That's just it, Frankies Girl. It's not a shady company (though my opinion on that has changed thanks to this experience). It is a big-name company - one of the biggest. It's the company most often recommended here for its low-fee ratios on index funds. I'm not trying to be coy. I had one terrible experience with the company - I don't want to open myself up to another by spouting bad things about it BY NAME on the interwebs. ;)
My late father was a highly decorated combat pilot who died of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, as a result of Agent Orange exposure. He carefully crafted his affairs so that I would be able to avoid opening an estate in California, and did so for several legitimate reasons, including the fact that I'm in PA. and that it would waste over $10K for no legitimate reason. During his career, and for the remainder of his lifetime, he was enamored with a large financial institution that markets themselves as a trusted partner to service members, and their families.
His entire situation would of been easy and fast to resolve, since I was named as the sole beneficiary and executor in a fresh and well drafted will. Once I claimed all assets where I was listed as beneficiary, the estate value was supposed to be low enough that it would qualify for inexpensive court filings known as "small estate affidavits". These would be used to liquidate vehicles and other small matters.
Unfortunately his bank had other plans. At some point in the recent past he was contacted by a "retirement specialist" from the bank, who wanted to churn his assets. He was talked into a new plan, and roughly a third of his net worth was placed in a new account. The bank employee was only interested in his commission, and in his haste to flip the IRA, he failed to retain my name as a beneficiary.
After his death, the bank was forced to investigate the issue, supposedly twice, but reached the same conclusion twice. They admitted no error, and would only state that what they did was legal, and that my father failed to discover that their employee removed the beneficiary, and therefore was responsible. I was welcomed to contact the feds. if I wasn't happy about it. On two separate occasions I asked employees how TF they could live with themselves, given their absolute absence of any moral compass? At one point an employee actually called to tell me that they didn't have to even talk to me, since without a proper estate filing, I had no legal standing to my father's assets. Now, she and I both knew that she was full of shit, and trying a poker bluff, but that pretty much summed up the values instilled in this vaulted institution.
In the end, two women in their estate dept. were offended enough by the treatment that I received, and they spent weeks hounding their legal department to create a solution that wouldn't leave me totally screwed. Doing so saved me tens of thousands in taxes and legal fees.
Bottom line....... Not only is it important to name and notify beneficiaries, it's also critical to routinely monitor your investments to protect them.