Reviews
This profile includes reviews for Principal Financial Group's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see
Customer Review Ratings
Average of 210 Customer Reviews
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Review fromMeagan R
Date: 06/02/2023
1 starCompany is a Joke!!! Bunch of clowns working there when I call to talk to them about my ESOP account to withdraw MY money it's something different with each agent just ridiculous!!! Get it together PrincipalReview fromChristopher L
Date: 06/02/2023
1 starVery unsatisfactory customer service. No one can tell me what is going on with my account due to some technical issue on Principle’s end. I have patiently waited 3 weeks to speak to someone with a solution with no luck.
“Someone will call you back” and I never receive a call back with any update. I recently lost my job and have experienced extreme financial hardship with no choice but do a withdrawal. First contact with company, I provided my bank account information and they went over the fees and taxes, told me money would come in 5-8 days. Called back three days later to confirm everything was good just to be told, there is a technical issue and we cannot give you any time frame on when you will receive funds.Review fromAlan R
Date: 05/23/2023
1 starCannot access my funds,this company is horrible,customer service is no help eitherReview fromKristin L
Date: 05/23/2023
1 starTerrible! No help! Tricky in the way they do things. I would not ever trust this company. They are a company trying to figure out how to scam people. Don't trust them with any of your money. Scam scam scam.Review fromDebbie K.
Date: 05/17/2023
1 starI have been trying to get my Principal retirement funds for 2 months. Every time I call I get a different response. They are getting the paperwork ready but it could take up to 3 weeks to mail, so I waited and still haven't received the paperwork. Called again and they said that they would put a rush on it and called when it would be mailed, so here I sit again waiting to hear from them. I'm beginning to think I will never see these funds dispersed to me. I'm so frustrated with this company! Unbelievable.Review fromLauren B
Date: 05/15/2023
1 starLauren B
Date: 05/15/2023
A few days before Christmas I got into a motor vehicle accident and broke my shoulder the company I worked for, the Tifton Housing Authority used Principal Financial as the people that overseed retirement as well as short and long-term disability here we are in May and I have yet to receive my short nor long-term disability funds. The kicker is my doctor just received my long-term disability paperwork a whole month late I should have been getting it all that time but I wasn't. Fortunate for me I can manage my money but if you cannot you would have lost every single thing you had. I haven't gotten an actual penny and then on top of that they told my employer I had to use my sick and vacation days before they would even start my short-term which is a crock of s*** right LOL if you have it you know the short term down. Is only a few days. It's sad how they will screw someone out of such little amount of money. If my doctor would have released me I would have much rather worked because the money they are giving is change and they don't even want to give that LOL I would advise anyone to not deal with them if you would like proof of how things were not done right I could always take a picture and probably post my canceled check that was for my short-term disability that I finally got in May, it was post-dated to April 26 that's okay because I first started my short-term in December that's a timely manner right? I see why people say I have a attitude on the phone. couldn't be frustrated
Principal Financial Group
Date: 05/26/2023
Principal
Life will not provide a response to the BBB due to confidentiality. We will reach out to the complainant directly. Thank youReview fromAaron S
Date: 05/10/2023
1 starThis is the worst company I have ever dealt with. The company I worked for moved our 401k plans to this company after I left the company. I tried to take my money out; was told to get a distribution request form notarized and faxed over to them at the beginning of February, 2023. They have told me they never received my fax, when I had a fax confirmation receipt. I have been through this fax process twice. I was told a 3rd time to have it faxed again. I refused, since I am tired of going to UPS store; paying to fax this notarized form. The agent told me to email the form over; sent me over the email address. I was told to call back in 2-3 business days to make sure they received it. I got the confirmation when I called back; was told it could take up to 3 weeks or 15 business days to process. It could take another two weeks to mail out the check and receive it in the mail. I got this process started in February to get money out to pay for my rent until my commission checks start to kick in at my new job. 3 moths later and Principal is still telling me that my status is pending. It took my 3 days to go on my Fidelity account and request a small distribution to receive my funds by direct deposit. How is it that this company after 3 months is still processing my request? If it ever gets processed, I will still have to wait another two or three weeks to receive a check in the mail. This company is a fraud! They are doing this to hold onto more assets to make higher profit return. From all these terrible reviews, how has no one investigated these crooks.Review fromJd W
Date: 05/10/2023
1 starThis is the worst customer service ever no communication and they lie to you. I can’t tell you how frustrating it has been to work with them!! They tell you one thing and you can call back the very next day and get a totally different answer and if I didn’t call back I would never known what they actually need because no one reached out or responds!Review fromThompson H
Date: 05/09/2023
1 starMy experience with this company has been very exhausting and it feels like a royal run around I’m getting from Principal. The weird part in all of this is that this is MY MONEY I am trying to retrieve as part of a hardship application for a personal issue I am having. MY MONEY! Not begging or asking for a loan. Every person I have spoken to at Principal gives a completely different answer. I am very frustrated and this is week 3 and still playing the waiting game. I just need what’s MINE!Review fromChristopher R
Date: 04/29/2023
1 starI’m a small business employer who offers a 401k match program at our office. My financial advisor recommended Principal to manage this program and a different Third Party Agency (TPA) to perform the compliance and testing to make sure the offering at work are compliant. Principals fee was to be $300/year billed at $75/quarter and the TPA’s fee would be $1536/year billed at $384/quarterly. Principal is also able to collect approximately 1% of the investment as a commission. So, I wake up this morning and see a charge to my bank account for $650 from Principal. I contact my financial advisor and the TPA who have no idea what the charge is for. I send an email to Principal and don’t hear anything back for a short time. In the meantime I continue to sift through the multitude of emails their system automatically sends out to the employer portal and I find a document that was sent in September of 2022 that says, your fee is going up to $2600 per year from $300/yr. No bold print, no priority or “important” indicator….just an email and nothing for me to check off, agree to, or sign. This fee has been $300 since we started. You’d think if they’re going to increase it by 766% they’d at minimum have you sign a new agreement or approve of it in some way, shape, or form. Nope, instead they just access my bank account without my authorization and withdraw $650. I have contacted Principal and all they can say is too bad. It’s what our fee is now and we’re not offering any sort of resolution. My office consists of me and two others, and I’m the only active participant in this plan. Almost 5k/year to run this plan??? We’re currently in the process of looking for alternatives. After reading a bunch of the complaints about people having difficulty accessing their money when they get to retirement age, I feel maybe this is a blessing in disguise. Probably best to part ways now before it comes to the point where I actually need this money and have to deal with this ridiculousness.
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