Flagship Reps

[Phineas J. Whoopee]

I am Flagship level and it means nothing to me. ...

Vanguard service level means nothing to me, either.
PJW

[Case59]

There's free Turbotax? Where does one access that? I put "turbotax" into the Vanguard search box, and only got a link to the regular Turbotax paid site.

[sport]

There's free Turbotax? Where does one access that? I put "turbotax" into the Vanguard search box, and only got a link to the regular Turbotax paid site.

It's a thing of the past.

[amitb00]

T Rowe Price provides free Turbotax if you have >250K in assets with them.

[jebmke]

There's free Turbotax? Where does one access that? I put "turbotax" into the Vanguard search box, and only got a link to the regular Turbotax paid site.

It is an old perk -- no longer available. Can get HRBlock on sale from time to time for $25-30 so there seems to be a lot of hand wringing over a fairly modest benefit that is no longer.

[tfb]

A dedicated rep isn't as dedicated as you understand it. A flagship rep I found on LinkedIn said he was assigned to a book of 600 customers. I don't know how dedicated a rep can be to 600 customers.

[JoinToday]

A dedicated rep isn't as dedicated as you understand it. A flagship rep I found on LinkedIn said he was assigned to a book of 600 customers. I don't know how dedicated a rep can be to 600 customers.

How many hours per year do people (not tfb) spend talking to Vanguard every year? 2000 hrs per year (50 weeks x 40 hrs/week) divided by 600 customers is 3 hrs 20 minutes per year. I would be surprised if I spoke with my rep more than 20 minutes per year (except for the portfolio review in 2016). And I think flagship select (>$5M) have fewer clients, like 250 clients.

I am sure there are people needing more attention due to issues (nothing pejorative here, issues arise from time to time). But I don't call my rep to chat about my golf handicap, latest reality TV show, Shimano vs SRAM vs Campy, etc. But I suspect they get overloaded December through April.

[SeeMoe]

From email:

We want to make you aware of a change to how you'll interact with Flagship Services. Within the next few weeks, you’ll have direct access to a team of Flagship representatives rather than working exclusively with your assigned representative. You'll still receive the same level of service you've come to expect from our reps ...

Suits this Flagshipper..Still get basic questions answered and directions to their many resources available to Flagship customers.

SeeMoe..

[SpartanFan]

I wont miss my Flagship rep. But I will miss the free TurboTax I have received for the past 10(?) years. The only real perk of Flagship.

Based on the comments on this thread, you're not alone in missing the free TurboTax. Add my name to that list, too.

+1

[HueyLD]

Come on, folks! If you are flagship, you can afford any version of any tax software.

I think the best part about flagship is that one gets experienced reps to assist in more complicated situations. In an ideal world, one would never have to talk to a human, but stuff happens and human intervention may be necessary. When the going gets tough, the tough (flagship reps) get going (help you resolve the issues much better than going thru the regular channel).

[JamesSFO]

Come on, folks! If you are flagship, you can afford any version of any tax software.

Of course, and it was a nice perk that was tangible, easy to understand, and felt like a type of loyalty recognition that was particularly useful.

[Storcher]

Asked my flagship representative and told me nothing is changing.

[yukonjack]

I spoke with my rep twice last week and no mention of a change in policy was mentioned. And yes his photo is still on my login page. There was a glitch that caused my account to freeze so it was nice to have a dedicated rep to get the problem handled.

[letsgobobby]

Deleted

[schachtw]

I've had the same Flagship representative since I transferred my assets to VG.

He's always attentive, responds in timely fashion to voicemail. Occasionally, if not available, I'll take the next VG Flagship rep who answers the call. No problem on that front either.

[whodidntante]

I think Vanguard should do away with customer service entirely and use the money to reduce ERs by .01%

[FrugalInvestor]

.......No big deal, mostly my guy wasn't immediately available so I spoke with whomever. Occasionally I got a new guy who was replaced before I ever even called.

This was my experience as well. My rep did call every now and then just to check in which was really a waste of her time as well as mine. On the rare occasion that I did call to ask a question and got her (by making advance appointment) she just acted as a gatekeeper and passed me on to someone else. I'd rather just call when I need someone and be able to get to a person who knows the answer to my question.

[jebmke]

Has anyone in fact had their Flagship rep dropped? My same rep is still listed on my home page and she is still the one I message with any questions. She personally called me in August to check in on a few things as there had been a lot of necessary activity in my accounts earlier in the year. I have not seen any evidence of her being reassigned or our 1:1 (or 1:600) relationship being altered.

I am on my third. I rarely speak to them. One guy I spoke with twice due to a large rollover inbound. Another we spoke to once to get an RMD expedited on an inherited IRA (missed a year and almost missed a second year so needed make up). I don't answer their calls any more. In fact, I told them I don't answer calls from anyone I don't know so if they need to speak to me, leave a message on my secure message queue. The calls have stopped.

[Sandtrap]

I've spoken and conferenced with a variety of "Flagship" reps. Same "cookie cutter one size fits all" approach every time. Same lack of "listening and hearing". Same "drive thru window" aftertaste.
That was early on. No need for their services every since.
IMHO the Bogleheads beats a roomful of Turbo Super Platinum Flafship Level Vanguard reps hands down.

[Eric76]

The incessant complaints I read in here about VG customer service reeks of wanting to have your cake and eat it too. VG obviously prioritizes low cost, no frills above all else. If you need personalized attention and hand holding from a financial advisor, call Merrill Lynch and they'll happily connect you to somebody who will take 1% a year to know your name, and all about your family and personal financial issues. If you have a $5 million account the FA might even take you out to dinner or give you luxury box tickets to the game.

Personally, I've chosen to knowingly sacrifice the FA experience in favor of paying a fraction of their fees. In my opinion self directed means self directed.

[jebmke]

My few times have been productive. In all cases it related to retirement plan/IRA type issues and my rep immediately recognized that he needed to connect me with their specialist team on the subject. He didn't try to talk his way through it - he knew it was outside his area of expertise and jumped on it right away. Maybe I have been lucky.

[livesoft]

IMHO the Bogleheads beats a roomful of Turbo Super Platinum Flafship Level Vanguard reps hands down.

I agree. The Vanguard folks can't help you with your weeds, dishwasher, air conditioner, roof, trees, cars, refrigerator, toilets, and strange noises in your attic. They are practically useless.

[jebmke]

I agree. The Vanguard folks can't help you with your weeds, dishwasher, air conditioner, roof, trees, cars, refrigerator, toilets, and strange noises in your attic. They are practically useless.

You left out sponges. How is anyone going to know when to replace the sponge without this forum?

[DrGoogle2017]

I agree they are useless, I avoid mine. Ocassionally when my daughter’s account need help to sort out something, I call the flagship line and conference her in, it’s faster that way. She’s still a minor in my account.

[mickeyd]

I like my Flagship rep mainly because she was smart and she sent me a free copy of Jack Bogle's last book. I really have no use for a special rep, but enjoyed the occasional chat and book. I'm quite OK with the new team concept.

[Pajamas]

You left out sponges. How is anyone going to know when to replace the sponge without this forum?

Do you mean birth control sponges or kitchen sponges? Because medical advice is OFF LIMITS!

[TomatoTomahto]

The incessant complaints I read in here about VG customer service reeks of wanting to have your cake and eat it too. VG obviously prioritizes low cost, no frills above all else. If you need personalized attention and hand holding from a financial advisor, call Merrill Lynch and they'll happily connect you to somebody who will take 1% a year to know your name, and all about your family and personal financial issues. If you have a $5 million account the FA might even take you out to dinner or give you luxury box tickets to the game.

Personally, I've chosen to knowingly sacrifice the FA experience in favor of paying a fraction of their fees. In my opinion self directed means self directed.

Thank you. Yes.

[hushpuppy]

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[SmileyFace]

I've never had to talk to anyone at Vanguard and I can't imagine why I would ever need to.

[hushpuppy]

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[LadyGeek]

At the end of 2016, I unintentionally put an After-tax 401(k) rollover ("Mega back door Roth IRA") into my traditional IRA account. The funds should have gone into my Roth IRA, but they instead got deposited into a settlement fund that had been used for a prior 401(k) to traditional IRA rollover.

Never mind that the Vanguard website implied that I could use the existing settlement fund for this transfer, so I did.* The settlement fund would only allow transfers into my IRA, which is not what I wanted. So, I was stuck with an after-tax IRA contribution.

In February 2017, I asked my Flagship rep to see how this could be fixed. Sorry, no can do.

In June 2017, I asked him again. Sure... let's unwind the transaction. The info was forwarded to the Vanguard Problem Resolution department which unwound the transaction. The settlement fund is not fully fixed, but a corrected 2016 1099-R was issued and the account transactions in my IRA and Roth now reflect what I intended.

Why the change of heart? Maybe the rep was busy in February. In June, he wasn't.

* Don't co-mingle purposes with a settlement fund. If you've used the fund for IRA transactions, don't put funds intended for a Roth into it.

[rob]

I've never had to talk to anyone at Vanguard and I can't imagine why I would ever need to.

I only talk to them to fix error/limitations on the web-site. If they fix the web-site, I happily not talk to anyone

[minesweep]

i guess it's true. a million bucks ain't what it used to be.

I recall watching the 1950's TV series called The Millionaire. I thought how great it would be to receive that much money back then. One millon dollars in 1958 had the same buying power as 8 1/2 million dollars would today.

Inflation Calculator

The Millionaire (TV series)

[drzzzzz]

LadyGeek
That's what makes Vanguard so frustrating at times - different rules, internal processes, inconsistencies, and outcomes based upon who is asking, when it occurs, and whether there is an interest in solving the issue.

[retire57]

LadyGeek
That's what makes Vanguard so frustrating at times - different rules, internal processes, inconsistencies, and outcomes based upon who is asking, when it occurs, and whether there is an interest in solving the issue.

That's the case with any organization.

[hushpuppy]

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[LadyGeek]

^^^ I'd say this is true of any company.

In June 2017, I asked him again. Sure... let's unwind the transaction. The info was forwarded to the Vanguard Problem Resolution department which unwound the transaction. The settlement fund is not fully fixed, but a corrected 2016 1099-R was issued and the account transactions in my IRA and Roth now reflect what I intended.

To go into a bit more detail, the settlement fund's balance was 0.00 before this unintended transaction. It has a positive balance due to declared dividends after the transaction was unwound - it should be 0.00. The dividends in the settlement fund should have been part of the unwinding process. That didn't happen.

During the problem resolution process, I was sent a statement requesting confirmation of the unwound transactions (multiple IRA funds were impacted). The first line said "Please review this confirmation and contact us immediately if the information isn’t correct". Did I review the statement? Oh, yeah.

I created a spreadsheet and used the full 5-decimal place precision available in the fund's distribution page. For example: Vanguard - Total Bond Market Index Fund Admiral Shares - Distributions. This level of precision is not visible in your account.

I got all of the unwound dividend distributions to match my spreadsheet except one fund. It was off by a fractional share in my favor. I sent my spreadsheet back to the Flagship rep and asked him to follow-up on the discrepancy. Did I hear anything back? Nope.

I'm hoping the auditors find that something is out of balance and fix my account. I tried to correct things, but I can only do so much.

LadyGeek, thanks for sharing this history. Your perseverance finally paid off.

To be clear, I want to thank a member who helped me understand this process. I can certainly persevere, but first needed help on what, exactly, I needed to do.

[siamond]

I can't remember speaking to a Vanguard rep after the day one of their customer reps (efficiently) helped me transition some old accounts towards them. I don't have $5M with them (I wish!), but if I had, this wouldn't change my needs one bit.

Personally, I am happy that they are implementing cost-cutting measures to their flagship service... The less costs they incur, the lower the expense ratio, remember...

[John151]

I process exchanges myself online, and I call a Flagship rep only when I’m doing something new, such as investing in a new fund or setting up my first required minimum distribution. I’ve never had a problem.

[mickeyd]

One millon dollars in 1958 had the same buying power as 8 1/2 million dollars would today.

... and John Baresford Tipton made it tax-free somehow. Those days were when a million bucks tax-free was a million bucks.

[Dandy]

Recently emailed my Flagship rep re taking my 1st RMD and labeled it NO RUSH. She called me back and was very helpful. After reviewing the RMD material that was posted to my account I wanted to check on my assumptions that my VG brokerage CDs would be counted in my year end balance to calculate the RMD amount but the RMD deductions would exclude them. (there was some mention of untradeable securities which required the investor to do some RMD calc and withdrawal) Again she responded quickly.

Just a view from someone who ran two large mutual fund call centers for about 15 years.

It is very difficult to train CSRs since most enter the workforce with little financial or more importantly mutual fund experience. It took about 4 months of classroom and taking calls with an experienced CSR listening in to get them to be able to handle most calls well. Most calls are pretty simple but callers can ask anything you can imagine and expect the CSR to give them the right answer hopefully without excessive "please hold" or I'll have to transfer you. It is even hard to ask a more experienced CSR sitting next to you for a bit of help since he/she is usually on a call too.

It is often a really burnout job. Handling lots of complaints even having people scream at you once or twice a day for something you didn't do (people are very anxious about their money), having a must adhere to schedule of being on the phone e.g. not easy to take a break or chat with a co worker, having your performance measured in seconds and your work recorded and evaluated/scored, etc. If you could keep a CSR for 2 years you were doing great. Most get very burned out taking 60-80 calls a most every day for 7-8 hours.

One way to slow the turnover and lower the often unrecognized costs of turnover is to have something like a Flagship Rep. Probably a promotion, some advanced training, dealing less with handling call volume and more dealing more complex issues. I'm sure Vanguard is under the gun as far as recruiting, training and keeping enough good reps to match their amazing growth. It gives the regular CSR something to shoot for and keeps the loss of talent down.

I'm not sure doing away with the Flagship group would save much if any money since turnover expenses which often go under appreciated are very large. VG is probably threading the needle by balancing having some better train reps handle some Flagship customers as a group as opposed to assigning and reassigning individual Flagship Reps.

[LadyGeek]

...To go into a bit more detail, the settlement fund's balance was 0.00 before this unintended transaction. It has a positive balance due to declared dividends after the transaction was unwound - it should be 0.00. The dividends in the settlement fund should have been part of the unwinding process. That didn't happen.

...I got all of the unwound dividend distributions to match my spreadsheet except one fund. It was off by a fractional share in my favor. I sent my spreadsheet back to the Flagship rep and asked him to follow-up on the discrepancy. Did I hear anything back? Nope.

^^^ After I posted this, I reviewed my transactions again. Upon further review, my Roth IRA transaction unwind date was also incorrect.

This is frustrating, as it throws my finance tracking software out of whack.* One transaction with two dates just does not work.

This is as good a time as any to contact my rep again and get this resolved. One day later, a different rep replies to my email with an apology for failing to follow-up. He has contacted the person who worked on this the first time (Resolution Services) and will get back to me in a few days.

I think that going to multiple reps is a good thing. Since more reps are available, I'm hoping it can be passed to the rep best qualified / has time to work on your issue.

I would also assume that the reps will have to keep very good records of customer interactions. I don't know how it was done before, but knowing that you'll be picking up someone else's case (or vice versa) implies that time will be taken to ensure everything is documented correctly.

*I'm using Moneydance, not Quicken. Works fine.