First, A Story: My parents had a Fidelity account, among others. I am co-executor of their estate. There were some complications. Fidelity was the best to deal with so we are consolidating everything there. So far, so good. All done but one hard-ass bank.
A month ago, I met with their biggest hotshot (Not at my request, just a random appointment. Normally, I just work with whoever is at the desk). My two goals were 1. To try to claw the funds out of the last account at the hard-ass bank, and 2. To move my portion of the inherited IRAs (that had been previously consolidated to Fidelity) into equities, specifically the new Zero Fee Total Stock Market Fund. Zip, zam, zowie, paperwork was completed, paperwork signed and I was shown out of his office post-haste*.
A week or three later, I received a letter from the hard-ass bank. It seems the hotshot mis-typed a digit, but the hard-ass bank was coy as to what the error was, so I had to go back to Fidelity to try to figure it out. Now I have to re-do the request, send it to my co-executor, he has to get a Medallion signature, and mail it back to Fidelity, who will then try again. WTF? I asked the person at the counter to check on the account transfer hotshot has been instructed to initiate (and yes, papers were signed, too). Holy shit, he hadn't done it! Okay, the market has gone down, so his error should work in my favor, but WTF Fidelity Hotshot?
Then, A Moral: Everyone and anyone can make mistakes. Ultimately, the responsibility to double-check and follow up is your responsibility, not the investment company you choose.
*Funny post-script: While I was at the counter, Hotshot came out. Counter person asked him a question about my account. Hotshot didn't recognize me. This was before we figured out part two of his fuck-up. It solidified what I was thinking at the time he originally hustled me out of his office: if he had any inkling of my total NW, he'd have been singing a totally different tune. But he didn't ask, and I didn't tell. The amount of inherited money is fairly small, so he made his judgement based on that. Can't help but think of that shopping scene in "Pretty Woman". Big mistake.