days, as that was as fast as they could expedite the documents. Unfortunately, and no real surprise, when I called back to see why I hadn’t received the documents I was told they had decided that they couldn’t send them to me but would process themselves. When asked why no one had bothered to inform me, the supervisor’s attitude was that it wasn’t her responsibility and this was their procedure.
I have repeatedly had to send them the same documents and forms. An account that was supposed to have been closed over 3 years ago, for which they neglected to send a reconveyance form ,has now caused me a delay in receiving a new loan. At this point I’m not sure I will ever get this problem resolved.
I have other accounts with Charles Schwab which I am now transferring to another company. I would never recommend Charles Schwab to anyone!!!!!!!!!!!!

Over the years, I have had IRA accounts with Fidelity, Scottrade, Diversity, Vanguard, & Edward Jones, to name a few. I have more than a little experience with online investing and I have never had a real problem with any of the brokers - until I tried Schwab. I have never experienced poorer customer service than that at Schwab.
To qualify for use of their StreetSmart trading software, I decided to move over a couple of our IRA accounts from Fidelity so as to bring my family account balances to over the $1 million balance required for use of the software.
A new IRA account for my wife was opened online from our home computer in Iowa City, and funded with a transfer of an existing IRA from a major brokerage. There was no change in the name, address, email, or phone number or any other information associated with this account. The account to be transferred had been opened for over 15 years. This simple action started the following series of events:
. We received a form letter from Schwab indicating that they had trouble verifying wife's identity and stating that no trades, deposits or withdraws would be allowed until they could verify it.
. One day later, we received letter stating that the account was opened and asking us to contact them if any of the information, as reprinted in the letter, was incorrect.
. Two days later, Schwab accepted and processed multiple deposits to the account totaling about $100,000. Checking the Schwab web site, we noted it indicated that all the funds in the account were available for trade or withdraw. There was no indication of any restriction on the account. This never changed.
. Next, we submitted forms to Schwab to grant POA (Power of Attorney) to me on my wife’s account and to my wife on my account. Schwab set up the requested POA for both accounts as requested.
. A Schwab Representative from their closest local office contacted my wife to introduce herself. She made no mention of any restriction on her account.
. We received the February statement on her account. There was no indication of any restriction on the account.
. My wife received and accepted an invitation from the Schwab office to attend a dinner/seminar, which we both attended.
. A Schwab representative contacted us to discuss fixed income vehicles.
. On April 3rd we tried to make our annual $6,000 deposit to the account via ETF. But we could not because Schwab requires up to 2 weeks before allowing a deposit via ETF. (Fidelity allows deposits immediately and only requires additional time to verify the information for withdraws.)
. We sent checks to Schwab for IRA deposits to both our IRAs via our bank's Bill-Pay.
. On 4/8 I saw that the deposit to my IRA was posted the previous night, but my wife's deposit was not.
. On 4/8, after 15:00 CDT, I called customer service to make sure the delay was normal. I was informed that the check had been returned via postal mail because the account was restricted. In subsequent conversations with Schwab representatives that day, we were told that;
.. the account was restricted because we applied for it from New Jersey (What!!), and
.. Schwab did not make any attempt to notify us that they had rejected our deposit because the Patriot Act does not allow it.
Schwab saw nothing wrong with their handling of the situation - they did not think that rejecting a time-sensitive deposit, without notification, was a big deal even though it would have cost their client over $2,000. They offered us no means of facilitating a timely deposit, would accept no culpability for the situation and never apologized.

Five days after filing a written complaint, I was called by a Schwab Representative that reiterated their non-apologetic position, although he had no explanation for the conflicting information regarding the status of the account that we received from them. Nor could he explain why they thought the IP address originated in New Jersey. Clearly, either their criterion for flagging accounts is faulty or their processing is sloppy. He also claimed that they mailed out a letter to us to tell us they rejected the deposit (the precious representative said that would be illegal). But after five days, we still have not received the rejected check back or any notification of the rejection. If it had been mailed when they claimed, I expect we would have it before now. I never heard a hint of an apology. Schwab’s only apparent concern through-out this has been their desire to justify their inexcusable handling of this account.
On the sixth day following the date they claim to have mailed the check, we finally received it. The postal marks on the envelope clearly indicate it was received at their local branch four days after they claim to have mailed it. The letter accompanying the check stated that the check had been rejected because the account was closed. As I stated earlier, there was never any indication of this on their website or with any communication with them. We also just received the March statement for this account - again with no indication of any restriction on the account anhd certainly no indication that the account was closed.
In order to make the IRS deadline for our 2010 IRA contribution, we were forced to re-open the Fidelity account we closed to move the funds to Schwab. We have now submitted a transfer of account order back to Fidelity. Schwab intends to charge us $50 for closing the account even though they never actually opened it and refused the only service request ever made.

I find Schwab to be an exceptionally difficult & frustarting place to do business. It's my perception that they place generating new business far ahead of servicing their existing customers with quality. I believe their business processes are cumbersome, outdated & not at all user friendly. The only recommendation I could make about Schwab is STAY AWAY!

Morons. Cannot even process a change of address. Will Re-fi with another lender and close all my Schwab accounts. What a F#$%&^*^% joke?

I have never experienced more customer service issues in my life. Across the board of 5 representatives I have spoken to on the phone, all of them have the attitude of saying "this is not my problem." I had to fill out the same form 3 times - which takes a month+ to process. Therefore, my money has not been invested for the last 8 months working with all the various parties. They are good at tracing their work by not logging in the call details so they will not have any record of conversation. They also cancelled my account without notification. I found out 3 months later - again "not my problem" was the response I received.

I have never been more frustrated and surprised at how poor this service was run. I am moving all my money elsewhere.

I was misled by a number of people at this company. What's worse, when presented with the issues, I heard defensiveness, posturing, and they attempted ot blame me for thier own staff's misrepresentations!

I would never recommend Charles Schwab to anyone!