Complain about a product or service

Ameriprise

Ameriprise • New Hampshire Charges Ameriprise with Fraud • Ameriprise Hit with $9 Million Penalty • Ameriprise Settles With Regulators Over Laptop Theft • Ameriprise Loses Customer Data --- • Consumer Complaints

Once upon a time, this company was known as American Express Financial Advisors. But in 2005, Amex decided, for what were called "strategic" reasons, to spin it off. Thus was created Ameriprise, the nation's largest mutual fund advisory firm in terms of assets managd.

But just how well those assets are being managed is the source of at least a few complaints by clients and regulators.

Aleta of Los Angeles CA (07/03/08)
Five months ago my friend passed away and left her finace and myself beneficiaries to her accounts with Ameriprise Financial. This was not a life insurance policy. They refuse to hand over the accounts. They want the death certificate to read it was not a homicide. The autopsy report wasn't sufficient nor was the amended death certificate. The doctors have said this wasn't a homicide, but the actual cause of death is undetermined.

The woman I speak to hangs up on me, or puts me on hold without saying so. Very rude. When I ask to speak to their legal department I never get an answer. I have a suspicious feeling I will never see this money, and if I do they may give me some answer like it depreciated or something.

This has actually caused me a lot of my time and distress. I just want to be over with this. The longer I have to work on this the more upset it makes me that my friend has passed away.

Sarah of Haltom City TX (05/06/08)
Ameriprise is all over asking for ANYONE with a pulse to come be a financial planner, using the pitch No experience necessary. Last year, they even tried to recruit my friend who has a degree in AGRICULTURE! She knows NOTHING about finance! I was young and stupid and out of college and got several harrassing calls from Amy Limas-Hanson, finally agreeing to come in. I bought their BS hook, line and sinker.

I now have a depreciating life insurance policy that is the worst plan for a person of my age and lifestyle. My advisor had no financial experience other than the sales training Ameriprise had given her, which is focused more on making HER money than securing my fiancial future. I'm embarassed for being so stupid. They must love people like me who also have no financial background and aren't aware of savings options, etc. They will do whatever is best for them, not you.

In fact, that was the main complaint of the multi-millon dollar Class Action Law Suit that was filed against them about 6 months ago, stating their advisors acted in the interest of selling something for commission, wasting tens of thousands of dollars of their client's money on financial products that will not benefit them. YOU MUST DEMAND that your financial planner has a degreed background in fiance. I personally would only let someone with at least a masters degree or several financial planner certifications and a track record of success manage my account. Please be careful and stay away from the uneducated planners of Ameriprise!

Kevin of Tucker, GA (03/26/08)
In November 2006 my wife (8 months pregnant), my 73 year old mother-in-law and myself were in a automobile accident and suffered some serious injuries. I had purchased the medical rider for my policy covering up to $50k of medical bills. Only my wife has needed extended treatment (2x month physical therapy) and have only used about $9k of the total coverage.

Ameriprise is refusing to cover the last two treatments as they stated their independent medical examiner does think she requires further treatment even though our Doctor, Chiropractor and Physical Therapist have disagreed. When I asked about an appeals process I was told to go get a lawyer. I re-iterated that I was willing to sign off on closing this case as long as they approved the final treatments, but they refused.

I have reported them to our Insurance Commissioner.

Ann of Largo FL (03/10/08)
I received a post card in the mail for a free no obligation financial planning pamphlet. I sent it back but said that I did not want to be contacted by Ameriprise Financial (I am on the do not call list). I received repeated harassing phone calls and finally agreed to meet with the financial adviser who was aggressive and unyielding. I ended up investing my 401K's in an annuity with them. He did not explain the terms of the annuity including any surrender charges and refused to managed my investments according to my express wishes. He was argumentative and even though he eventually agreed to move my funds and requested blatantly to put them where he wanted them. I filed a formal complaint with their compliance department (they are bound by their industry regulations) and they made excuses, didn't address the issue and refused to rectify the situation. I will pursue additional recourse as this company seems to endorses unethical practices.

Between the money that the investor lost and the surrender charges, I have lost $17,000. I have moved my money into a money market type of account to stop the hemorrhaging. After I have exhausted my options I will get my money into the hands of a reputable firm. I refuse to deal with this company again.

Ward of Los Alamitos CA (02/11/08)
We filed a bill for medical services for injuries to a patient. She sent it to her carrier, ameriprise auto & home ins. They sent a bill review back, disallowing about 25% of the charges, using explanations such as the procedure code billed is an invalid code for the date of service entered. When we contacted them, I was told the system did not recognized the code. It was a standard billing code used nationwide. they repriced the billing amounts with this explanation; the procedure code referenced by the provider was used more than what is normally expected within the scope of a provider per claim. The code they refer to was used ONCE for a final exam. This is very customary in an injury case. As you can see, the explanations are gibberish and unsupported. the adjuster claimed that their bill review was used on thousands of bills. Our bills are based on worker's compensation fee schedules, so they are among the lowest fees used. Evidently, that isn't low enough, as far as the PAYOR is concerned. We have filed medical malpractice complaints against them, as it is illegal to change billing codes to reduce fees or refuse payment for arbitrary reasons.

Failure to pay billed procedures, loss of $1001.33.

Melinda of Mansfield OH (01/21/08)
My disabled child and myself were involved in a two MVA in October 2007. The driver of the other vehicle was cited. Her insurance company, Ameriprise Auto & Home Insurance, was absolutely horrible to deal with. For the first couple weeks I tried to work out an agreement with them, since my vehicle was a total loss. They offered me much less than the value of the car. I told them this was not acceptable, that I was not asking for anything above and beyond the value of the car, but just a fair price so that I may purchase something of similar prior condition, value, and mileage. They lied to me and told me that they had actually offered me a very generous amount, and that I should not turn it down. I contacted my attorney to get her involved. She found that the value of my car was much higher than they had admitted to me. My attorney was unable to reach Jill, the professional handling my claim, for nearly two weeks. By the time everything was agreed upon, it was mid-December 2007. I was told to mail my car title to them. I did so.

They had my car towed away. At this point I had no car or title...and no check. After a few days I called to see why I had not received the check for my damaged vehicle. They told me they never received my car title. I had to go purchase a new one and have it sent overnight, all at my expense. An hour after I mailed the second car title, they contacted me to tell me the original one had been found. The date on the check was the day AFTER they stopped paying for my car rental. I took the check to the bank so that I could purchase another vehicle that I had found. The bank had to hold the check for seven business days due to the amount and it being an out of state check. By the time it was all said and done, I was charged approximately $990.00 out of my own pocket for a car rental, due to their poor business practices. This is almost 1/3 of the total check I received.

I was also informed by Enterprise Car Rental that Ameriprise Auto & Home Insurance was very hard to reach, and that they were refusing to pay approximately another $800.00 of the car rental that they had earlier agreed to pay. Enterprise told me at this time that I may also be charged the additional $800.00. I contacted my attorney who then contacted both Enterprise and Ameriprise to hopefully stop the additional $800.00 from being charged to me. Bottom line, I am a divorced mother raising a disabled child alone. I had reliable transportation to get my child to and from school, doctors appointments, therapies, etc. Now, I was forced to buy a car of lesser value.

Due to Ameriprise Auto & Home Insurance shady business practices, I am now nearly $1,000.00 in the hole for an accident that was not my fault. Again, I never asked for anything above and beyond what was owed to me. I had to fight to get what I got...and still didn't come close to breaking even. This company has put me in an extremely tough spot financially.

Edward of Fort Myers FL (01/18/08)
I am a Certified Financial Planner and decided to apply for a position with Ameriprise. The interview was based solely on testing my ability to sell something to a client that they did not want. They used a sales pitch for travel rather than financial, using an employee to test how I could convince them to go on a trip that they did not want. They figured if I could do this, financial conviction would be no problem. STAY AWAY FROM THESE PEOPLE. There are many honest CFP's out there; don't use Ameriprise.

Steve of Oceanside CA (01/14/08)
In March of '07 I was diagnosed with M.S. and could no longer work. I had a 401K which I wanted to move. I contacted Ameriprise, and they sent an agent. My wife and I decide to have him manage our money. The market started going down, and I contacted the agent. He came to my home and told me that he had been promoted and was giving our money back. He also said that he would still manage our money. He also said that he would move some investments around, but never did. Since then I have e-mailed him several times with no response. As of 1/14/08 my portfolio is down $9,200.00. That is about 15% of my life savings

Since signing up with Ameriprise, I have lost over $9,000.00 of my life savings and still cannot contact our agent.

Varghese of Wylie TX (02/28/07)

On 02/28/2007 I called my insurance company to add another vehicle to my policy and they told me I involved in an accident on 07/06/2006 and they put me at fault and paid to two other parties. This company didn't contact me before or after they made decision on this claim. I traveled on a three-lane road and one guy switched in front of me so fast and hit on the car in front of me. It causes lot of damages to his front end and other cars rear end. Since he took the space in front of me, my car barley hit his rear after I stopped my car. There were no damages on the front end of my car or his car's rear end. When I spoke with my insurance company they told I'm only responsible for the rear end damages of the car in front of me. I believed them and didn't follow up the claim since there were no damages on my car or other party’s rear end. This insurance company didn't inform me any thing else until I called and add another car to this policy. Ameriprise didn't even inform me before or after they settled this claim. Now my driving history looks bad and I have no idea how to fight with these people.

Gabriel of Plantation FL (12/15/06)
Back in April 15-2004 I opened an IRA Mutual Fund with American Express Financial Advisors Inc, In Plantation,Fla office. Now the Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. After 4 months my financial advisor was promoted and from this time it has been a roller coaster dealing with Ameriprise. Since this change for more financial advisors were allocated to handle my account and each time I have asked to review and change my portfolio as the market has changed since the origination time, no one of the assigned advisors have done so.

All what they have done is to try to sell me other products such as life insurance, even in 2005 when I requested and paid for a personal financial analysis, it was not done, although the fee was returned but the time and aggravation that I have encountered it is like a nightmare. Can you imagine 4 time my financial advisor was changed. They claim that the reason is because they have been promoted. I do not believe it -- I think it is more a turnover or representatives.

To this day the last one that came I knew of her through a letter she send me about 6 months ago. I have not heard from her since then. May be my portfolio is too small for them to be interested in helping me adjust it to the new market conditions. I have been dealing with Wachovia Securities and I found that they are very profesional and they are helping me tremendously.

Carol of Apopka FL (05/21/06)
This company has totally mishandled my brokerage account. I am on my fourth financial advisor! I am not making near the return promised and the most recent blunder was a returned check on my account. The check was for $1,000.00. I have more than $11,000.00 in my account. The return letter said I have zero!! I then went online since it is after hours and see my account information has not been updated since 1/20/06 and my old advisor is listed!! They are now ruining my credit and they need to make this right and let me close my account!!

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