1 /5 B Rudd: We had a family member pass on Set 25th, 2024. She had an account working with the Morgan Stanley branch in Troy. The account was set up as "Transfer on Death" to myself and two of my sisters. We were told it would take a few weeks before we would get our checks. It just arrived in the mail this week, five months later. It wasnt a large amount, $30K total, and based on that, and what happened, I assume they gave it to the most junior person they had as a learning exercise. I dont know if he was like a high school intern or some VPs nephew but the impression he gave was that this was all new to him.
We were told the delay was because one of my sisters was slow to respond. We were told there was nothing Morgan Stanley could do, because they didnt want to be sued by anyone. We were told that Morgan Stanleys hands were tied if one of the parties involved doesnt respond. After several phone calls and weeks of waiting we were told that each of us would have to submit a signed affidavit stating Morgan Stanley would pay out the money. So by now its November 29th, but we assume now it will just take a couple of weeks. More time passes, more phone calls. Now its January and we are told that more forms were needed to be filled out and signed, including one to set up a Morgan Stanley account. Now we find out that one of the forms can be filled out electronically, another needs a hand signed hardcopy. There was nothing in the instructions about this. More phone calls. Finally Morgan Stanley says they will send out the documents that need to hand signed overnight.
It seemed that we were blazing a new trail and none of this had ever been done before. Every time there was a roadblock, the MS people would seem astounded. If there had been millions involved, I would have assumed they were delaying intentionally so the office would continue to manage it as long as possible. Since it wasnt a large amount, we assume they just didnt really care about us and by asking for the money we were being a nuisance.
There was more problems trying to get the Morgan Stanley account but finally everything is set. We see on the account that the stocks were transferred, then sold for cash and a check was cut on Feb 6th. The check arrived in the mail on the 12th. After all that I waited for the check to clear before leaving a review.
Bottom line, if you arent a big customer, assume you will be ignored. If you have lots of money, they might actually try to accommodate you, but why would anyone want to get involved with an office that doesnt care about some of their customers? Now I just have to figure out how to delete that Morgan Stanley account so they dont hit me with some kind of fee. I will never do business with Morgan Stanley again.
