Wells Fargo Advisors
reviews and complaints

I inherited an IRA from my father. My name is Robert Pinchak. I cannot get the balance transferred over. Every person I speak to gives me different information on why I can't transfer the balance. One says the paperwork is filled out incorrectly. About 2 weeks ago someone told me the signature page was not filled out. When I filled it out I was told my balance would finally be transferred and it wasn't. I talked to 2 people. I person was finding out if I can give missing information on the phone and I was cut off. The second person hung up on me when I couldn't quickly give my account information. There is always some small reason I cannot get my account set up. I have never had any trouble with any other financial institution like this. This has been going on since February. These people are belligerent, give wrong information and are very uncooperative. No one there is helpful. They do not want to help me get my account set up. I get many different reasons why they cannot help me. This institution should be put out of business. My cell phone is [protected].

Our company opened Wells Fargo Advisors business brokerage account in November 2020 and originally we were able to fund it from our business checking account. We were able to buy some stocks onto this account. After those transactions Wells Fargo put restriction on the account and requested more paperwork from the company. All the requested documents were provided, but the account still stays restricted. We can not use it at all. We can not transfer any funds, we can not buy or sell any stocks and most important we can not get our money back to invest with other brokers.
Now we want to close this brokerage account and to get our money back!
Worst brokerage company we have ever seen! Beware of Wells Fargo!
Our company looking for legal advice.

I'm very frustrated with having no direction as to how to close a trust account after my father died. I would like to have someone explain to me what exactly I need to do. I would like it in writing, and soon.
I don't understand why they do not communicate better with me. It has been over three months now since my father's death and I would ike resolution.

My father passed away on October 30, 2019. I have been helping my mother take the required RMD's from his/her retirement accounts, which are not through Wells Fargo, but is where she banks. We went into the WF Larkspur Landing, California branch to get the Medallion Signature and had in our possession the original Ira statement, original death certificate the form Dodge and Cox sent to be completed. The gentleman at this WF location said we needed proof that she was the beneficiary and called Dodge and Cox and requested they send a letter stating she is the beneficiary to my father's Ira. Yesterday we received this letter and today went into the WF branch at 25175 N Lake Pleasant, Peoria AZ and now are being told that the letter is not acceptable, but her name needs to be shown as the beneficiary on my father's Ira statement. What is being asked for does not exist. The beneficiary has never been shown on the Ira statement, therefore why the letter was requested per your Larkspur office. The Branch Manager at your Peoria, AZ Office was very rude and condescending and should never call someone "honey".
How can this matter be resolved?
Anne Spirou for Lucille Phelps

I'm making a complaint about unsatisfactory service from a Wells Fargo advisor as a client I feel I should come first, my decisions or choices with my inherited accounts should be my choice and not be forced into keeping said accounts but be able to take a lump sum if I so choose. I am very unpleased with service from my broker on 10/31/19 and feel very unconfident with the way things went. Very unprofessional to bring up my husband and the way he works which had nothing to do with any of the brokerage accounts.

President office attitude. I was cussed, told things that i wouldnt tell my worst enemy. Lied to. I just wanted my account fixed correctly. They have payments that they claimed werent made . I pay every time. I have proof on bank statements. I don't matter. If your credit is important to you, dont get a car loan here. This is April 2019. After lawsuit. They are worse, not better.

These jerks keep coming up with excuses and impediments, and outright lies to keep from distributing my mother's IRA to myself and my sister. I had four conversations with representatives, they have told me that they acknowledge my sister and I are contingent beneficiaries. Then, after jumping through their hoops to get the primary beneficiary (a trust) removed, the last rep I spoke to said there are no contingent beneficiaries on record. WHAT!?! He said I must submit another form, signed and notarized, and if received by fax that day, they could distribute the account. So I did just that. Three weeks later, they still have not distributed the account. My sister called after that, and they told her that all is in order, and with "Processing" and it should be distributed in a few days. Another week has gone by and still no progress. They had told me they could do it that day if they received the form. Why can they still not do it within over a week? The only two reasons for not handling business affairs successfully - Dishonesty and Incompetence. Both exhibited by these people.

Received a letter from Wells Fargo stating they didn't want to do business anymore, because I want my power of attorney to do business for me, after Wells Fargo called DCF 5times, the last case worker called Wells Fargo and told them my power of attorney has every right to do my talking, I received this letter I go to bank to close out accounts. Instead of issuing checks they overnight packets of paperwork for each account and say to take them to any other bank they would gladly assist me, well three weeks later and after going to just about every bank around I get the same results need checks to open new accounts. And yet Wells Fargo still refuse to issue checks. So lost and confused and still need my money

The customer service by the investment advisors is horrible. They do not care about their clients, nor do they apologize when they say things they should not. I was told by my advisor in Arizona that my 26k investment wasn't enough for him to service the account. I complained three times before getting a call from his boss who almost said the same thing. Wells Fargo NEVER changed my advisor even after I made the request.
My first complaint was made in March, 2018.
Today I am moving my account since it is not enough for Wells Fargo investments to care about.

I have tried for over a month to move shares from my WF Advisors account to another brokerage. WF has rejected every request to make the move. Their WellsTrade customer service have been woefully inadequate and nobody from their management has contacted me even though they have promised to do so. This issue has cost me a lot of money and time and as a result I have decided to end my whole WF relationship.

Spoke to a customer service representative and asked to see if they can put a hold on my account because something is trying to go thru and it keeps charging me 35$ every time it does and they tell me that they will send me over to the over draft department because of so many times some type of payment is trying to go thru and so they send me over there and then once I️ explain to them they say it's customer service that Helps you out so then they transfer me to customer service I️ finish telling that person and they go ahead and transfer to me overdraft department and AGAIN they send me to the customer service department. Finally I️ decided to tell them to stop transferring and to help and turns out what I️ needed couldn't be done thru phone I️ would have to go to a branch. Suckiest staff ever! Why didn't the first person I️ talked to could tell me that but instead they kept sending me back and forth.

September 7, 2017
This experience with Wells Fargo only confirms the incompetence though out the entire organization that everyone continues to endure the financial abuse that Wells Fargo continues to perform with their bad business dealings that appears to me to be scams on the public.
8/22 my IRA/Wells Fargo account was closed and a check generated to my 401K with my employer that is also managed by Wells Fargo. I forwarded the Letter of Acceptance from 401K/Wells Fargo and they failed sign the Letter of Acceptance. IRA Wells Fargo insisted that the letter be signed even though it was on Wells Fargo's letter head and department. It took another week and endless phone calls to get a supervisor to get the letter signed from 401K Wells Fargo. I faxed the 401K Wells Fargo Acceptance Letter back to IRA/Wells Fargo and to date they have not gotten the check out to 401K/Wells Fargo. My funds are sitting nowhere and are not invested at the error of both Wells Fargo's two entities! No one at IRA Wells Fargo knows where the check is and again endless calls to be transferred around and I'll get back to you.
I demand lost days of income
I demand Respect and to resolve this immediately
Janna Lloyd
[protected]

On December 2016 my loan modification specialist stated if I was to file for divorce and get a Quick claim deed and send copies to Wells Fargo, I did file for divorce Dec. 16 2016 and in Texas the waiting time for a court hearing is 61 days.
On Feb. 9th 2017 my loan modification specialist Autum Entenman called me wanting to know if I completed the forms she was requesting I stated to her more then once that in Texas the waiting period is 61 days then she tells me the divorce decree will not help me for the loan modification. I got really upset after she tells me back in Dec. 2016 that I should file for divorce.
I know every time I talk to Autum Entenman or any other agents it gets recorded so I would insist you check the recording for such dates.
On Dec. the 10th I have called Wells Fargo to talk to mt loan mod. specialist but she was not available so I was transfered to another agent and explained my grievance and I stated I felt the advice I have been getting was to loose the house not save it.
My wife who resides in Holland is unable to sing any loan modification forms due to the laws in Holland are different and Wells Fargo will not except her maiden name signature my wife must sign any documents as it shows on her Passport, Drivers license, Etc. When I talked to the other Wells Fargo agent he stated the may be other option where Wells Fargo can by-pass her signing due to extreme circumstance.
In 2016 I was put on a 3 month trail by Wells Fargo program I have not missed a single payment and since Wells Fargo will not except my wife's signature I was not qualified for the loan modification and now Wells Fargo want to put my home which I love dearly to foreclosure.
I am a disabled man and the house was built for the disabled I get all my health care providers and nurses and doctors to my home so I plan to stay in my home and able to make my monthly payments regularly.
Please help save my home.
Simon Gaber

Moved my IRA to Wells Fargo Advisors believing that they were a fiduciary sensitive company and that my best interests would be served through prudent investment planning. After a 45 minute discussion $200, 000 of my life savings were allocated the Diversified Stock income Plan (DSIP) and invested during August 2015 when the stock market was in severe decline. I am risk averse and the Advisor knew I was risk averse, yet he put my funds in jeopardy and they immediately decreased by 10%. I went to Wells Fargo looking for a stable fixed income portfolio and was handed DSIP as a solution to, my problems. I was 81 years old at the time, maybe slowing up a bit, and the shock of the sudden loss plus a very questionable investment strategy caused me to leave Wells Fargo but not before trying their "Complaint Resolution Program" which fed me the party line as a solution. These guys are very clever sharks who legally cover themselves from A to Z. Be very careful!

Still waiting for a response.

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Re: Fwd: Re: Asking for help and assistance
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2016 19:38:15 +0200
To: [protected]@wellsfargo.com

> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: TV
> Date: 23 Dec 2015, 17:26 +0200
> Subject: Re: Asking for help and assistance
>
>> To whom it may concern.
>>
>> We were wondering if it perhaps would be possible to get an acknowledgement that you have received our correspondence and could you also kindly let us know whether or not we can expect a reply.
>>
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>>
>> On 17 Dec 2015, 12:35 +0200, wrote:
>>> To: Mary T. Mack, President and Head of Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC
>>>
>>> Dear Mary T. Mack -
>>>
>>> I will keep this as short as possible so not to waste your time.
>>>
>>> Back in 1988 we decided to invest long term in the U.S. with A.G. Edwards, which was then later acquired by Wells Fargo Advisors.
>>>
>>> During this time the accounts values have fluctuated a lot. Advise was given to invest in Putnam funds, which went through a tough time and a lot of value was wiped out, and individual stocks which were solely managed by your advisors.
>>>
>>> Now we are being told that we need to move away and that no advise will be given because the accounts are below the minimum amount a foreign account should be, despite the fluctuations over the past 27 years. The account valuations have been the responsibility of your advisors, because they made the investment choices for us.
>>>
>>> From a tax point, we cannot just liquidate our accounts and transfer the cash to another country and it is very difficult to open another investment account in the U.S.
>>>
>>> What is even more confusing is the fact that Wells Fargo still allows foreigners to open brokerage accounts in the U.S. which have a much lower value than our accounts?
>>>
>>> This seems rather inconsistent.
>>>
>>> All we are asking for is for Wells Fargo Advisors to help sort this out professionally and responsibly, given that they have created and managed these portfolios, and charged their fees for over 27 years. Liquidating accounts that are trading at an all time low certainly doesn't show that your firm is taking responsibility.
>>>
>>> We are desperately looking forward for some understanding and that somebody is appointed to work this out sensibly, showing us the respect of having been loyal paying clients for over a quarter of a century, not even complaining about the poor performance of the portfolios.
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> Sincerely,
>>>

Our Preschool has a corporate brokerage account for stock donations with Wells Fargo. The individuals who established the account are no longer working at the School nor can they be reached to close or transfer the account. After multiple inquiries and attempts to ask Wells Fargo how we can gain access to this corporate account, they have been unable to help us and have gone so far as to restrict the account. In my opinion, this is equivalent to theft as the funds/securities do not belong to Wells Fargo and not allowing the School to gain access to the account is THEFT.

2014-right after receiving my funds for conservative investments and being told that I was 'risk-adverse', they quickly lost over $3000.00 when certain funds took a nose-dive. The so-called experts told me they had 'no idea' why the account dived the way it did.
I would have been better off putting my money in my mattress.

The brokerage arm of Wells Fargo fails to compete with other discount brokers in many ways. I have substantial investiments with Wells Fargo Advisors, a home mortgage and a checking account.

Two recent problems.

1. when you call 1 800 Brokers you wait a long time to get a person to talk to you. When you do, they don't have answers and they have to check with someone else. Calls often last 20-30 min just to get simple answers.

2. Options - I recently asked to upgrade to level 2 options trading. This took over 30 days to do with multiple forms back and forth. When finally approved, I could not trade on line. They finally explained level 2 can only be done by phone order. I have 4 other broker accounts and they allow online options trading. If they had told me that I would not have wasted my time.

I keep this account because of its linkage to my checking account with my local branch. But I will not be doing much brokerage business with them any more.

Opened an investment account with Wells Fargo Advisors to invest in a mutual fund to help pay for a child's college education. Sent them a check and bought shares in Growth Fund of America Class A. I never received a statement from them and when I called to ask why they claimed I had abandoned the account. Apparently they entered my address as NY instead of NV (we clarified correct address multiple times when I set up the account). They admitted to the error being their fault and yet their requirements to get the account out of "abandoned" status were literally impossible. Where I come from we call this stealing. Please be careful when establishing an investment account and stay away from these guys. They are either dishonest or inept...either way the client stands to lose

Removed stocks w/o notification on 4/22/15. Would not have know had we not checked our accounts on line. What gives them right to go into my account & my sister's and remove stocks . Had to spend hours on the phone & web trying to get the facts as to who & why this happened. We know why, the stock split was not correct. Should have been 50/25/25/, was 33/33/33. A difference of 7%, which totals about $975.00 and yet $11, 000. was removed from each account. Still no information forthcoming from wells fargo. All stems to Robert Loretto's lack of business knowledge & customer service. Drove 2hrs in the rain for an appointment, that he was not prepaired for & could not complete. Time to rethink your career? What a way to do business---keep your clients(who pay you) in the dark.