Monday, November 05, 2007

Fidelity vs. Vanguard: For want of a form a customer was lost

We have investment accounts with both Fidelity and Vanguard. It's not some sort of odd diversification strategy, it's mostly historic. We started with Fidelity and while I prefer Vanguard's policies and stinginess there's a lot of inertia in my life.

Which is why it was unwise of Fidelity Investments to be stupidly annoying.

I wanted to deposit a check in a treasury fund. Simple act, but the days when I could find deposit forms are sadly gone. (No, I don't balance my accounts either. You have time to do that?)

No problem, I figured I'd have Fidelity print one out.

Hah!

After ten minutes of increasing frustration I finally found a page that would print a generic deposit form -- which I had to complete by editing the pdf.

Huh?

I tried Vanguard. It took seconds to find the right page, and Vanguard generated a custom PDF for me with all the information entered -- and a transaction number.

Smart.

Good-bye Fidelity.

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