ComplaintsforMissionSquare Retirement

• Initial Complaint

  03/08/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I have tried for 3 weeks to get access to my account, which holds my retirement funds. I’ve called three times and described the problem and I’m told that someone will contact me to resolve the problem. Yet I’ve received no contact back. This company holds my funds but because of a technical glitch on the account I am unable to sign on to the account and access the funds which are rightfully mine. This is ridiculous and unconscionable! The staff I speak with on the phone are not rude, they just can’t help me and promise that someone else will fix the glitch. I’m tired and frustrated. I need help!

  Business response

  08/24/2023

  August 23, 2023

  Dear Dispute Resolution Team:
  

  This letter is in response to your letter dated March 8, 2023, regarding a complaint filed with the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Washington, DC, and Eastern Pennsylvania (“the BBB”).

  According to your letter, the BBB received a complaint from an individual stating they could not log in to access funds in an account held by MissionSquare Retirement. Upon research
  into this matter, please be advised the issue has been resolved and the individual has full access to their account.

  If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at the contact information provided below.
  

  Sincerely,
   
  Managing Vice President
  Client Experience Operations

• Initial Complaint

  02/28/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  On November 10, 2022 my ex-wife and I jointly submitted a Qualified Domestic Relations Order to ************* Retirement so that I could obtain my portion of her IRA money (see Item1 attachment). After more than 60 days of waiting, during which time I called them and had to leave a message for callback but never received a callback, I sent another email (see Item2 attachment). Again, I received no response. I got my divorce lawyer involved and she got the QDRO signed by a judge and she sent that to *************. They responded with an enrollment form and a withdrawal form for me to fill out. I immediately completed both forms and sent them back to *************. They responded with an email that verified they had received my submission. If also said that if I had not heard back from them within 10 business days about the status of the case to call them or send them email. Well, I did not hear from them. So I called the phone number they had supplied and the call failed - three times I tried on different days - always failed. So I wrote an email and sent it to the address they had specified and that failed as well - no such email location! So I used the address on the last email I had received from them and then the email went through. It has been a number of days since that email was sent and I have not heard back from them. ************* Retirement is extremely unprofessional in their communications and handling of customer service. It has been months now since starting the QDRO process. I am losing a significant amount of money in dividends while they neglect to complete the process.

• Initial Complaint

  02/26/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Mission Square Retirement (Formerly *******) administers my employer's deferred compensation plan. It appears that there was a transition in October 2022 and that is where the problems began. They could not locate the payroll contribution files that my employer sent. There were a total of 6 payroll files that were not posted until January 2023. In addition, they have not adjusted any gains or losses back to the original market dates of the file transfer. Myself and other coworkers have tried to contact them but we have clocked hold times up to six hours. The new website is not user friendly, it took me days to try to login, I've also heard other's complain about the same thing. There are old accounts that I used to participate with but no longer and the dashboard on the website shows that I'm still an active participant. I got lucky and spoke to a representative and the issue had to be escalated but I have not received a call back and the incorrect account is still showing. I am very nervous about my retirement savings in this company. I feel like something shady is going on and unfortunately it's my life savings. My employer meets with them weekly but they are not having any success. They are discussing legal action against this company. This is critical and I don't know all the avenues but this has to be illegal and I will also file a complaint with SEC. Mission Square needs to be audited. I'm afraid that this company is going to go belly up with over 7K clients and many people will lose their money.

  Business response

  08/28/2023

  August 24, 2023

  Dear Dispute Resolution Team:

  This letter is in response to your letter dated February 26, 2023, regarding a complaint filed with the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Washington, DC, and Eastern Pennsylvania (“the BBB”).

  According to your letter, the BBB received a complaint from an individual stating their account held by MissionSquare Retirement was not properly credited. Upon research into
  this matter, please be advised the issue has been resolved and the funds have been correctly credited.

  If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at the contact information provided below.

  Sincerely,
  

  Managing Vice President
  Client Experience Operations

• Initial Complaint

  02/22/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  My former employer used MissionSquare for the retirement account. When I left that position I asked MissionSquare to rollover my account to my personal *** account. All the paper work was completed. In Dec 2022 they said that the rollover check was sent to my *** account, it never arrived. I asked them to cancel the check and in Jan 2023 they said they had sent a new check. By the end of Jan 2023 beginning of February 2023 when it had not arrived I contacted them again. In fact each week since Dec 2022 when the original check had not arrived I CCD a bunch of managers, administrators, and specialist on the same email each week, some times twice a week. They responded saying they had never completed a stop check and would cancel the check and resend again. Week 1 of Feb 2023 - No Check. Week 2 of Feb 2023 - No check. In fact they sent me a ****-R form saying the funds had been distributed to my personal account. So now we wait. I started the process in Nov 2022. Its now Feb 2023.

  Customer response

  02/28/2023

  ********* ********* ******* ********* ***** ******************* ********************* ***** **** *** *** **** ** **** ** ******** *** *** **** * *** ******* **** *** *** ** ***** ********** ** * ******* ************ ** ******* ** **** ********* ********** *** ****** ******** ****** ***********************************
  
  
  Greetings, 

  
  

  Here are some updates. After reporting to the BBB. The funds

  were transferred to my personal *** during the 3rd-4th weeks of February. Im not sure if reporting to BBB help to expedite the request, or if the process actually does take them 4 months to rollover. If you post my comment on the BBB website, please also include the update because all issues have been resolved. 

  
  

  Sent from my iPhone

• Initial Complaint

  02/15/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  **** changed its retirement website to Mission Square but I cannot find an entity called Mission Square on BBB so am filing with **** since it is their plan. The new Mission Square website is a mess and has many errors. Unfortunately there is no way to resolve errors by phone or secure messaging and I have a problem that needs fixing. I made an IRA contribution for 2022 on the website February 14th. The site gave me a confirmation number but no detailed confirmation like I would normally get that would show dollar amount, where invested and the year for the contribution. Important things I need for my tax return. I did not receive an email with this information either. Today all I received was a generic email saying the transaction was completed. I called their customer service and was on hold for almost a half an hour to get a person. She confirmed the contribution went into 2023 which is what I feared and I told her that was not what I entered on the website. She put me on hold to talk to "level 2" and after another hour on hold I gave up because she never came back to the phone. I called again. Was on hold for 27 minutes and talked to Virginia and she said all she could do was "start a case" for the "IRA department." She could not give me any case number or any idea how or when they might contact me. And the IRA department does not take incoming phone calls. I need this matter corrected.

  Business response

  09/08/2023

  September 6, 2023

  Dear Dispute Resolution Team:
  

  This letter is in response to your letter dated March 25, 2023, regarding a complaint filed with the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Washington, DC, and Eastern Pennsylvania (“the BBB”).
  

  According to your letter, the BBB received a complaint from an individual stating their contribution was posted to the incorrect year. Upon research into this matter, please be
  advised the issue has been resolved and the funds have been correctly attributed to the previous tax year as requested.
  

  If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at the contact information provided below.
  

  Sincerely,
   
  Managing Vice President
  Client Experience Operations

  Customer response

  09/08/2023

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me though it did take the business a long time to respond. 
  
  Regards,
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  02/01/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I recently resigned from my position with a City Municipality and wanted to withdraw my money and close the account the City set up for me with *******/MissionSquare. They’ve basically made it impossible for me to do so, as there are no online options for withdrawal and contacting the business directly results in unreasonably long hold times, and the one time I got ahold of a representative I was told they’d email me the form for withdrawal of my money, but it never came.

  Business response

  08/28/2023

  August 24, 2023

  Dear Dispute Resolution Team:

  This letter is in response to your letter dated February 26, 2023, regarding a complaint filed with the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Washington, DC, and Eastern Pennsylvania (“the BBB”).

  According to your letter, the BBB received a complaint from an individual stating they could not withdraw their funds from an account held by MissionSquare Retirement. Upon research into this matter, please be advised the issue has been resolved and the funds have been withdrawn.

  If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at the contact information provided below.

  Sincerely,
   
  Managing Vice President
  Client Experience Operations

• Initial Complaint

  01/30/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I tried to withdraw my funds from my account. The website portal would not allow me to request an ACH transfer to my bank account. So I called them on the phone which resulted in a rude rep telling me I had no account, keep in mind she ask for my SSN to verify who I was when I called. I then requested to speak to her supervisor who clarified I did have an account. I then asked to withdraw my funds and she said I can't request an electronic withdraw with my account, which I find strange. She then said I have to fill out a form and send it VIA USPS to request a fund withdraw. The withdraw form isn't available on the website. The rep told me she would have to send it. I then informed her my email and she said she doesn't directly send it and would have to have a tech send it. I have yet to receive the paper work to withdraw my money. The is sham retirement agency makes it impossible to withdraw your funds in a timely manner. Not to mention the fact that I'm charged a $14 management fee on my account a month, which they use to purchase more of their own low performing index funds. I want either to set up a ACH transfer to withdraw my funds, or access to the form to do so.

  Business response

  08/24/2023

  August 23, 2023

  Dear Dispute Resolution Team:
  

  This letter is in response to your letter dated January 30, 2023, regarding a complaint filed with the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Washington, DC, and Eastern Pennsylvania (“the BBB”).

  According to your letter, the BBB received a complaint from an individual stating they could not withdraw their funds from an account held by MissionSquare Retirement. Upon research into this matter, please be advised the issue has been resolved and the individual has successfully withdrawn their funds.
  

  If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at the contact information provided below.
  

  Sincerely,
  
  Managing Vice President
  Client Experience Operations

• Initial Complaint

  01/30/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I went through a divorce in July 2022. I paid a lawyer to file a **** which was completed and filed with ICMA back around September 2022. I was told also by my lawyer that part of an *** account with ICMA Mission Squares would not require a **** to complete the processing of getting my portion of that account. I have spent hours on hold each time I reached out to ICMA & was told back on November 22, 2022 that they were processing the ******** should receive information in the mail within 3 months from when they received the information from my lawyer (more than 3 months ago). I was told I would receive a call back which I never received, but do know from a conversation I had today that it was documented that they were supposed to make a call back on November 22, 2022, but they never called. It is now February 2023 & nothing has been resolved. I have cancer and desperately need access to the my portion of the funds from the *** account as I am newly divorced & trying to take also support my child. I spent no less than 4 hours on hold today with ICMA was disconnected twice after waiting on hold for an hour and one half. I spoke to one person who said I needed the **** department and I would just have to "******" them to get this done. They could not connect me or provide a number for me to again wait on hold for hours to "******" them. The representative said she would give me a call back when she could locate a phone number which never happened. The representative also told me "my accounts should for sure have been processed by now."

• Initial Complaint

  01/24/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I separated from my job due to undergoing cancer treatments. I need this money to pay for my health insurance to continue my treatments. I faxed over a withdrawal request on January 13, 2023, because I was unable to access the secure messaging on my account, due to issues with Mission Square website, 10 days later, there is still an issue. On January 17,2023 my employer notified Mission Square of the separation date of January 3, 2023. I verified with customer service that all documents were received. I have been calling daily because I was told there was a block on my account on January 18, 2023 and the customer service agent said she would email the department to remove the block after verifying all my information. I called on January 19,2023 and was told everything was processed and a check would be expedited or they would direct deposit the money. On January 23,2023 no check was received so I called again and was told it wasn’t sent yet and she couldn’t tell me why. I called January 24,2023 and was told again there was a block on my account and they would email the department. Every phone call is 1.5-2.5 hour wait on hold. Noone will allow me to speak with the department that processes the payments or blocks accounts. The standard response is I’ll update your account and send an email.

  Business response

  08/29/2023

  August 28, 2023

  Dear Dispute Resolution Team:
  

  This letter is in response to your letter dated January 24, 2023, regarding a complaint filed with the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Washington, DC, and Eastern Pennsylvania (“the BBB”).
  

  According to your letter, the BBB received a complaint from an individual stating they did not receive a distribution from an account held by MissionSquare Retirement.
  

  Upon research into this matter, please be advised the individual has received their distribution.
  

  If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at the contact information provided below.
  

  Sincerely,
   
  Managing Vice President
  Client Experience Operations

• Initial Complaint

  01/20/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I mailed in forms along with a $300.00 check to set up an account for my minor son. The account was created and online access provided. The check was cashed/cleared my bank on September 28th, 2022, however there is no record of the contribution nor have the funds been deposited into my son's account. I have sent numerous messages through the website, spent hours on the phone, and emails to the Plan Specialist I had been working with. Almost 4 months now; the $300 is gone and I have no answers.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩