1 /5 Vince LoCurto: I take no pleasure in writing this review but consumers need to know. I personally rely heavily on customer reviews before hiring anyone. My experience with Steve McClellan’s Edward Jones office in Midtown, Tallahassee was the WORST such experience I have ever had. Poor customer service and zero customer relations. Steve’s assistant who I shall refer to only as “B” does not belong in any customer service business. Let me explain. During a phone call for the very purpose of setting up my wife’s 2020 IRA acct., she “forgot” to mention either the check or the amount of the contribution needed to reach maximum for 2020. Rather than simply call me back, as any professional would have done, she decided instead to “text” me a request for a check after the call ended (even though I never used or approved texting). Worse still, she texted me the wrong amount which was off by more than 50%. When I pointed out her mistake, she insisted that her “numbers were correct too” (except they weren’t). Then, a week later, after my check was received, Steve’s other assistant “C” did not know which IRA acct. the check was for. Rather than ask Steve or her brilliant co-worker, she emailed me to request that I provide additional written instructions. The annoying part is that both McClellan and the other assistant “B” knew full well which IRA account the check was for since it was the only one not yet funded. Rather than apologize for the poor customer service, Steve McClellan made it a point to take the side of his assistants and to correct me – the customer. He had the audacity to tell me that I was lucky she did not just deposit the check into next year’s IRA. Clearly, no one in this office has ever learned the universal truth that “the customer is always right”.
But it gets even worse. About 30 days after the IRA debacle, I get a letter telling me my account has been unilaterally transferred to another Edward Jones office in Kerry Forrest without my knowledge or consent. This shows that Steve was planning the change but wanted to book the $13k deposit to his own account. What’s worse, the “new” advisor literally just graduated college and is less than 25 years old. Nice kid, but I have forgotten more about investing than he has yet to learn.
Regarding good financial advice, Steve has none to offer. McClellan is the type of advisor who will happily shoot down all of your investment ideas, but offer none of his own. Lots of opinions on Monday morning but none on “game day”. If you want a cookie cutter portfolio and an advisor who never deviates from the E. Jones script then he’s perfect. If you want an advisor who acts like he’s doing you a favor managing your money then Steve’s your guy. While a trained Chimpanzee could have achieved the same ROI buying mutual funds with an allocation of 80% stocks and 20% bonds, I’m convinced that any number of android apps can achieve better results without the hefty commissions. Since I hate to say nothing positive, I’ll end with this. My three-year annualized rate of return was decent. However after commissions and fees are deducted, it was not quite as good as it would have been had I simply invested the money myself in any number of ETF’s during the same time-period. Thus, I strongly discourage anyone from using the E. Jones office hosted by Steve McClelland on Thomasville Rd. in Midtown, Tally.
