Author Topic: Personal Capital Users - How do you get them to stop bugging you?  (Read 11520 times)

rugorak

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So I started using personal capital about a year ago. They now call me up from time to time trying to get me to talk to a financial adviser. I really don't want to. I am happy with the collective advice I have gotten from the forums here, and all the other FIRE type blogs. In fact I always laugh when I run the investment checkup and see "Since 1992, your Current Allocation would have grown at a higher rate than your Target Allocation." For those interested I pretty much am following Jim Collins advice and just using index funds (other than one stock I was gifted).

So has anyone had the same bugging calls/emails and been able to get them to go away? I know they are just trying to make sales which pay for the service. So I don't want to be rude if I can avoid it. But if that is the only way I have no problem with that either. The only other person I know who uses them is my girlfriend and they do not bug her. But it could just be amount invested.

Dicey

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Re: Personal Capital Users - How do you get them to stop bugging you?
« Reply #1 on: November 07, 2016, 12:54:13 PM »
No experience with PC, but the bank used to do this to us all the time. I kept smiling and saying "We have plans for our money. Please don't ask." Eventually they stopped. Last week at our new, very small bank, set up just to handle our rental property, I smiled and told her how much of the balance we were about to spend on property taxes. Then I smiled and said "Please don't ask again." She smiled back and said okay.

boarder42

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Re: Personal Capital Users - How do you get them to stop bugging you?
« Reply #2 on: November 07, 2016, 12:55:34 PM »
just let them know youre fine.  i dont see it as much of an inconvience with the tool they provide for free

With This Herring

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Re: Personal Capital Users - How do you get them to stop bugging you?
« Reply #3 on: November 07, 2016, 01:51:51 PM »
So I started using personal capital about a year ago. They now call me up from time to time trying to get me to talk to a financial adviser. I really don't want to. I am happy with the collective advice I have gotten from the forums here, and all the other FIRE type blogs. In fact I always laugh when I run the investment checkup and see "Since 1992, your Current Allocation would have grown at a higher rate than your Target Allocation." For those interested I pretty much am following Jim Collins advice and just using index funds (other than one stock I was gifted).

So has anyone had the same bugging calls/emails and been able to get them to go away? I know they are just trying to make sales which pay for the service. So I don't want to be rude if I can avoid it. But if that is the only way I have no problem with that either. The only other person I know who uses them is my girlfriend and they do not bug her. But it could just be amount invested.

I don't use PC, but what about changing the phone number you have on the account?  Make sure you change it to a number that doesn't belong to a real person who would be pestered.  Or could you remove it entirely?

kpd905

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Re: Personal Capital Users - How do you get them to stop bugging you?
« Reply #4 on: November 07, 2016, 04:59:54 PM »
They tried calling me once and I just told them I did not need their help.  Maybe I don't have enough money to be worth bothering anymore.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Personal Capital Users - How do you get them to stop bugging you?
« Reply #5 on: November 07, 2016, 05:04:16 PM »
They called me once, I told them I had no interest in it, and they haven't called me again. So you probably have, but have you just... asked them not to call again?

Spork

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Re: Personal Capital Users - How do you get them to stop bugging you?
« Reply #6 on: November 07, 2016, 05:12:35 PM »

Too late but...

For calls, I give any business that is likely to bug me a google voice number.  Whenever I get calls from that number, I answer... check to see who it is... and then let it go to voice mail.

For emails, I give every single vendor... every one of them... a unique email address.  If they start spamming me or are irritating, I delete it.  They're gone.  Forever.

Travis

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Re: Personal Capital Users - How do you get them to stop bugging you?
« Reply #7 on: November 08, 2016, 10:44:09 AM »
After ducking them for a couple years I finally agreed to listen to their sales pitch.  It was two hour-long phone calls spread over two weeks.  Afterwards I thanked them, pointed out I'm doing just fine by myself, and told them their other services might interest me when I'm ready to retire.  Fast forward about 8 months and they're calling me again seeing if I'm still interested, but offering me incentives this time.  It was a garbled voicemail, but I think they offered the first 3 months of services for free.  If you really don't want to hear from them, be assertive about it.  Being polite and giving them the slightest opening means you're still on their list.

mskyle

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Re: Personal Capital Users - How do you get them to stop bugging you?
« Reply #8 on: November 08, 2016, 11:35:34 AM »
Oh I just never answer their calls. They come in bursts, where I'll get a call every day or every couple of days for a while, then it stops for months.

ysette9

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Re: Personal Capital Users - How do you get them to stop bugging you?
« Reply #9 on: November 08, 2016, 11:45:05 AM »
I seem to get a phone call from them once a quarter or so. They are always polite and low-key, but I still can't shake the feeling that they just look at our balance and start salivating. I pretty much never answer any phone call from a number I don't know, so their calls always go to voicemail.

trashmanz

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Re: Personal Capital Users - How do you get them to stop bugging you?
« Reply #10 on: November 08, 2016, 11:50:16 AM »
Once you hear their sales pitch I don't think they bother you after that.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Personal Capital Users - How do you get them to stop bugging you?
« Reply #11 on: November 08, 2016, 12:01:31 PM »
I seem to get a phone call from them once a quarter or so. They are always polite and low-key, but I still can't shake the feeling that they just look at our balance and start salivating. I pretty much never answer any phone call from a number I don't know, so their calls always go to voicemail.

Ha, yes, maybe that's why they were so willing to leave me alone...

boarder42

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Re: Personal Capital Users - How do you get them to stop bugging you?
« Reply #12 on: November 08, 2016, 12:34:46 PM »
I seem to get a phone call from them once a quarter or so. They are always polite and low-key, but I still can't shake the feeling that they just look at our balance and start salivating. I pretty much never answer any phone call from a number I don't know, so their calls always go to voicemail.

i enjoy talking to them.  kinda fun, they always tell me i'm not diversified enough .

rugorak

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Re: Personal Capital Users - How do you get them to stop bugging you?
« Reply #13 on: November 09, 2016, 12:18:49 PM »
Thanks for all the replies. I have told them I am fine but maybe I'll try using their own tool against them. I'll point out that my allocation is outperforming their recommended allocation so I really don't want their help.

catccc

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Re: Personal Capital Users - How do you get them to stop bugging you?
« Reply #14 on: November 09, 2016, 07:34:36 PM »
They are going to keep calling until you tell them not to.  Just answer the phone and tell them you aren't interested.  Or, have the meeting just to see what they have to say, and then tell them you aren't interested.

obstinate

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Re: Personal Capital Users - How do you get them to stop bugging you?
« Reply #15 on: November 09, 2016, 08:43:49 PM »
They check with me from time to time. I can see why they would want to get at my cheddar, as I've been saving hard on a big income. I view those few minutes I spend with them gently letting them down as my payment to them for their service.

Travis

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Re: Personal Capital Users - How do you get them to stop bugging you?
« Reply #16 on: November 09, 2016, 11:19:23 PM »
Thanks for all the replies. I have told them I am fine but maybe I'll try using their own tool against them. I'll point out that my allocation is outperforming their recommended allocation so I really don't want their help.

This actually happened to me during my interview.  He put together a flashy slideshow of the sectors and allocations he'd put me in with a particular risk/return horizon.  I directed him to my TSP/Vanguard portfolio which perfectly matched their software's recommended horizon which I was achieving at essentially no cost.  He chalked it up to some strange software glitch.  He was willing at least to acknowledge I'd be a tough sell given my investment knowledge.  Most other investment managers would double down on finding ways to call me ignorant.

thingamabobs

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Re: Personal Capital Users - How do you get them to stop bugging you?
« Reply #17 on: November 10, 2016, 12:21:23 AM »
They told me that by letting them manage my investments I would be making more money. Then I pointed out on their graph how my investment choices were already outperforming their choices so no, I will not be transferring to them. Haven't heard from them since!

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!