Nationwide Retirement Solutions

I have been a customer with Nationwide for about 30 years. They have always provided excellent service.

Friendly people nice scenic route

Clean

When you 5alk to their customer service, you don't get all the info. They require to accomplish what you need to do. it took nearly 2 weeks to get my money out of there from a workplace deferred comp account. Also their fees became ridiculous on a quarterly basis.

I used them for a workplace retirement fund for a few years. High fees, mediocre returns that are below market performance, continuous spam emails from their local rep (often in ALL CAPS) wanting to sign me up for things I didn't need or want.

Then I moved on to new employment and sent them their funds transfer form along with the rollover documents from the carrier taking the account balance. Haven't heard anything for a week so I login and see a cryptic message to call them. I call their 800 number and speak to a rep who tells me I need a personalized letter on letterhead from my new carrier with an ink signature saying they'll take the money. The 3 page document I forwarded with a rollover case number isn't enough because even though it says where to send the check and the reference number it doesn't explicitly say they'd accept the funds once I mail it to them. On what planet does that even make sense? What bank is going to give you explicit instructions to send funds to them and then reject them for some random unknown reason? And how do you get a personalized signed ink letter of acceptance from one of the largest defined contribution plans in the world?

I asked the rep what CFR, US code or IRS regulation required these Byzantine stumbling blocks. He put me on hold, spoke to his supervisors and then told me there was no regulation or law requiring this, just their own company policy. It makes sense, if you offer below average services it would be logical to make as many strange barriers as possible to prevent people from transferring their funds to the competition so that the company can suck down as many management fees as possible in the interim.

Avoid this company at all costs.

Half of the customer service reps are working off of bad information which will inevitably delay your request which may be very time sensitive. My advice is to call multiple times and ask different CSR’s to see if you get the same info. If you get two or more to agree then MAYBE you’ll have the right info. Otherwise these people will jerk you around.

If I could share negative stars, I would. If you work somewhere that offers a Post Employment Health Plan (PEHP) administered by Nationwide...take a hard pass.

This is an investment account that you roll retirement funds into. It grows tax-free and allows you to submit medical expenses for reimbursement. Basically, they are keeping and investing YOUR money and you have to fill out (by hand) a three page claim form, which you then have to scan and email, or FAX along with itemized receipts in order to get reimbursed.

They look for nitpicky reasons to hold up, deny, or slow roll every single claim. Their customer service is abominable. Instead of calling or emailing to let you know there's an issue with your claim, you are forced to take the time to log into their website to check on the status. If there is an issue, the website has a message stating that *more information is needed* but not a more concise statement telling you what is wrong with the claim. You are then forced to call their customer service number, which is answered by an automated response unit (ARU) that doesn't recognize voice prompts most of the time. An average call to customer service takes 20-30 minutes while they look up the claim and make calls to other departments. This always results in having to resubmit the claim and wait even longer to get YOUR money back.

We have asked them repeatedly to call or email if there is a problem with a claim. They even have a note to this effect on our account, yet we never receive this communication from them. We waited over a month and a half to get reimbursed for a claim of almost $2,000 because they did not like the receipt the provider gave to us, even though it was identical to another receipt they previously reimbursed us for. They also refused to reimburse us for our monthly premium of a policy that pays for accident or injury because *it's not a medical expense*. What??

The worst part of this is that no matter how badly we want to take our money away from Nationwide, we are stuck with them because of specific *rules* in place that prohibit us from moving those funds.

Another insult is that since my husband is the retiree, they are not allowed to talk to me unless he gives his permission. It does not matter that I am covered under this PEHP. It does not matter that I am an adult. It does not matter that I am the one who set up the online account and who fills out every claim form (minus the signature). If there's a problem, I have to hand the phone to my husband and ask him to call and find out what it is. We asked if they could put a note on file saying that it is okay to talk to me. They said, "No."

This is a horribly administered plan. Do NOT participate in it. You will regret it immensely if you do.

Absolute garbage. Nationwide sent me a check for my retirement balance without my approval instead of sending the amount to the requested new retirement account company. Even with filling out their complicated forms they failed to follow their own practices. I will be contacting the Better Business Bureau.

Lumbering giant of the 20th century with phone lines and fax machines for dealing with customers, plans and trusts. Send your multiple page form with supporting document proof and wait. Do not reply to this email, it is not monitored. Print out all your electronic documentation and send paper. Plenty of room in the tower for stacks of paper. For faster service feed your paper through a fax machine like it's 1974! Easier to hold the tiller than explore new routes.

Do not work for or deal with this company or it's people. They have a ton of behind the scenes hidden fees, stipulations, interest rates, and their employees are merely used to pump out calls until they feel soulless. It's not a nice place to work or know what goes on for their investment participants. Avoid the 457 department. Shady dealings.

I filed for a withdraw it took over a week to get someone to actually give me information on why it was taking so long and I called everyday for a week.