Lisa G.

In September 2021 my father passed away. My sister was in charge of cancelling his medical insurance policy. She did that and provided the required certified Death Certificate to BCBS. The other day we were contacted by TD Bank regarding an overdrafted account. The account has not been used since dad passed away and was to be closed in 2023 once all final estate expenses are paid. Welllllllll, BCBS has continued auto debiting monthly insurance payments since dad passed away! SO now we/my sister needs to reach back out to the folks she talked to a year plus ago and have them refund over 12 months of monies! NOT COOL and a letter will go to BCBS Corporate/Office of the President. I wonder how many families they do this to?! Disgusting.

Dear Mr. Buckley and Mr. Benchener,

Although my father passed away on September 8,2021, my sister and I did not begin the transition process on his accounts until late January 2022. By early March 2022, three (3) out of the four (4) firms my dad had relationships with had handled the transition services requests presented to them. As of the date of this letter - almost 120 days later and approaching five (5) months - Vanguard is the only investment services firm where we still struggle to get competent support, assistance and closure to the transition services process. I am requesting immediate assistance from your offices as this is no longer acceptable treatment for a long standing and loyal customer.

With Vanguard, my sister and I have each spent at a minimum of 12 hours on hold, (sometimes up to 90 minutes at a time), spoken to over a dozen representatives, received cryptic e message communications through the Vanguard Secure Message Center, received contradicting Customer Service instructions as to what had to be done/processed – and yes, even correspondence/confirmation that something had been completed – which we found out to be untrue with a Vanguard Customer Representative claiming 'I honestly don't know why you received that email as this has not been completed'.

Further, a check book ordered on April 5,2022 during one step of the transition services process has gone missing. A written letter from Vanguard referenced that the checkbook was mailed on April 5,2022, but nothing has been delivered. Keep in mind, this checkbook was to replace one on an account my father had set up years ago with my sister as co-signer. When we notified Vanguard of dad's death – Vanguard closed check writing on this account. The problem with this was that Vanguard did not tell my sister – who was a co-account holder! We found out the check writing option was disabled when a $2,000 check written (for expenses related to dad's death) was returned and we incurred an overdraft fee of $45. To date – we are still waiting for that fee to be reimbursed to us for Vanguard's 'oversight'. No one we have spoken to seems to know how to get that accomplished. In the interim, all expenses - including funeral related items - were paid out of pocket by Marci and I – because we had no checkbook or access to funds to handle 'dad' related expenses.

A few weeks back a representative sensed I was about to break down in tears (I was indeed on the verge of doing so after loudly voicing my frustrations with Vanguard) and requested a second checkbook be Federal Express'ed to my home. I received that checkbook, but the one mailed on April 5,2022 is still missing. Similarly, I have an email from the Vanguard representative claiming he was certain I should have it by May 4,2022 (today is May 16,2022).

To date, no one at Vanguard has been able to cancel this missing checkbook nor has anyone been able to obtain a tracking number to determine where they are! Even if we could find competent customer service to locate a tracking number and cancel the checks – my fear is the representative would in error cancel the second check book which was Federal Express'ed to my home - and we would be back to square one. This is how incompetently the transition services for the death of a family member has been handled by Vanguard. To date my sister and I have paid $15,000 out of pocket while Vanguard representatives have pointed to a series of different groups – not knowing of course if I could get a competent body on the phone in less than 2 hrs., or if that person was the right person to handle the request!

Finally, after just short of breaking down on the phone, two representatives stated they would take over as point persons for shepherding the accounts to completion and I was to speak with no one else in the process. One took control of transitioning dad's regular accounts and one took over the missing checkbook, the $45 fee credit and the IRA related account.

As of last Friday, the regular accounts via 'TM' appear to have been transitioned (I am still reconciling them so I can't state that with full confidence) and the IRA/checkbook/overdraft fee point of contact ABC) – who told me to speak with no one else - has gone Missing in Action. 'CL' and I were scheduled to talk last week. However, a combination of six (6) calls, emails and secure messages to him have gone unreturned in any way – by anyone at Vanguard.

Mr. Buckley and Mr. Benchener, please put yourselves in my shoes. Vanguard manages over $7 trillion in assets yet this situation is both an embarrassment and a mess. Unlike Fidelity – a firm with a considerably smaller amount of assets under management - Vanguard does not assign one body or point person to handle all aspects of a family's transition process after a loved one has passed. Vanguard has multiple bodies in multiple groups handling different parts of the transition services - who you are lucky to get on the phone the day you call. If you do happen to have an actual body on the phone, you can only hope they know what they are doing.

I can't tell you how many times in the past four (4) months and counting I have been told by a Vanguard representative (sic): Sorry, you have to contact this group for one thing, another group for something else and a third group for the last remaining item. With a Vanguard hold queue upwards of 90 minutes (one call logged in at 2 hours and 26 minutes including 90 minutes on hold), how can someone get a solution - during their OWN workday!

There was a time many years ago that Vanguard customer service was efficient well experienced and knowledgeable – and Vanguard could do no wrong. I must say, those days are long gone. I have never seen anything like this in my life (and I work for a large bank). I am at a loss for words as to how I can get this situation solved properly by Vanguard. PLEASE provide assistance. I don't know what else to do at this point but beg your offices for assistance.

From CA - I cancelled the day after renewal by auto payment. I disputed the cc charge after the company refused to issue a credit. Site was a disappointment and I never used for last 5 months. I am now receiving threatening collection and legal emails. Buyer Beware of their ethics and questionable tactics. There are no credits or proration based on date cancelled. The most recent threatening email will go to consumer protection agencies and BBB.