"Did it happen with Schwab?  Or did it happen when the agent who uses Schwab as a clearing broker didn't follow through with advice and instructions?"

Oh, the poor reps at the local office were so overwhelmed, every time we came back to bring paperwork, printouts, and explanations, to see if things could be fixed "better" than how they broke it. The office doesn't even have a broker, and then they want to charge you for the broker on the conference call (nice try).