Merrill Lynch

My son Brendon Sarr McSmith died on July 8th of this year. He was a Navy Special Amphibious Reconnaissance Corpsman assigned to a team of Marine Raiders, with whom he served in Iraq.

Brendon had a small IRA balance with Merrill Lynch. Since July I have attempted to work with ML's Life Services Department to have this balance transferred to my Navy Federal Credit Union account. During this time I have successfully resolved financial transactions with the credit union, his bank, his mortgage company, the IRS, and the Virginia DMV using the only personal property probate form the State of Virginia provides when someone dies without a legal will in place.

Whatever legal team advises Merrill's Life Services Department, however, has repeatedly refused the form and each time has given entirely…

My brother passed away, I was the POA, and only one listed on the will. I have been trying for almost a month to get what little bit of money is in the account to help cover expenses. The first time I called, I was told there was no money in the account.

I found out there was only be receiving a statement in the mail. I’ve given these people the will, death certificate, small estate from attorney, and that still isn’t enough for them. They are now telling me my lawyer has used an outdated template .

I feel no matter what paperwork they get, it will not suit them. I will never have an account with these people.

I want to terminate any arrangements with Merrill Lynch. Our rep is not returning e-mails or calls..I need some help.

I have been unable to use my 36,000 point for a flight from Tucson to South Africa. I did not get any help from your Travel Team or Bank of America. My account is very small. Would you like me to leave and not bother you any more?

Dora Schramm I am not a robot; I am a very frustrated and irritated old woman

Account number 4264 5257 9578 8446

Merrill Edge Self Directed Brokerage Account(s) Two accounts...

IRA-Edge # 29Z-95R65 32F-68G38

CMA-Edge # 79Z-58643 76W-68F58

These accounts have a reasonable combined balance. We were assigned to a "Premium Elite" representatives.

Between September 09, 2023 and September 19, 2023 we have asked for answers to four specific questions regarding how our accounts work and the investment choices and processes available.

Mr. Jon Foy, the account manager and Mr. Bradley Chard his manager, have specifically elected to not respond by email. Instead they want to talk on the phone. We need specific answers to our questions and choose to not talk on the telephone -- we want an actual record to refer to since there are two account holders and associated local advisors. Apparently, the matter is…

merrill lynch closed my account for no reason at all and will not give me my moneythat was held in the account for over 30 days

Blocked my account for no reason and not giving me my money

Adding myself to my fathers CMA Account has been an absolute nightmare. We are transferring money from that account to my his checking account at Bank of America to cover his assisted living expenses. I've spent hours on the phone with these people and keep getting transferred to different people every time I call. ".

My father has had two strokes and lives in a different state and the paperwork to get me added has been a real challenge. I've jumped through so many hoops and I stay furious most of the time. After sending the paperwork via Certified Mail and after months of working on this what I thought was straightforward request, I was told it was finally approved and I'm now a joint owner of my dad's account.

We did this so I can do transfers online. I tried to get online and to have…

I want to say this was terrible experience. I got a eye disease that rendered me blind and I was able to get one eye repaired with a cornea transplant. I suffer from Fuch Dis-trophy. The eyes will go completely blind with out the operations.

So I had to pay the deductible for the insurance and its was costly. I used a friends credit card assuring him I would be able to withdraw the funds from my 401 k and pay him but was denied the funds because she said she dint see a break down of each line item on the bills.

I have them all the bills. The hospital, the anesthesiologist and the doctors. I now can not get my 2nd eye operated on because she declined me to get to my money to pay. So I am blind now in that eye. thanks Merrill Lynch!

I hope someone pokes yr out! Blind person can;'t even…

Since May 22 2023 I have spent 9 hours and countless calls to Merrill to simply get my dividends to go from my Ml money market account to my checking. SEVEN trading specialists and one supervisor later still no resolution,,no call back from the supervisor.

A simple task to fill,out a form FOLLOWING THEIR instructions . Each time with 48 hrs I get an email and voice message thst the form has to be resubmitted. This is the customer “service” ML provides. Bad enough you don’t get tax forms till the end of March but this is the end.

After decades of loyalty…I’m taking my money elsewhere. Alarming incompetence!!!

Let me start by saying that I have been a Merrill Lynch client since about 1980. I currently have two active accounts, IRRA 876-17501 & Newly opened (transfer) Roth IRA 8ZA-42A13. I am writing this complaint after a meeting with a Merrill Lynch representative in December 2022.

I have waited this long so my emotions play a very little part of my complaint, I still have trouble accepting this, especially being such a long time client. I have other accounts at different investment companies which are most self-directed.

I guess I always had issues with the fees/commissions that Merrill Lynch charged and for that reason I have not been an active trader with Merrill. Up until this time my advisor was Sheldon Boyarsky, who was retiring at the end of 2022.

I thought this was a good time to…

Had an aunt die last year and she left her financials to her only nephews and niece. The Ira's were in Vanguard and Merrill Lynch accounts in the form of Inherited Ira's. The Vanguard was completed in less than two weeks. The Merrill Lynch took three months for some reason and getting an answer from them was almost impossible.

I believe this stalling tactic generated more money for Merrill Lynch because the monies weren't distributed in a timely fashion. As soon as the money gets transferred I'm deleting this horrible financial companies account. Stay away from them as much as you can!

I have had the worst experience with Merrill Lynch for the past almost two years. My father passed away and left my brother and I an inheritance and it has been almost two years and the money has still not been released.

Initially, we asked to move into two accounts, have the money invested in our names. An account could not be opened for me, and I was told that Merrill does not need to disclose the reason. I have other investments other places, so I chose to open an account elsewhere.

I have been sent multiple emails with different forms that would allow the money to be transferred and almost two years later the money has not been released. The last form I sent in they stated I do not have my SSN on it.

At this point I don't know what is on the form. Merrill has multiple forms with my…

hi, my name is peter ruellan, i am having a problem with the margin team at merrilledge, Today they closed out all my positions at market , giving me the worst possible price for each trade. i was half long half short the sp500,so that i would not lose any money.

then they waited a FULL 2 HOURS and then proceeded to close out all my many short positions. Needless to say that i lost 90 percent of my account today because of your margin team. I have been a client for 31 years, and all my family as well.

needless to say, i will close my account (cma) and also all my families accounts as well. My mother has a 2 million dollar acct with bank of america. i will then get on social media and message all 500000 of my subscribers to tell them of my very bad experience with merrill edge cma.…

Our father died on August 29, 2022. His four children are named as beneficiaries with social security numbers on the policy. It has been six months now and we have yet to receive death payments on this account. We contact the office and there is one excuse after another. Change this social security card, change this one. It is getting ridiculous. This trouble is rubbing salt into a very painful wound.

Please help!!

deceased: Johnnie W. Sklar Plan number 602200 Kroger Co Savings Plan

Please advise how someone can stop this foolishness and work with us to close out this account.

Rose Sklar 281-782-8196

Worked with a Bank of Boston representative for Merril Lynch to obtain a $100,000 1 year CD. We verified with her in every way possible that the most we could forfeit is the accrued interest if for some reason we had to withdraw the money prior to the end of the year.

She was emphatic that there would be no penalty, and there might be a percentage of the interest accrued that would be lost. SHE LIED ! ! After six months we ran into a hardship due to my mother inlaw’s illness.

We needed to take out half the money. When we contacted Merrill Lynch they stated we would loose all interest, which was acceptable. THEN they stated that there would be an additional $10,000 early withdrawal charge. USURY ! ! At no time were we informed about the penalty, and for the measly %1 interest on the CD we…

Ok, I am Richard Way. My mother passed away on 11/29/23.

Since that time, we have been dealing with Merrill on getting the money distributed to me, my brother, and my sister.

This entire process has been going on since January, 2023.

With what we have gone through, I could not recommend Merrill to anyone else at all.

To start with, we were assigned a case manager that was never available. From what I understand, she has been on medical leave since January.

With that being said, we were never assigned a case manager that could watch the status and correspond with us.

So, as the oldest sibling, I would call in to get a status of the distribution.

Without any exaggerating, I have made at least 30 phone calls and spent hours on the phone with Merrill.

Each time, we get a different…

Worse customer service experience and wait time, for a simple password/acocunt unlock. I've called multiple times and have had wait times of 45 mins plus with no answer or call back option.

The merrill edge calculated my 2021 tax statement incorrct and I paid tax on my losses. I tried to reach the costomer service for help, but no one help me and you should stay online for hours if you get chance to speak to someone. I recomend to stay away from merrill edge and not deal woth!

ID-HPESTOCKS Brokerage account-6DL27U92 I have to sale my Merrill brokerage account shares . It shows a tax-related issue. Subsequent investigation revealed that the permanent address was incorrect, which is why the application was rejected. I reached out Merrill call number seven times.

As per them, they made some progress and advised me to wait for 48 hours for an update. Then I again checked; nothing had been modified. Nothing is actually happening. I am not receiving any help from them. Awful service.

No email address is given. No POC. Please help

To Whom It May Concern:

I have tried to complete my dads death benifit several times an i have gone in the bank 2 times and i have sent numerous email with proper documentation and i have faxes as requested. I just want to get my death benefits.

Respectfully,

Brandy

Merrill Lynch investments office fails to respond. What are my rights as being an investor with Merrill Lynch?

It seems this brokerage firm, Merrill Lynch of Toms River NJ , Hopper Ave office, only wants an account if you only actively trade! I am a senior with fixed income investments. My question is: Do I have the right to take my account where I choose? My ML brokers recently left the merrill Lynch to go to Morgan Stanley. My account was in NY and I thought it best to bring it to a local office. I live in Toms river NJ. I am set in my investments, only trade several times a year and dont want to actively trade. I do buy and sell several times a year and need some assistance. So far for two weeks now, I have contacted this office four times, and not received a return phone call, after…

They have our account locked since they have not spoken to us in a while. Wanted me to verify SS number, source of wealth, questions that should not be asked by a clerk. The clerk was a real smart A--.

That the whole situation was funny. We have had an account with ML for 20 plus years. We are pulling it out. Anything BOA touches turns to garbage.

Cannot ever speak with a human. The phone system keeps dropping the call or it just hangs up on you. You cannot connect to the website if you don't have the secret question.....but no way to recover or create a new secret question. Why don't you dumbasses just send a code to my cell phone....like most banks do!!!

At this point I'm so over the BS that if and when I do finally speak with someone from merrill I'm closing out the 401k. FUCK U @ merrill lynch for making it so difficult to make a transfer.

Sincerely Pissed Off Patriot.

I experienced the worst customer care outfit.

Attempting to open a self directed IRA account with Merrill, received an email 2 hours later saying it was rejected with no explanation. In a call to customer service I was transferred and on hold for 15 plus minutes before giving up on call.

I opened an account with another online brokerage in 10 minutes, got my account number to complete my rollover. I've been with BofA for 20 plus years! Something is systemic ally wrong with their new customer experience there! May never deal with Merrill in the future although I'll miss the account integration with my other BofA accounts. sad!!!!

I ordered checks from Merrill and I received them recently. Used about 15 checks and I found out the checks are from an account that I don't have any money attached to it. The checks they sent me in the past was to the right account and I never had any problem.

Now I have to pay a large fine because of insufficient funds, This was not my fault, but your companies incompetence. I feel it is very unfair that I should bear all the fines for their screw up. Other banks take credit for their mistakes and pay the fines.

Your Merrill Lynch advisors were complete incompetence. They didn't move the rules concerning transferring fund from a brokerage account to a checking account allegedly abandoned though sharing account information which would be giving them the current status the current address completely unresponsive as far as identifying who they were both managers.

And your current complaint statuses kind of low reflecting an ongoing problem. Melissa negron and Candice are the only names that I can get but the manager of that department is the person who truly needs to be replaced. Your abandonment protocol is not consistent with what you find in the state of California and a state dfpi complaint has been made literally spent over 20 hours waiting for an answer that I never received.

You have to have…

worst investment platform you can use it is confusing and your account will say one thing and then you will hold on the phone for hours for them to tell you something different. I have been with them for years, but I am closing my account because it I am tired of being lied to and it is starting to feel like a poonze scheme.

You guys keep sending mail to my job I need it to stop I want it sent to 7467 woolston rd Bloomfield NY 14469 not to out door group please make happen

The customer service is so bad. I was on the phone for over 2 hours try to ask to add me to the preferred deposit. Not helpful at all. I feel like waste my time. I dont know how many 2 hours I have in a day just holding to talk to a representative?

I have been trying to get a check that is owed to me. The company constantly puts me on her LD and tell me to call back. What else can I do?

I am an international customer from the UK trying to contact someone - anyone- to help me change the mail address for my Individual Investor Account and/or to go paperless for these statements. com and benefitsonline is not working. I have tried calling twice however did not receive any help after 17 and 18 minutes respectively of calling from the UK.

Please advise what alternatives there are to a phone call. Thank you

The wait time to get a service or trade specialist is getting absurd. I have experienced wait times of well over an hour and then when I finally get an advisor in line many times they have not received enough training to help me and need to transfer me to another advisor.

The wait times are getting longer and more frustrating. I understand that there is a shortage of workers but there has to be a better solution. You use to be able to select an option to be called back rather than having to wait .

At the very least this option needs to be re instituted. I have been a long time vlient of Merrill and am very close to switching my investments elsewhere.

I would give a lower star rating than 1 star but option does not exist. I’ve been Merrill Edge customer for 25 years. Call hold times in excess of 1 hour.

Finally got Brian Shaw to help me. Sent me documents to sign and upload which I did. No means of contacting him directly. Have to sit on hold for 1-2 hours. No one monitors the upload box on Merrill app. I’m disgusted.

I’ve wasted 4 hours with phone hoods trying to handle a single stock sale. Merrill Edge is garbage. My sister was a former broker at Merrill and was shocked at the appalling service. I’m done with Merrill for good.

I have been trying since August to roll a small amount to mycurrent company 401k. Below is the listing of blunders by your IRA reps. 1. Check sent to the wrong address this was in August. 2. Asked for the check to be reissued, the rep just did not do anything. 3.

I waited for at least 10 days and called again. ' 4. The man took my information and then, did not make the check out as need by Vanguard. Vanguard would not accept the check. 5. I called again, to have this second check the payment to be stopped. 6.

I spole with a woman called, Burna Gatewood, she said, the check would be stopped and then she would call me this week to proceed with a new check. 7. This person never called. 8. I was on hold for 3 hours before I had a rep that can help me. 9.

The rep today, said they are…

I don’t have a lot of money but what I have is mine I called on Monday. Spoke with a representative to have some money transferred into my bank account as a Friday. Nothing I called back and talk to this person who was supposed to call me back said she put it on her calendar to call me at 10:30 never dead.

She also never sent the money said I could have it wired to me for $30, why would I pay money for something she was supposed to have already done her name is Monique very unprofessional. You literally have one job that’s money and you failed.

I need this money by Friday she said it would be in there and now she wants me to pay $30 to have it in there…. what? Because she didn’t do her job?

Merrill have refused to close and pay off my folks estate. We had to get a court order to compel them but they continue to relay. My folks passed away in Jan and Feb of 22. Now it is 8 months later and they don’t return phone messages or emails. Communication has been non-existent.

We had hoped the court order would work, it cost us 10K in attorney fees, but Merrill continues to ignore it.

Worst customer service ever. I was put on hold for total 1 hr. Got phone call msg the next day from Kyle Foley who leaves generic call back number not his direct number. I immediately call back and am again on hold for 60 min. I hung up.

I have a stock I cannot trade and need broker to handle issue. I have been a customer for 25 yrs and this is only time I have ever reached out to Merrill Edge. They wasted two hours of my valuable time.

I’m a physician and can’t take two hours to be put on hold. Still zero resolution to my problem. You have lost a customer and I would never ever rec Merrill to anyone. Just atrocious service

Bad customer service.

I talked to Ms. Mary, who didn’t know what she was doing.

My Mother passed away 6/4/22 and I am 1 of 2 Beneficiaries. My very first phone call to Merrill, after holding for 2 hours I did finally speak to someone and they mailed me a package to fill out. I returned it on 7/1/22 with the original death certificate and all your requested documentation. ALL original forms.

Don Lilly is my agent and he will not help me. He referred me to Amber Thompson of Bank of America. She cannot help me either. All she says is they have your pw and are working on it, then she said your copies are too light, your going to have to resend the, I never sent copies, I sent the original documents.

Amber says they will not return her calls or tell her anything either. She told me to keep calling the foundations team and I hold for up to 2 hours and then I am…

Merrill Lynch has been promised a bonus if you open the account with them and transfer your IRA money to them in 60-days time period. 1% when I keep my cash IRA money with Merrill for 180 days. When Ive noticed - in the summer 2022, that there is neither bonus nor interest is posted, I've called the adviser and was told-wait, it will come in 6 months.

When 6 months ended I've called to customer service and was told that I was initially not eligible since it took 61 days for Merrill to transfer my money from a bank IRA to Merrill: definitely, it was a lie- from beginning to the end. If they cheat you on such miserable - comparable with deposited amount sums could you imagine what Merrill will do with your principal as soon as recession hits the economy in coming weeks.

My…

I have wasted about one hour this morning(sat) attempting to log in to my account....NOTHING works....and apparently I can't reach anyone at Merrill to help me...this is crazy...I am NOT impressed with the customer service or the manner in which their website is working.

Larry Hayes

I waited on the phone for 31 minutes then Ms. Dessa transferred me to National FSA where I finally spoke with Mr. Justin Reyes out of Dallas - Dessa and Justin were nice - I was told due to staff shortages, phone calls have long wait periods. Finally got Mr. Joe W.

Fields - my advisor of my Merrill Edge Acct. Program - he refused to get me back in the program Friday afternoon as “ it’s my last day here in this position- I don’t have 45 minutes to get you back into the program”….

I am a POA for a family who father has passed away. I have been trying to get the account switched over to the wife. I have called 6 different times and waited over a hour each time and nobody answered.

This is the worst Customer Service I have ever dealt with. Iam getting ready to contact the local DFW TV stations and Facebook on your service. Brian C Bender 817-688-9865

Terrible customer service- 2 hours each time you call… they have locked me out of the app and gave me a phone number to call to unlock… I have been on hold for over 2 hours for the second straight day. TERRIBLE, just TERRIBLE

Terrible customer service, on hold for over an hour. They promise they will fix the issue and call you back and nothing happens. I am closing all my accounts

On 8/22/22 tried to do a wire transfer. Was told I could not do wire transfer because Acct was in hold. After Acct was released I once again was put on hold for 1hr. Each time I called back which was 5 times starting @ 4:30 pm, I was told to hold on.

At 7:37 reached a rep who indicated the distribution Dept was closed. The customer svc Dept is horrible. A client should not be treated in this manner. I could not do what I needed to do for my birthday, 8/23/22.

Account # 2AR-17A96

We have a CMA For Trust Account with above account #. We have been trying for over 2 months to close the account. There are 3 trustees on the said account. We were advised to simply write checks for the full amount and that would close it. That was done and after a week all checks were returned. We contacted Merrill and were told that the trustees on record needed to update their profiles. I personally sat with a representative who contacted Merrill to ensure that this was that was all that was needed. All trustees profiles were updated and a second round of checks were issued and again all checks were returned due to "restrictions" on the account that apparently were never removed. I again sat and made calls to Merrill to find out what happened and the best…

I am a premiere Bank of America Customer and eight different BAC and Merrill accounts. Last week I had difficulty in transferring from my joint Merrill account to my BAC checking account. I called BAC and got hold of a representative quickly but they said they had to transfer me to Merrill. I was on hold with Merrill for 86 minutes before they answered. I thought they corrected the problem which was regarding additional information needed from my wife on the joint account. Later that day, the problem was fixed and I transferred money to BAC.

Today, I went to transfer $600 from the same Merrill account to the same BAC account but the transfer account needed was not visible so I called Merrill at 4:07 ET. Finally at 7:11 PM (3 hours later), I hung up. THIS IS NO WAY TO TREAT YOUR PREMIER…