I received a letter from Fidelity letting me know that recent activity in my account is under review. As such, the account is not permitted to open or withdraw any positions. (Thankfully, this isn’t my main brokerage account.)
When I called Fido’s Premium Service line (since we no longer have an account rep assigned to our accounts), I was told that the activity was being reviewed by the super secret Account Management team and they would let me know when their review was completed. The rep couldn’t get them to reveal why my account was under review (though I believe I know why and could easily explain and document the transactions at issue if asked) and I could neither speak to them nor could they tell me how long the review would take. In other words, “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”
Has anyone encountered this with Fido before and how long did it take them to review and resolve the issue?
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They did make me jump through some hoops to buy DIVO for my IRA.
Banks are worse. There are many reports on social-media that banks (including big banks) are suddenly closing personal and business accounts for what they think are suspicious activities but they don't provide any explanations or advance warning. Some customers had those a/c for years. But one day, their accounts are locked or closed with balance sent by check within a few days. When people go to branches, the personal bankers try to look up the a/c in question, but then say that sorry, they cannot disclose anything. If one relies on one bank a/c, this may become a huge problem.
Just to clarify (without going into too much detail), there was no trade at issue and the “suspect” activity took place over six weeks before they put the account under review.
I presented my passport to a badged TSA employee once, going through the crapola security line to get to my plane. She said she'd not ever seen this before, and consulted her bosses. When I came through the other side, I asked her bosses what the issue was. They refused to say.
That kinda stuff just makes me wish I had a pile of hand grenades in my possession. They'd be deployed before you could take a breath.
Work culture is very different from when you started work. These days there is no such a thing as incompetence or shame of customers knowing the job better than the person presumably providing the service and it is the customers' job to train every first line customer service person. This accelerated starting with Covid. Just get used to it.
I am looking forward to doing more things online without customer service interactions.
Accountability? What's THAT? Go ask Boeing. LOL.
Just to be clear, I love the call center people outside the US. They are eager and willing to work. I always finish a call with them with the same level of satisfaction as talking to US customer service a decade ago or before. With the bloated US executive pay and comp stats publicly known, every first level US employee thinks they just need to bide their time (rest and vest!) and become an executive. This is a silent cultural war currently going on, leading to a very entitled US work culture. Does not help that you do not need SATs to get into colleges, can take pass-fail courses to graduate, and student loans can be forgiven. Interestingly, decades ago when you travelled outside the US, you saw a difference in the service level vs in the US, especially in third world countries. These days the service level in the US is third class and that outside the US is far superior.
although I have to say there are some strange things going on at Fidelity.
My wife and I moved a small (LT 10%) of her account to Schwab to make it easier to gift our kids some stock.
We got five daily phone calls from a fidelity rep wanting to know why.
Only we get are credit card offers with 20% interest and cold calls form their financial consultants who want to do business with us.
Something else about this call. As a rule I don't use a cell phone. (I have one, pay $10/year to keep the line active, but rarely turn it on; the flip phone makes a great pocket watch.) I don't give out my number because people just leave messages that I don't hear for months.
Somehow Fidelity got that number, and rather than call me on my preferred home number, they called the cell phone. I was on a business trip to California (which is why my phone was on). So I wound up on a one hour call with Fidelity at 6:30 AM, being remarkably coherent in explaining why their particular offering didn't best meet my needs.
Reps get paid in part by AUM of their customers; this is scaled by how lucrative each dollar is - more for an annuity. They also get paid for retaining assets. So my transfer out must have hit the rep's pocketbook hard.
@Crash: let me be very emphatic about this: because my hearing is extremely compromised I cannot deal with phone conversation. In multiple dealings with Schwab's "chat" I have found their representatives to be consistently well-informed, polite, and very willing to be helpful in any way possible. This has been true whether the call center has been in Texas or any other U.S. location. In fact in some cases I would say that it's been easier to work with their on-line chat than it is with the local branch.
If anyone is under the impression that I'm a pushover, I assure you that that couldn't be further from the actuality. I do not tolerate fools. Trying to deal on-line with Amazon or AT&T is equivalent to a new circle in Dante's Inferno. Schwab is just fine. Let me be very blunt: if you cannot interface easily using Schwab "chat" then perhaps you should consider the possibility that the problem is not entirely on their end.
A long list of choices and information for the ACT. Perhaps there is a perceived violation that is outside of Fidelity's control.
@Crash . Please provide real information regarding under staffing at Fidelity. Thank you.
I find that phone service depends on who I'm calling. Some is just fine, if you understand they have certain scripts they have to go through first--depending on your problem. Some is better than fine. Some really sucks.
Number 1 child works at the library. She has some real fun stories about older people "requesting" support.
I'm talking about everything else EXCEPT Schwab.
But I have read the same reports about banks that Yogi mentions above.
Communication used to be easier, it seems to me. Information was forthcoming. No more. I've dealt with stinky, rude bags of pus on the other end of the line: "Ask me a question and I'll answer it."
Naw, how 'bout I just reach through the phone and tear you a new one, instead? B***h.
People in that condition are hard to help.
Everything comes together--- by design--- to make the customer they're supposed to be assisting get annoyed, frustrated and angry; then they get surprised and offended, when it happens. Come a little closer and I'll just tear you a new one.
I'm with BaluBalu:
Work culture is very different from when you started work. These days there is no such a thing as incompetence or shame of customers knowing the job better than the person presumably providing the service and it is the customers' job to train every first line customer service person. This accelerated starting with Covid....
...I am looking forward to doing more things online without customer service interactions.
And you wonder why you can't get good service?
I am glad there is armed security at the library Number 1 child works at. There are some crazy old people out there. They aren't all homeless. And some of them sound like you.
To quote Pogo, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
In the C-Suite’s relentless quest to boost earnings and please investors, one of the first things that gets cut is proper training and adequate pay for front-line employees. They are seen as fungible commodities that have little impact on the bottom line. Hence, the rise in off-shoring these positions to third-parties.
I think it is a misunderstanding to think executives are driven by a goal to increase investor wealth. Here is one ugly truth - some of the people I worked with during my 40s talked quite often about their aspiration to become board members of public companies when they retired (of course, they all wanted to become CEOs but there is a supply constraint for those jobs). For many CEOs stock of the company they used to run does not make up significant part (5%?) of their portfolio a year after they retire from the company.
I hope I am not coming across as having a gripe about anything or anyone. I think it is good to acknowledge the lay of the land and adjust our methods to stay nimble and effortless. No use complaining about the weather - learn to dress or modify behavior appropriately to minimize impact / maximize output.
Too many in here, I see, have a tendency to take way too much literally. You actually think I say what I'm thinking in that vein OUT LOUD? What I sadly find often works BEST is to talk to the phone agents condescendingly, and the condescension does not even register with them. The insult is LOST on them. They just think I'm being NICE. More's the pity.
It's their bosses, who hire them and equip them with zero knowledge about anything and zero authority to ACCOMPLISH anything, who need me to come and tear them a few new ones.
a. Attempt to "open or withdraw" a position.
b. When Fido blocks your attempt, go to www.consumerfinance.gov and open a complaint on them. -- Sick the Feds on them.
Some points I would like to make.
Banks, TSA (and some others) have secrecy by the law. They aren't supposed to tell you the details. It may seem unfair, but don't blame the Reps.
Just ask Warren Buffett when he was visited by the FBI a few years ago when he made several cash withdrawals around $10K (not even pocket change for him?) from his local bank - his folksy explanation was that his wife only liked cash (not cards or checks), while the FBI wanted to make sure that he wasn't being blackmailed. Or, the late Senator Ted Kennedy whose name was on TSA no-fly list for some reason while he himself may not have been the target - he even mentioned his airport TSA experiences in frustration in a Senate speech and asked the President to do something about it.
I have good experiences with chats too, except some robo-chats. In one instance, I thought that robo-chat would transfer to a human-chat, but it didn't. So, I responded, that the issue was beyond a robo-chatter, and he/she/it replied, sorry that I felt that way and wished me a good day.