Charles Schwab

There is a weird disconnect between in-​office service and phone service. In-​office service was reasonably pleasant and attentive. But customers are directed to direct most questions to Schwab’s customer service line, which takes you to one of several offices around the country, with escalation going to an office in Arizona. These offices know nothing about your investments until they pull them up, and nothing about any interactions or discussions you had in-​office. Getting something simple done by phone or mail often took a long time. Why not establish and maintain personal relationships in-​office to take care of most customer concerns?
I found out about this disconnect the hard way. I had told the person I thought was my representative in this office (a VP) not to conduct a transfer of my assets from another company pending further due diligence on my part. Nevertheless, the transfer went through, unauthorized, and had to be reversed over a period of weeks. Imagine, telling an investment advisor not to transact a transfer, only later to learn that the company did so anyway. When I asked for accountability, I was promised an investigation by the Arizona office, only to get a weak oral explanation and no apology, promise of reform, or redress. Needless to say, I no longer had confidence in Schwab after this incident. The sad part is that it would have never happened had Schwab instituted a one-​on-​one business relationship with customers rather than forcing almost every investment move into the netherworld of their unaccountable phone centers.
You have many investment choices, and you should feel confident in your selection of investment advisor. Schwab’s rates may be good, but worrying that something was not handled properly is simply not worth it – take your business elsewhere.

I call at 4:45 to find out when they close — and I get a recording and then am transferred to someone in DENVER — who then doesn’t know why I am transferred to her. And they close at 5 p. m!!! There’s not a bank branch in TOWN that closes at 5 p.m. on a weekday! And I need to make a deposit for a trade that’s just settling. I posted this… and then called again and am now adding to it. Instead of selecting «time sensitive» from the phone tree (which got me into a long series of «if you’d like to answer a survey, blah-​blah and transferred to Denver before), I selected that I wanted to make an appt. …and I was offered an internal telephone directory (I don’t know anyone’s name there)…and then, an old-​fashioned answering machine. I have was in there once just before 5 for someting a couple of years ago and the woman was literally closing shop and all but throwing me oiut at 10 to 5. I have been a Schwab customer for 30 years and even worked for them and have ALWAYS had excellent service — except at this branch. HORRIBLE!!!

Every time I go in I’m served very friendly, quickly, efficiently and appropriately. I have not had any issue and am very happy to bank with Schwab.
It’s nice to know they’ve improved over the past 3 years.

Ugh. I made a transaction here in early July. The whole process was very quick, and I was satisfied at first. However, the next day I found that there had been a mixup, so I went back to clear it up. I didn’t feel very confident in them with that second interaction — they didn’t seem to believe me when I explained the situation. BUT, a very nice man called me later to assure me that they would take care of it, and they did.
***Fast forward one month***
I get a call about ANOTHER issue with the same transaction — they’re missing a signature. Umm, you guys take care of stuff like this every day! Please check to see that everything has been completed correctly before accepting these documents from me! I know I could take the initiative to make sure myself, but I would like for you to at least double-​check my work.
2 stars:
— the first is for the nice people who call me to say either there is a problem, or that the problem has been or will be fixed
— the second is for the nice lobby area