Problems with Morgan Stanley

I have been shut out of my Stock Plan Account - they asked for my ID, only the email address I sent these to did not acknowledge receipt. I am "only allowed" to contact Morgan Stanley through their US based phone number - who cannot help me further, as I am requested to resend these documents to the email address that does not confirm or reply again. It is a never ending loop that provides no results - all they need to do is provide an automated "documents received" reply.
I have checked Trust Pilot - the amount of nearly identical complaints -"I have been blocked from my account, and no one can confirm they have these details" is astounding. I have complained to FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) only to be fobbed off with a letter I cannot respond to: "we tried to phone you but you did not reply" and told my complaint was closed. Their insistence that clients be at the back and call per phone is suspicious - note they don't provide receipts or a paper trail of transactions.
Companies who give their employees stocks should let them know these funds will be made inaccessible by a capricious firm with a big name but no responsibility

Can't you raise the issue with your employer if this is an account that was set up for employee stock incentive purposes?

Even if the email to which you sent your documents didn't respond with an automated "documents received" reply perhaps they have received the documents and are working on updating your records so that you can access your account again soon?

They have sent me no indication for months that they have received my documentation - I can't even get into the broken system to send them a request to review. Honestly, how hard is it to paste a copy of you ID to a file?
I'm no longer with that employer - these are stocks I acquired over 20 years ago.

I think your former employer may still be able to help you - their public investor relations arm might be able to connect you with the right internal party. If you're having this issue, then current employees may too.

I'm going to tempt fate by saying that so far I've had no problems with the Morgan Stanley At Work platform (formerly Stock Plan Connect) - but I haven't done many withdrawals yet.

MugsGame said:

I'm going to tempt fate by saying that so far I've had no problems with the Morgan Stanley At Work platform (formerly Stock Plan Connect) - but I haven't done many withdrawals yet.

Click to expand...

Same here. With E*Trade for years both as an individual investor and also via employer stock incentive schemes and haven't had any problems since Morgan Stanley took over in 2020.

ClubMan said:

Same here. With E*Trade for years both as an individual investor and also via employer stock incentive schemes and haven't had any problems since Morgan Stanley took over in 2020.

Click to expand...

well, you're lucky. Go on to Trust Pilot and see the complaints against Morgan Stanley -I am not alone. I found that roping in the Better Business Bureau got more traction than anything (MS has a crap rating with them too and loads of customer complaints) The BBB has an excellent track record of lighting a fire under arrogant companies' butts and getting things done, and they did not disappoint this time. I finally got MS to return my emails and put me on to a customer service agent directs and we finally fixed "my" issue.

The solution is simple - always escalate the issue. If it's an Irish based company, go to the Financial Services Ombudsman. If it's an American based company, forget about the regulators who won't do their job, and go to the the Better Business Bureau. Companies are more concerned with optics than customer service, so they can be embarrassed into action.