2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

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okwriter
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2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by okwriter »

JD Power has released the results of their 2021 U.S. Self-Directed Investor Satisfaction Study.
JD Power wrote:The 2021 study is based on responses from 4,895 investors who make all their investment decisions without the counsel of a full-service dedicated financial advisor. The study was fielded from December 2020 through February 2021.
Based on the anecdotes here, you would think Fidelity or Schwab would top the list. But it is surprisingly not so.

Customer satisfaction among do-it-yourself (DIY) investors:
  1. Vanguard
  2. Charles Schwab
  3. T. Rowe Price
  4. Robinhood
    --Segment Average--
  5. Fidelity
Normchad
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by Normchad »

Good to see. I am an very satisfied customer. I know others on the forum are very unhappy with customer service though.
runninginvestor
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by runninginvestor »

Normchad wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:14 pm Good to see. I am an very satisfied customer. I know others on the forum are very unhappy with customer service though.
Same. People on the internet rarely proclaim their satisfaction with a product or service. Since this is a financial advice and guidance forum, it couples with a higher propensity for people to ask for advice after a bad experience.
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David Jay
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by David Jay »

runninginvestor wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:31 pm
Normchad wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:14 pm Good to see. I am an very satisfied customer. I know others on the forum are very unhappy with customer service though.
Same. People on the internet rarely proclaim their satisfaction with a product or service. Since this is a financial advice and guidance forum, it couples with a higher propensity for people to ask for advice after a bad experience.
I just read some lawn weed-and-feed one-star reviews last week before purchasing:
"It burned my lawn. And package said it would cover 5000 square feet but it only covered 500 square feet."
Last edited by David Jay on Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by bogledogle »

I am happy with Vanguard because I never call their support. But, JD Power rankings are trash anyway.
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by starboi »

Wonder how much Vanguard Marketing Corporation paid for this distinction.
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by Kenkat »

Vanguard. Came for the low fees, stayed for the good enough for me service. And the low fees. Always the low fees.
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by MishkaWorries »

starboi wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:39 pm Wonder how much Vanguard Marketing Corporation paid for this distinction.
Cheaper than paying to hire and retain good quality reps :wink:
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by willthrill81 »

I've been happier with my Fidelity HSA and with M1 Finance (rollover and Roth IRAs) than I was with Vanguard.
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by bondsr4me »

bogledogle wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:38 pm I am happy with Vanguard because I never call their support. But, JD Power rankings are trash anyway.
I’m not taking issue with your opinion of JD Power rankings, but why do you say they are “trash”?
Just asking.

Thanks.
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by retired@50 »

David Jay wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:36 pm And package said it would cover 5000 square feet but it only covered 500 square feet.
This sounds like me with the mayonnaise jar. :wink:
I never get as many sandwiches as I should from a single jar.

Regards,
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by David Jay »

retired@50 wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 6:00 pm
David Jay wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:36 pm And package said it would cover 5000 square feet but it only covered 500 square feet.
This sounds like me with the mayonnaise jar. :wink:
I never get as many sandwiches as I should from a single jar.

Regards,
Yeah, but 10 times too much weed killer has a much more rapid impact. :happy
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by bogledogle »

bondsr4me wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:56 pm
bogledogle wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:38 pm I am happy with Vanguard because I never call their support. But, JD Power rankings are trash anyway.
I’m not taking issue with your opinion of JD Power rankings, but why do you say they are “trash”?
Just asking.

Thanks.
They give out too many awards by creating too many meaningless categories so more winner can be "created".
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by txhill »

I'm happy with Vanguard but they really do need to update their app already.
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by NerdicSkier »

J D Power Hammer? J D Power Rod?
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by Kenkat »

David Jay wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 6:03 pm
retired@50 wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 6:00 pm
David Jay wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:36 pm And package said it would cover 5000 square feet but it only covered 500 square feet.
This sounds like me with the mayonnaise jar. :wink:
I never get as many sandwiches as I should from a single jar.

Regards,
Yeah, but 10 times too much weed killer has a much more rapid impact. :happy
The weeds are dead, aren’t they? What’s the complaint? :wink:
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by Thesaints »

Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction and Chevrolet makes the best cars in the world !
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by Cheez-It Guy »

Kenkat wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:39 pm Vanguard. Came for the low fees, stayed for the good enough for me service. And the low fees. Always the low fees.
Yep. Every day it's a new sob story for some on here. Don't make everyone else miserable. If you're dissatisfied, just do your research, make a decision, and leave. Simple.
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by mickeyd »

I prefer VG also. I am sooo glad that the Johnson family gets none of my stash. That's good enough.
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by David Jay »

Kenkat wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 6:53 pm
David Jay wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 6:03 pm
retired@50 wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 6:00 pm
David Jay wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:36 pm And package said it would cover 5000 square feet but it only covered 500 square feet.
This sounds like me with the mayonnaise jar. :wink:
I never get as many sandwiches as I should from a single jar.

Regards,
Yeah, but 10 times too much weed killer has a much more rapid impact. :happy
The weeds are dead, aren’t they? What’s the complaint? :wink:
See, that’s the point. Weeds are dead and they are still giving that fertilizer brand a 1 star rating. It just isn’t fair. :wink:
It's not an engineering problem - Hersh Shefrin | To get the "risk premium", you really do have to take the risk - nisiprius
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by reisner »

Despite my terrible customer service experience (recent post: five months to do a charitable donation of shares), I am reluctant to leave what I know and what has done so well for my investments the last dozen years. The Schwab website made little sense to me. The Fidelity one was better. Has anyone compared the ten-year performance of all three in a total US stock fund? I tried but couldn't figure it out. Nisiprius, I'm talking about you.
Last edited by reisner on Wed Apr 28, 2021 8:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by abuss368 »

okwriter wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:11 pm JD Power has released the results of their 2021 U.S. Self-Directed Investor Satisfaction Study.
JD Power wrote:The 2021 study is based on responses from 4,895 investors who make all their investment decisions without the counsel of a full-service dedicated financial advisor. The study was fielded from December 2020 through February 2021.
Based on the anecdotes here, you would think Fidelity or Schwab would top the list. But it is surprisingly not so.

Customer satisfaction among do-it-yourself (DIY) investors:
  1. Vanguard
  2. Charles Schwab
  3. T. Rowe Price
  4. Robinhood
    --Segment Average--
  5. Fidelity
Excellent news about the house that Jack built! I have never really had an overwhelming need to call Vanguard. When I have over the years, our questions and concerns are resolved.

Thank you Jack Bogle!
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by Nate79 »

reisner wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 8:25 pm Despite my terrible customer service experience (recent post: five months to do a charitable donation of shares), I am reluctant to leave what I know and what has done so well for my investments the last dozen years. The Schwab website made little sense to me. The Fidelity one was better. Has anyone compared the ten-year performance of all three in a total US stock fund? I tried but couldn't figure it out. Nisiprius, I'm talking about you.
If you hold VTI at all 3 the return will be the same. I hold VTI at Schwab and couldn't be happier.
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by fwellimort »

JD Power at same time ranks Vanguard 11th in Full Service Investor Satisfaction Study.
https://www.jdpower.com/business/press- ... tion-study

Honestly, these rankings are arbitrary. And it changes every year (even though most brokerages don't change their UI every year).
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by PDX_Traveler »

txhill wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 6:39 pm I'm happy with Vanguard but they really do need to update their app already.
Hope springs eternal... a few months ago, I saw what looked and walked like a beta of a new Vanguard app thinking they were at least trying out some new features. Suffice to say, it was a most pointless exercise - at least to me, it was not clear at all why they deployed that version. Unless it was a 'hello world' project for their internal app development team.
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by bogledogle »

Thesaints wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 6:53 pm Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction and Chevrolet makes the best cars in the world !
Ummm .... Did you not read the fine print? Chevy makes the best cars in “initial quality” among cars made by Detroit based manufacturers that are not Ford. Lol
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by almostretired1965 »

PDX_Traveler wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 10:29 pm
txhill wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 6:39 pm I'm happy with Vanguard but they really do need to update their app already.
Hope springs eternal... a few months ago, I saw what looked and walked like a beta of a new Vanguard app thinking they were at least trying out some new features. Suffice to say, it was a most pointless exercise - at least to me, it was not clear at all why they deployed that version. Unless it was a 'hello world' project for their internal app development team.
It had biometrics login which is a plus, though I agree otherwise.. But I have no idea why the main app still doesn't have it when my dinky credit union's app does.

A
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by chris319 »

No love for TD Ameritrade.
Financial decisions based on emotion often turn out to be bad decisions.
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by JoMoney »

Apparently there's some consistency with this, we had a thread last year
viewtopic.php?p=5530009

Looks like T.Rowe Price overtook Schwab this year, Schwab was number 2 last year.

Probably should note the full criteria/statement though:
Vanguard (736) ranks highest in self-directed investor satisfaction among investors seeking guidance.
Customers without the 'seeking guidance' modifier didn't rank it as high last year, although this year it appears they did.
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by Wannaretireearly »

David Jay wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:36 pm
runninginvestor wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:31 pm
Normchad wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:14 pm Good to see. I am an very satisfied customer. I know others on the forum are very unhappy with customer service though.
Same. People on the internet rarely proclaim their satisfaction with a product or service. Since this is a financial advice and guidance forum, it couples with a higher propensity for people to ask for advice after a bad experience.
I just read some lawn weed-and-feed one-star reviews last week before purchasing:
"It burned my lawn. And package said it would cover 5000 square feet but it only covered 500 square feet."
Lol. Rtfm
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by okwriter »

JoMoney wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 11:10 pm Apparently there's some consistency with this, we had a thread last year
viewtopic.php?p=5530009

Looks like T.Rowe Price overtook Schwab this year, Schwab was number 2 last year.

Probably should note the full criteria/statement though:
Vanguard (736) ranks highest in self-directed investor satisfaction among investors seeking guidance.
Customers without the 'seeking guidance' modifier didn't rank it as high last year, although this year it appears they did.
Just want to note that the results I had posted are for DIY investors (no guidance), as stated in the underlined part. It’s from the second image in the article and not the first.
okwriter wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:11 pm Customer satisfaction among do-it-yourself (DIY) investors:
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by dewey »

Cheez-It Guy wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 7:03 pm
Kenkat wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:39 pm Vanguard. Came for the low fees, stayed for the good enough for me service. And the low fees. Always the low fees.
Yep. Every day it's a new sob story for some on here. Don't make everyone else miserable. If you're dissatisfied, just do your research, make a decision, and leave. Simple.
+1
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by FIREchief »

We don't need no stinkin' surveys!!

I decided about ten years ago to test drive VG as an alternate to Fidelity. I set up a Roth. I set up an after tax. I used their phone reps. I had phone reps tell me one thing than experienced something exact opposite. I received awful guidance from phone reps. I asked them to convert mutual fund shares to ETF shares and experienced a high level of frustration. I decided to xfer over to Fidelity and again experienced a high level of frustration. I found out that they have archaic restrictions on beneficiary designations. I finally left and asked them to lock down my account remnants on the way out.

Why on earth would I care what some survey has to say?? I've walked it and I'm not buying it....for a minute. 8-)
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by FIREchief »

Kenkat wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:39 pm Vanguard. Came for the low fees, stayed for the good enough for me service. And the low fees. Always the low fees.
What fees?! If you're talking about the ERs the funds charge, you pay those same low "fees" wherever you hold VG funds. You don't have to put up with the crappy VG brokerage services for this. Do you really think that anybody pays "fees" for a brokerage account? :confused
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by HE Pennypacker »

I haven't had any issues with Vanguard as such but I cringe every time I log in. Fidelity has such a great UI and layout.
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by Eat33 »

My experience with Vanguard is it ranks as one of the lowest in customer satisfaction.

Vanguard has no accountability.

Please anyone considering Vanguard just call Schwab or Fidelity and ask a few questions.

I moved to Schwab 12 years ago and have been very pleased.
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by Munir »

Eat33 wrote: Thu Apr 29, 2021 4:07 am My experience with Vanguard is it ranks as one of the lowest in customer satisfaction.

Vanguard has no accountability.

Please anyone considering Vanguard just call Schwab or Fidelity and ask a few questions.

I moved to Schwab 12 years ago and have been very pleased.
But you still post on the Boglehead web site?
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by afan »

Very happy with Vanguard.
I think there has been a trend here of complaining mainly about V service. Not an unbiased sample.
Power does use an unbiased sample.
The results do not mean that everyone is happy with V, S or F. The results indicates that, across a range of investors, customers are happier with Vanguard than the competition.
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by afan »

Frequent glitches sap customer satisfaction: Problem incidence has doubled in the past year, affecting 11% of all do-it-yourself investors and 12% of those in the seeking guidance segment of self-directed investors. The most frequent sources of problems are websites, processing and/or trade execution and account statements. Both overall customer loyalty and customer advocacy have increased significantly among investors who do not experience these problems.
Apparently these problems are not unique to Vanguard.
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by Cheez-It Guy »

fwellimort wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 9:46 pm JD Power at same time ranks Vanguard 11th in Full Service Investor Satisfaction Study.
https://www.jdpower.com/business/press- ... tion-study
Is this surprising? Vanguard isn't and doesn't seek to be a full service broker. That's never been their model.
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by Cheez-It Guy »

PDX_Traveler wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 10:29 pm
txhill wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 6:39 pm I'm happy with Vanguard but they really do need to update their app already.
Hope springs eternal... a few months ago, I saw what looked and walked like a beta of a new Vanguard app thinking they were at least trying out some new features. Suffice to say, it was a most pointless exercise - at least to me, it was not clear at all why they deployed that version. Unless it was a 'hello world' project for their internal app development team.
Go to the App Store and download Vanguard Beacon. Right now it looks more visually engaging, but functionally stripped down. You can have and use both apps at the same time. I assume that at some point the Beacon app will replace the standard app, but who knows.
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by Cheez-It Guy »

Love the tribalism in this thread (myself included). Everyone wants the reassurance and peer confirmation that they've made a sound decision. Join my team! It's the BEST team!

There's some recency bias at play. It's only been a couple of years that ETFs have been commission free at most major brokerages, and actually Vanguard did it first among the majors -- July 2, 2018 (although few were probably using Vanguard to trade non-Vanguard ETFs in the first place):

https://pressroom.vanguard.com/news/Pre ... 70218.html

Schwab, E-Trade, TD Ameritrade, and Fidelity followed over a year later beginning on October 2, 2019.

I'll stick with the OG low-cost group until they give me a significant reason not to. Vanguard is great for autopilot mutual fund investment. Then if you later want ETFs, you can convert tax-free, which isn't available anywhere else.
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by Volando »

I’m a small fry yet but so far all my interactions with Vanguard have been great. I reckon I can always switch if I need to but for now I’m pretty satisfied :) +1 for vanguard
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by Picasso »

Cheez-It Guy wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 7:03 pm
Kenkat wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:39 pm Vanguard. Came for the low fees, stayed for the good enough for me service. And the low fees. Always the low fees.
Yep. Every day it's a new sob story for some on here. Don't make everyone else miserable. If you're dissatisfied, just do your research, make a decision, and leave. Simple.
100%
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by TomatoTomahto »

Munir wrote: Thu Apr 29, 2021 6:04 am
Eat33 wrote: Thu Apr 29, 2021 4:07 am My experience with Vanguard is it ranks as one of the lowest in customer satisfaction.
Vanguard has no accountability.
Please anyone considering Vanguard just call Schwab or Fidelity and ask a few questions.
I moved to Schwab 12 years ago and have been very pleased.
But you still post on the Boglehead web site?
Bogleheads has moved on from being Vanguard-centric, as it well should.
I get the FI part but not the RE part of FIRE.
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by TomatoTomahto »

HE Pennypacker wrote: Thu Apr 29, 2021 12:38 am I haven't had any issues with Vanguard as such but I cringe every time I log in. Fidelity has such a great UI and layout.
… and that’s what makes horse races. For a number of reasons, we have Vanguard and Fidelity accounts. I always find it more difficult to “find what I’m looking to do” on Fidelity. I find the layout confusing compared to Vanguard; I prefer meat and potatoes to the fancier spread.
I get the FI part but not the RE part of FIRE.
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by lostdog »

Vanguard has been great although I'm low maintenance.

I suspect the people complaining it has something to do with complexity, high maintenance or their personality.
Last edited by lostdog on Thu Apr 29, 2021 8:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by Broken Man 1999 »

fwellimort wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 9:46 pm JD Power at same time ranks Vanguard 11th in Full Service Investor Satisfaction Study.
https://www.jdpower.com/business/press- ... tion-study

Honestly, these rankings are arbitrary. And it changes every year (even though most brokerages don't change their UI every year).
Well, the winner being Edward Jones makes sense. EJ advisors might be a friend, a person at your church, a neighbor, in short clients make a friendship with their advisor. It can be said Edward Jones gives a segment of the investing population exactly what they want.

Truthfully, some can certainly do a better job for themselves, but even so some will never take the reins of their investments. EJ is probably a good fit for them.

And, who can deny that Edward Jones services their clients, good and hard? :D

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Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by thesandman »

I realized while doing my taxes this year that I've finally achieved my goal of consolidating down to one brokerage. It's taken several years to get here because of concerns of tax hits, so did it mainly through yearly charitable donations of equity. The company I've gone to is Vanguard because I trust them and know they won't play games in the future with fees, etc and they have always treated me and my family well.

I was able to convinced my company 5 years ago to look at alternatives to their long standing high fee with single fund choice retirement plan. After interviewing and extensive spread sheet analysis of 4 companies, including fidelity, vanguard/ascencus, and Schwab, the decision was easy. On the surface fidelity and Schwab looked better, but vanguard won the vote after looking deeper at fees and other gotchas. In addition, we appreciated how vanguard's default option for employees who didn't want to self direct would be target retirement funds at ultra low institutional fee rates.

Count me in as another happy vanguard customer.
tunafish
Posts: 974
Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2021 9:47 am

Re: 2021 JD Power study: Vanguard ranks highest in customer satisfaction

Post by tunafish »

bogledogle wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:38 pm I am happy with Vanguard because I never call their support. But, JD Power rankings are trash anyway.
JD Power gave hp a high rating. I remember hp service as keeping people on hold for hours before someone answered from India who knew zero.
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