Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  06/16/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  M2B Retirement and Anchor 316 Fiduciary Solutions have the worst customer service I have ever experienced. I have left numerous voicemails to different employees/managers including the owner with no call back. I held a 401k account with Empower Retirement (Mass Mutual). I began the process of cashing it out during Mid May 2022. I officially submitted the forms for plan distribution signature on May 27th to Empower. They have record of emailing the forms to ********* ******* on June 1st for the required signature to process my distribution. They also have record of no response. So, despite me submitting the forms timely, my account has lost nearly $2000 while sitting in someone's email account or on a desk. As a customer, I have been put into the middle of the most HORRIBLE communication chain I have ever witnessed. I have filed a complaint against Empower Retirement as well. This act is intentional to take advantage of the current volatile market and hold customer accounts/money hostage. I am entitled to all of the money that was in my account at the time of my initial submission. M2B, Anchor 316, and Empower Retirements lack of communication is no fault of my own or its customers. This is no way to treat people or their financials. Absolutely disgusted with this process start to finish.

  Business response

  07/22/2022

  The complainant's version of event is incomplete at best and flawed at worst.

  Our firm provides Third Party administrative services for retirement plans.  Our role among many other functions is to ensure that distribution requests to former participants in our clients' plan are both completed correctly and not fraudulent.  Many times participants submit incomplete or old forms in requesting the distribution from their plan.  So, while our firm reviews and approves paperwork for the actual distribution processing, the actual assets of the plan are invested in a separate and independent recordkeeping and investment company.  In this case, the holder of the assets is Empower Retirement.
  

  While we cannot address any conversations or correspondence had between the participant and any representative at Empower, we have provided a summary of our notes as it relates to the distribution request.  However, it should always be remembered and the complainant was so advised, under no circumstances would a retirement plan distribution be processed “same day” even if the initial request/submission  were in good order.  There is more that goes into the review, authorization, liquidation of assets, and processing of a distribution checks.  Further, please keep in mind that the plan does state that distributions will be made “as soon as administratively feasible” after 45 days following termination of employment and once paperwork is received in good order.
  
  The above being said, our time log (as outlined below) provides a summary of our outreach to the complainant (by both phone and email) regarding the form completed on 06/07/2022 and had not received a reply.
  
  -          05/16/2022– Participant originally called to question her vesting % because vesting would dictate if she took a Cash Distribution or chose to Rollover.  Vesting was confirmed and offered to provide paperwork, but participant stated she would be in touch after she discusses which option to take with her husband.   
  -          06/06/2022 – 11:42AM - Participant called for status of her distribution;  no copy of paperwork found in our records; offered to follow-up to check if Empower but participant preferred to fax her paperwork directly to us on 06/06/22.
  Form received via fax on 06/06/2022 at 12:21PM and confirmation of receipt sent to participant.
  -          06/07/2022 – Voicemail and follow-up email sent to participant (approximately 10:09 AM) regarding the need to complete a current version of the applicable termination distribution form (form completed had a 2020 effective date and appeared to be an incorrect version for this plan).  To date, no returned phone call or email by participant.
  -          06/13/2022– Participant emailed for a status update.  Team member contacted was out sick unexpectedly.
  -          06/14/2022 – Email response was sent to participant explaining the email sent on 06/07 at 10:09AM with a correct version of the form to be completed.     
  
  
  

  At this point, the complainant spoke to not one but two owners of our company and was made aware of the issues above.  So, the complainant's contention we were no-responsive is incorrect.

   

  Working on her behalf our office in speaking with Empower on June 14th, they agreed that they would accept the old version of the form that had been completed and sent to us one week ago so that the distribution would not need to be requested again.  As such, the form was signed and submitted to Empower for processing immediately. 

  
  We understand that participants ca get frustrated with the process and communication as well as the volatility in the market.  While we cannot directly vouch for any conversation that the complainant had directly with Empower, we can attest that we receive and process distributions from her former employer’s plan as well as numerous other clients on a daily basis.  We would not know each individual’s respective timeline from the date they first received a form (or whether or not that form was provided by the employer or directly by Empower), but all distributions are processed as soon as administratively feasible once forms are received in good order.  The one-week turn-around from the date that our form was in receipt of the form from a participant is not unreasonable (even if there were not questions about the version of the form she provided).  Finally, it should be noted that the complainant never lost self-directed investment control of her account.  Thus, at any time she could made investment changes as the distribution request was being processed to take a more conservative investment including moving to cash.  Thus, the market losses she experienced while her distribution was being processed were fully her responsibility.  Also, the fact that the distribution was taxed with those taxes being netted from her payment was fully disclosed in the paperwork she submitted and are legally required. 

  Our firm process literally hundreds of distributions a week for over 1,000 qualified retirement plans.  To the best of our knowledge, this is the only complaint the BBB has ever received regarding our services in the six years of the company's existence.  We are proud of our service model and do not feel that anything wrong was done in this case.

*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. ↩