Morgan Stanley Customer Service Complaints - page 2

I called the customer service 800# to find out the incoming wire transfer instructions and after having a futile conversation with a computer I was eventually transferred to a "customer service" rep in the Philippines who only knew the script and didn't even know what I meant by wire transfer instructions. After explaining that I wanted to wire funds into my account and after holding for several minutes more she was unable to provide instructions. This is my typical experience with Morgan Stanley. You can't get a human on the phone very easily and when you do it's someone in a foreign country!

Very bad customer support, they do not keep promises ,do not correct problems they cause..cause customers lage money lose.

Very bad customer support, they do not keep promises ,do not correct problems they cause..cause customers lage money lose.

Your service sucks for the second time my retirment money was not deposited.Last time i was told the problem had been fixed this was a LIE.It has been 3 weeks and no deposit, no calls no one cares.

Morgan Stanley's financial advice is absolutely terrible, the WORST. I lost over $400,000 because my advisor, Ed Carchia, in the Paramus, NJ office, CALLED ME on the phone and rudely INSISTED
that I sell ALL of the stock mutual funds I had in my IRA in late August, 2010 when the DOW was under 11,000. He insisted that the markets were going to take a HUGE PLUNGE very soon and that I had to get ALL my money out of stocks. He then sold me a GNMA bond earning peanuts and charged me $6,000
to buy this bond insuring that Morgan S. got its commission.
He was adamant and said if I did not take his advice he could no longer be my advisor (after Morgan changed my advisor 4 times due to resignations or firings). I very reluctantly consented to follow his advice which he insisted I do because I dreaded starting over again with another new advisor.
The DOW, NASDAQ, and S&P
continued to rise steadily since the day Ed Carchia literally forced me to sell ALL my stock mutual funds.
The DOW recently passed 17,000 in less than 4 years.
Ed Carchia also changed my Annuity investment from Aggressive Stock Fund to Conservative Bond Fund.
Right after doing this, the markets continued to rise and rise and rise. When I questioned Ed Carhia about this and his terribly BAD ADVICE, he insisted that he made the right call despite the FACTS (the rise in ALL market indexes), and then he RUDELY HUNG UP THE PHONE on me. OUTRAGEOUS!!
I LOST over $400,000 between my IRA and ANNUITY and FOUR years of RISING STOCKS PROVE Carchia was WRONG.
This arrogant, egoistical, pushy, rude, self-centered MONSTER is NOT man enough to admit that he made a BAD CALL and was WRONG. The irony is that all Ed Carchia had to do in August, 2010 was LEAVE ME alone. I had the perfect portfolio for me and for the next 4 years. But if he had done that, he and Morgan Stanley would NOT have made their $6,000 COMMISSION. So Morgan keeps paying this monster,
increasing his salary and giving him bonuses because he makes Morgan money (commissions) while causing a SENIOR CITIZEN client lIke me with a relatively small portfolio to lose over $400,000. I would have had a comfortable retirement were it NOT for this OUTRAGEOUS, greedy, and selfish behavior which I really think is absolutely CRIMINAL.
SHAME on ED CARCHIA and SHAME on MORGAN STANLEY. That they can get away with doing this is beyond belief! I am beyond FURIOUS, I am SICK over what Morgan Stanley did to me. I did NOT deserve this, nobody deserves to be treated and ROBBED like this. But Morgan Stanley got their commission and that's all they care about. Let their client's be damned! For SHAME!!!

Customer services is the worst ever.

They loose paperwork
Provide inconsistent information
cannot speak English
Fail to solve problems
Only accept paperwork by FAX !
Have no Freephone number, so have to make an international call to try and resolve problems.
Cannot get anything resolved

Morgan Stanley is an old style full service financial institution with a legacy reputation in institutional finance and brokerage.

Their retail wealth management business leverages this historical position in the industry to capture customers who want a “name” brokerage. The majority of the retail customers they enlist have no desire to be involved in details, analysis or pricing issues and want little involvement in managing their wealth. Potential customers who pay attention to fees, want to understand their investments and enjoy analyzing their portfolios can find better options than Morgan Stanley.

The MS slogan is “Don’t worry about anything, trust us.”

Customers attracted to that idea provide Morgan Stanley with high margins. It is significant that a recent Wall Street Journal story said that Morgan Stanley was expanding their retail wealth management business because it required minimum investment and margins were high.

One of the ways Morgan Stanley generates high margin returns is their practice of not publishing their fees. Customers are left at a distinct disadvantage in determining if their fees are reasonable and in my case, what my total fees were.

Since most new business comes from referrals, Morgan Stanley’s policy is to promise fees that are for “Friends and Family”.This technique disarms most clients into thinking they are being provided reasonably low rates and are “part of the family”. In reality the cost of nearly all of MS services (in our experience) are significantly higher than the competition and only become somewhat competitive when the client negotiates. When you think you are being given a special deal and getting special “Friends and Family” rates it is unlikely you will negotiate.

The process reminds one of purchasing a new car at the local Chevrolet dealer. You have a smiling salesman who acts like you are getting a great deal. Ask any questions and he has to talk to the man behind the curtain. There were few decisions our adviser could make without going in “the back room” to talk to his manager. Nothing came easy and the result was that we felt we were dealing with a car salesman, not a financial adviser. . Since the salesmen’s interests are based on his earning the highest commission possible, the client and his advisor often do not have common goals.

We felt like the only good deal at Morgan Stanley was the free covered parking.

The MS slogan “Don’t worry about anything, trust us” is a tool they use to entice potential customers who do not want to worry about their investments. Our experience showed that if you did this, you likely:

1) Will be charged various miscellaneous fees that are not insignificant.
We were charged 3 different fees that we had to call to the attention of our salesmen. They were all removed but without our intervention we would have been charged thousands of dollars extra.

2) Will not have your account managed to meet your expectations.
We directed our salesman to provide us with a portfolio that provided current income. We were given a portfolio that focused on growth with a minimum income component. It had to be liquidated.

Finally, Morgan Stanley has very poor financial transparency.

It is problematic to see what their total monthly charges are since they are not summarized anywhere. If one is interested in understanding what they are being charged, several hours of tedious calculations are required. When we asked for this problem to be corrected, we were told no one else complained and it wasn’t one of Morgan Stanley’s priorities. One can only assume from this response that Morgan Stanley finds it is not in their interest to have the customer understand what their total charges are.

Biggest misleading sales lines:

1)“We take a holistic approach to helping you”

Translation: .We will try and sell you overpriced mortgages, accounting services, legal services and insurance

2)“You can have friends and family pricing”

Translation: You’ll relax and then we’ll charge you high fees that you'll be embarrassed to question because we said we’d treat you like family

If you need help regarding anything concerning Morgan Stanley---Forget it!!!

About as much help as my neighbors dog!!

I began 11 months ago trying to transfer an IRA to another company, but I have not received the assistance necessary to complete the transaction. I need someone who can listen to my concerns and help me before I seek legal assistance. Please contact me at

Be very careful or you will get taken advantage of. If you are a big investor with lots of money, they may take better care of you, but if you are just a normal person with a modest savings and retirement portfolio, they won't work very hard for you. Don't expect prompt return phone calls or emails unless you constantly follow up, like 5 or 10 times.

Make sure to put everything in writing and document everything. Every conversation and every request for a transaction. That way when they ignore your request you have something to stand on.

Watch the fees charged very carefully. They chargesd us for 3 accounts AFTER we closed them down!

Basically, last August, the MSSB guy came to the house and was told to move money and send a prospectus of what we discussed buying. A few weeks later I still didn't get anything so I tried to get in touch with him. Since he never responded to emails, I called and he says “oh, the money’s moved but I didn’t send anything because we decided you shouldn’t buy now”. Ok…Jan 1st comes I’m working on my taxes when I realize MSSB never moved the money in August. I called the next day and MSSB guy says “I don’t know how that could be, I’ll check it out and get back to you.” Three days go by…no phone call…so I called his boss. He doesn’t know anything about this and asks "why didn’t I tell him", -well what do you think I’m doing???? Then he has the nerve to send an email to me, ccing his legal dept, which he states what my investment strategy and motivations for moving my money are….never once does he address the issue or problem. This is now 6 days after the first phone call….and my money is still not moved. We immediately began the process of closing our MSSB accounts moving our money to any place but MSSB only to be charged for 2012 fees and transfer fees to the tune of $500. When we asked to get the 2012 fees returned (which they are not entitled to), legal wants us to sign a release making us promise to never talk about this in public!

I have been a client of Morgan Stanley for some 5 years, and I am extremely dissatisfied with their customer service. Was referred to an agent in Orlando Florida by my brother. Name: Ron Garrison. Told him what I was interested in (transferring some IRA funds to stable, income producing assets.)
He involved me in some garbage called "buy write securities", and deftly danced around my requests for a prospectus and information about what this fund invested in. Turns out it was call options, and when the markets crashed in '08, quarterly dividend payments were suspended! I ended up selling these, and losing $7000!
shame on me for allowing myself to be manipulated in this fashion; shame on him for not complying with my risk requirements and selling something something that obviously benefited him far more than myself.
I also purchased shares in a mutual fund, American Funds Income Fund of America, class A. I had the account transferred to Indianapolis, and it was subsequently switched to "national account center." We have our quarterly dividends paid in cash, and I was told that this would happen pretty much automatically!
This has not been the case, as recent dividends were posted on 9/19, and I was told that mine and my wife's dividends would be transferred on 9/22! I keep calling and getting the runaround, and nothing gets done.
I am sorry I ever became involved with this firm, and regret ever doing business with them!