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Here you can review a sampling of comments from fellow Dogs of the Dow investors regarding E-Trade. For our list of the best low commission online brokers, take a look at our exclusive list of Top Dog Brokers. And, as always, if you have experience with a deep discount broker, simply fill out our Top Dog Brokers Comment Form and let us all know what you think.
E-Trade - "After our mother and client of Etrade had a stroke in Dec 2012. Etrade refused to honor her legal POA document, and finally notified the agent 60 days later, that there was nothing wrong with legal doc. However to cover up for etrades incompetence, they blocked all accounts of mother and son's accounts, her agent in POA. forced client to transfer all accounts out. Client unable to pay mothers medical bills, because etrade refused to honor POA."
Kevin N. - USA (May-2013) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Etrade should be avoided at all costs! These people are crooks and they will steal your money with arbitrary margin calls, hidden fees or disappearing balances that they cannot account for....total crooks who should be investigated by FINRA."
Scott Miller - Virginia, USA (May-2013) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Commission/fees are too high."
Tom - USA (Mar-2013) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Lot of options for trades on either side of ones position."
Alan Flowers - USA (Feb-2013) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I was referred to Etrade by a professional who said their system is easy to use and they offer a promotion of your first 100 trades for free. I opened an account with $5k. There were no free trades. I called in and was assured if I moved another $5k over, they would honor the next 100 trades free. I did and still no free trades. When I called back in, Raymond said they couldn't honor it because I didn't open the account with $10k. I escalated it to a manager, Kevin, who also said he couldn't help me but I could close the account and reopen it. Evidently closing my account and losing my business is an easier solution. I would definitely not recommend Etrade."
Joe D - USA (Feb-2013) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Pros - easy interface. Cons - price per trade."
Alan Winter - USA (Jan-2013) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Higher cost ($10 a trade, what a jip!), but nice online tools, phone app, never had a problem and all my accounts are already synced."
Ryan Lewis - USA (Jan-2013) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "E-trade remains a more expensive broker at nearly $10 per turn. While their interface (pc) and mobile product are good, there are still better choices. Have had repeated issues with market prices not being anywhere close to fill prices, raising issues of performance in execution."
John Hutchinson - USA (Jan-2013) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I like that it has lots of options to pre-set buy and sells on either side of your stock."
Alan - USA (Jan-2013) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Meets all my needs."
Joe Zoller - USA (Dec-2012) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "For my level of experience, basic buying and selling of a typical stock. I am very satisfied with etrade. The only con for me would be the cost of a trade. I think, they should make it a flat rate at $5 or less, regardless of number of trades, a no-nonsense flat rate."
John Henley - Georgia, USA (Dec-2012) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Etrade is probably the most incompetent bank in the world. Opened a business account with all corporate documents in June 2012, received my check books and all bank approvals by June 15. Wrote a check in mid August to pay my yearly taxes. Check was refused for payment by Etrade security service resulting with a 20% majoration of taxes. Their customer service is miserable. They destroyed my business, I do not need a bank account anymore. I hate them I will make sure they know. My lawyer is on the case."
Michael Dole - Colorado, USA (Dec-2012) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Easy to use. No cons as of now."
Charles - Illinois, USA (Dec-2012) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Good Customer Service. Platform ok."
Cindy Vu - Washington, USA (Nov-2012) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Easy access to all markets. Marketcaster is too slow."
Frank J. Borgese - New York, USA (Oct-2012) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "E-Trade just told me that my Dell stock that I bought 11 years ago had been sold and the funds used to pay for their 'inactivity fee'. $6000 down the drain to pay for what? Avoid Evil-Trade like the devil. I will never be doing business with them again!"
Joe A - USA (Oct-2012) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I would rather deal with the devil himself than with Etrade. When my brother died, 6 1/2 years ago, I had to battle for nearly another year to get his accounts closed and receive the funds so I could distribute them as he wished. At one point a 'customer service' representative, once I had explained that I'd sent two certified death certificates and two certified copies of the will, asked me 'Is your brother available?' Today I received an email from EvilTrade saying they'd closed his account 'due to inactivity.' So apparently my brother hasn't been dead all this time, he's just been mortally inactive. If I could give this company a minus five star rating I would."
Donna McMaster - USA (Sep-2012) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I'm very satisfied with all aspects of my current broker. Their brokerage fees are reasonable, and all of their tech analysis, and educational videos have helped me (a rookie trader with no prior experience with the market) be able to see some success."
Devin Rich - California, USA (Aug-2012) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "E*Trade is he worst broker that I have dealt with beside Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Online who went out of business within less than six months. E*Trade float margin calls at will. Online orders goes to backoffice for manipulation or on the floor for middleman to manipulate. It could be orders are forwarded to their preferred clients - institutional or hedge funds. I received hundreds of cold calls from so many. It appears E*Trade is selling my information to others for a fee."
Lachhman Gupta - Delaware, USA (Aug-2012) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I absolutely agree - E*Trade is evil, provides no customer service and is the opposite of what an investment fund should be. They charge astronomical fees for doing absolutely nothing - if you keep your money there, even in cash, expect for your account to go down to zero. I trusted that I was at least getting 0.0001% interest, but just found out they were charging me to keep my substantial cash with them, and I would have done better to keep the money in a regular savings account or under my mattress. Avoid at all costs."
Heather Stevens - California, USA (Jul-2012) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Pull out your money immediately from Etrade if your account will be subject to margin call in the future (i.e. naked put selling). They will lure you with a generous margin requirement during the good time, and then suddenly squeeze you with an arbitrary margin call on the very day when the market hits the very bottom (the day before the market recovers). The way they increase your margin requirement overnight is so arbitrary and extreme that you will practically lose all your money. There are a plenty of reputable brokerages out there, there is no reason to leave your hard-earned money with this brokerage of a questionable character."
sonya h. - California, USA (Mar-2012) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Buyer beware when doing any business with eTrade. At one time, e-Trade appeared to be an up and coming, reputable company. Over the past few years, their sneaky fees, hidden charges and poor customer service have forced me to close all of my accounts with them. Cute commercials, but don't be fooled into doing business with these folks. You'll be sorry."
Carol Ling - USA (Feb-2012) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I am so angry with the Etrade. i initiated a transfer funds for a down payment of the house, got confirmation and then few days later etrade cancelled it and I am waiting and waiting 3-5 business days. No money! They never even e-mailed me. CHASE would call you for 10$ if they suspect fraudulent withdrawal. Etrade never call you if you have margin, they post 2 messages on their website and sell securities at the lowest possible price, posting this transaction later. Everything delayed. No real-time quote when you attempt to place an order. Customer reps lowest grade. Margin rates highest in industry. The only reason why I opened this account with Etrade- I did not want to keep all eggs in one basket with Ameritrade. ATMD-totally different, cust. serv more prof. Margin call- they call you, they wait if you promise to send money, very flexible. Etrade will take away from you the most valuable bitten stock, not asking your opinion. Today was the last straw. I am closing the account, selling all stocks and transferring cash to my checking account cash until I decide where to open an account. Stay away from etrade. They don't have any single service better than AMTD. Question how they survived til now? Terrible website, end of the day mutual funds quotes even yahoo posts faster. Inaccurate balances of the portfolio. Childish services and a web interface."
Demitri - New York, USA (Feb-2012) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Also had a small account with etade did not keep track of it very well one day last year i get a notice, they meaning etrade sold 10 shares of [fdx] which was about 600 dollars to satisfy service fees they said i owed i never knew about these fees very unhappy."
richard henry - New York, USA (Feb-2012) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "E-trade has quite frankly the worst customer service of any financial institution I have ever dealt with and I have closely dealt with nearly a dozen on 3 different continents through the years. I have repeatedly had situations where I get an agent on the phone who assures me that if I submit document X or Y they will authorize a or b. I submit exactly those documents, in exactly the way they say and they utterly fail to authorize what they said they would, and require more documentation or don't do the transaction at all. This is to the point of fraud. They have been misprocessing my tax status for months despite immaculately filled paperwork on my part and more than half a dozen calls, 4 emails and countless faxes. They even acknowledge that the paperwork from me is correct. They cashed in some of my stock to pay the taxes on a RSU grant, against my explicit instructions and despite the fact that there was enough money in the account to pay the taxes. If only my company didn't use them for options grants I would have left them long ago."
David - USA (Feb-2012) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "What Customer Service? E*Trade does what is best for the company not for the customer!! I'm so sick of their mistakes on my IRA account, and for them to fix things that they erroneously have done it takes forever. I have to spend hours over the phone for several days for them starting to understand what happen and do something about it. I also have to prove it was their mistake which is ridiculous because it's obviously that it was. E*Trade only fix a mistake for the customers if it would be profitable for the company. I transferred all my money and closed all my accounts with those Scammers!"
Ray Heller - California, USA (Jan-2012) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Worst people to deal with, my wife Jill tried to close her account and called them up asked to close her account, thought it was done, they never closed her account she lost thousands, and lost more all due to they did not tell her she had to get online herself and close her accounts her self then call them to verify the next day which was on a Monday, she closed on Friday. They charged her $25 to speak to her and did not close her account, they charged her another $25 plus 10% on the monday and as her husband, they refused to allow me to finish closing the account as Jill had spoken to the agent by way of teleconference but was at work, the lady was a bitch to say the least, refused to allow me to speak to a supervisor and i am would be surprised if they don't charge her another $25 as jill had to go and hung up to let me finish, they said they had to speak to her and I said they would have to call her, they said they can't make outside calls then in the same breath, asked for her phone number and they called her, were waiting six buisness days to see what else they nickled and dimed us with. her 401K lost about $7500. retirement, no way what a joke. Invest in land at least you have it and it's solid. E-Trade is the biggest rip off i am sure before it was closed out she again lost her shirt. Some one ought to turn them in to BBB and a class action suit would seem to be in order as it don't seem to be a fair trade act or fair that they string you along or don't give you the info as to how to close an account and as you wait for a check and realise something is not right when you don't get a check and find you lost more money is a crime that they did not sell as asked to do. Just another Maddof if you aske me!"
Robert Bradley - Minnesota, USA (Dec-2011) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I am an E-trade customer for over a decade. I am surprised by the negetive feedback as I have never had a problem. I seems like many of the coments are sour grapes,ie margin calls and the like. My trades are executed faster than I can get back to the pending trades screen. Never had a "wrong trade". What does that even mean? Great company. I have all my retirement accounts at etrade."
Tony Cavaliero - Texas, USA (Dec-2011) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I certainly am exceedingly happy to have stumbled upon this site, I was hot on E-Trade as I used them in the past as a Day Trader, didn't mind certain inconsistencies because I had been moving too fast to notice. However these comments certainly bring back old memories. Thanks."
Les McDonald - Florida, USA (Oct-2011) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Avoid this brokerage at all costs! They have the worst customer service and one must jump through all sorts of hoops to get your own money! They will also nickel and dime you to death in b.s. fees."
Paul Stevens - California (May-2011) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "E-Trade closed my account, kept all my funds of $8500, for no reason. I contacted '7 on your side' to see what can be done of this situation. I have yet to hear back."
Dave - New Mexico (May-2011) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Be very careful with E-trade. I was a customer for 5 years and had 5 accounts (taxable, Roth IRA, traditional IRA, my wife's IRA and a savings account) with them worth nearly 300K. I found out that when I transferred my Roth that they had mistakenly set it up as a traditional IRA. Since I didn't notice this immediately they refused to do anything about it and stated it was my fault because I didn't notice it soon enough and that it was to late because it was already registered with the IRS. Wasted my time filing a complaint with the SEC to no avail. If this is how E-trade treats a 5 year customer with multiple accounts how do you think they will treat you?"
Jeff - USA (May-2011) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "E-TRADE is the worst OCT Market Maker of them all! They are slow and will manipulate stocks like know other! Stay away! On average it take them 5-12 min. to make a transaction when my other broker nite is within 2min. They are corrupt and SEC should shut then down!"
Trever - Wisconsin, USA (Apr-2011) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "What a nightmare. I rarely check my brokerage account with E*Trade as I treat my small number of shares as a savings account, not trading, but just riding the up and down wave. After not paying much attention, I took a look at my paper statement today and had a cash debit of $694.79 ! I immediately got on the phone because I did not understand where these charges were coming from. I remember being contacted last year, via mail, that said I needed to phone E*Trade to keep my account active...I thought this covered my Brokerage and Bank account, turned out, the phone call did not cover the Brokerage. Now, they've racked up $694.79 in fees without ever notifying me there was a problem. Today I was taking to someone over the phone from the Philippines or Malaysia, who was telling me it was all spelled out in the micro type on my statement. I told them it was only professional courtesy to be notified of exorbitant out of control fees and I would have immediately done something about it. This is fraud and a scam at the highest level and must be stopped. Just watch, this is going to take an act of Congress and class action lawsuit to fix and I'll probably never get my money back."
William B. Kramer - Illinois, USA (Apr-2011) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "So far so good, wish they had a free trading platform like TD-Ameritrade has but other than that no problems yet...."
Demetrios Politis - New Jersey, USA (Mar-2011) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I am currently "in discussion" with E-trade regarding $1000 which does not seem to be in my account even though it should be. They say they need to update my balance but does it really take 3 months to do this? I wonder where my money has been for all this time. I only found out it wasn't available when I tried to withdraw it. E-trade seems to do things that a proper regulated bank would simply not do nor get away with. I will definitely be looking at transferring out my shares."
Jason Drew - USA (Mar-2011) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I too go hit with $60 fee to transfer stock out of my account. And this was after a representative specifically said there would be no fee. I always get conflicting information form reps. You can not trust anything they tell you. Avoid this company at all costs (and avoid unneeded cost to yourself)"
Wail - Arizona, USA (Nov-2010) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "E-Trade sponsors fraud. I put through a market order that took 20 seconds to execute while the price of the stock went up to 14.88. My sale price 14.80. E-Trade's response on their two second guarantee : Read the fine print ... we guarantee nothing. These Aholes made $1000 off me this quarter alone and can't even pretend to offer any Customer Service. Even worse, they sponsor fraud and refused to investigate my complaint."
Martin Davidson - New Jersey, USA (Sep-2010) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "E-Trade pulled a bait and switch on me. I never received $100 or 100 trades and the rep so far hasn't called back. These guys are sleazy. I thought TD Ameritrade was sleazy for cheating me on money market interest for over six months. I should have stayed with TD Ameritrade."
Jim - California, USA (Aug-2010) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I've had an account since 1998. I am not a day trader but have invested a decent amount in stocks through this account. Now that the economy is lousy and E-Trade is in need of money they are stating that they are inactivating my account and if it goes dormant they will take it. I am moving my assets now. The SEC should look into these creeps. I didn't use my account for over 2 years and they never tried to steal my money."
Lisa Morris - California, USA (Jul-2010) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I've been with E-Trade since 2005. I've got a securities, rollover IRA, checking, and savings accounts. In the past I had a home equity account (I think they've divested that biz). I'm a swing trader moving into some day trading and I've never had a problem with this company. Money transfers are easy, too. I'm not a big fan of Power E-Trade platform for the clunky trading interface and lack of tick charts, but it works. Customer service has been very good for me."
Mike P - Nevada, USA (May-2010) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Hi Everybody, did anyone ever read their 29 page Customer Agreement. First Clue! I would like to thank everyone here for helping me make a financial management decision and it certainly will not be with E-Trade. I previously dealt with Merrill Lynch until I became disabled and had to liquidate all assets. I do not believe I could trust this crew. I am still going through the 29 pages and I have 135 questions that I have gathered for E-Trade so far. Nevermind!"
Dee - Pennsylvania, USA (Mar-2010) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I have over 20 years investment experience. Over the last 3 years I have traded with TD Ameritrade, Charles Schwab, E-Trade and Scotttrade. Also, I have extensive experience with brokerage firms such as Morgan Stanley, UBS Painewebber, Solomon Smith and Barney, Brown Brothers Harriman and Citigold. I do not believe there are regulations in place to protect retirement plans, IRA's or general savings. I believe "Wall Street" (a term used to describe the financial sector here and around the world) has become incredibly dishonest and unlawful. The SEC and FINRA are failing as such should be replaced by new agencies. My experience with online trading is the tail of two cities I have had great success with E-trade. Scotttrade also appears to perform well, however I do need more time to properly evaluate this company. As far as TD Ameritrade, you have no control over your account; I have had good trades backed out and I have not been able to execute certain trades. Their front page (Balance and Positions) is the weirdest thing I have ever used. They have a special rule that stymies the trader's ability to navigate their investment and they refuse to fix their problems. E-trade gives you your gain and losses immediately. TD Ameritrade porn's this data to a third party who TD disclaims they are not responsible for their data you receive. They are making incredible profits and myself and others feel their staff is ether demoralized or in denial. Schwab is worse than TD Ameritrade. This is my experience, I am not endorsing any trading house, however, please be careful with all online brokers."
Walter Uncle - Florida, USA (Mar-2010) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "They suck. Period. Avoid at all costs. I had been using them since 1995 and used to absolutely love them. Until last March when E-Trade unilaterally, without my knowledge, liquidated an index fund. They liquidated it at the absolute bottom of the market, and what was left of my shares languished in a cash account and I totally missed the upside. Moreover, they want a $60 fee to transfer cash out of a cash account, their customer service stinks and they stall, delay, defraud, and cheat their way to keep you from getting access to your money. I totally hate them to the core."
Greg Winter - New York, USA (Nov-2009) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Stunning in the breadth and depth of their incompetence, arrogance, and stupidity. If you have a choice between root canal, and an account at E-trade, choose the root canal. They opened my account, accepted my money, then lost some papers and locked the account until I sent them an ongoing string, week after week, of redundant papers that they lost. They really seem to make up new excuses and demands as they go along. Given the ripples in the world economies and markets, this hardly seems like a safe place for your investments. Run, don't walk."
Jim Lukas - California, USA (Nov-2009) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "It is interesting to see the many negative reviews about E-Trade and I do believe that ETrade has many areas to improve upon. However, for day traders like me with a decent equity balance and since I have a significant amount of trades that I make every quarter, I am a premiere customer. I have been with many other brokers, TD Ameritrade, TOS, TradeStation, etc and I can say that E-Trade customer service for premiere customers is #1. If you are not a premiere customer, I can't make any comment."
Jason Bergado - California, USA (Sep-2009) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "PowerEtrade Pro does not work! Many bugs, freezes every ten minutes, looses connection 20 times a day. lLost trades, but worst is wrong trades!! $4,000 lost in wrong trades this week. You've been warned, now you're the fool when it happens to you."
Bob Hoover - California, USA (Aug-2009) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Good to know some are having success with E-Trade... I opened an banking & trading accounts several months ago and have regularly used both... so far so good! Fast transaction times... relatively easy to move money around online. I have not tried to call customer service yet... I would expect long waits etc... as such is result of all the downsizing going on in businesses. So far doing my own homework and managing account on my own has worked. Maybe I haven't been with them long enough to observe all of the fees? So far so good."
Marc - California, USA (Jul-2009) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I am a novice who set up an account with E-Trade when they had an attractive interest rate on savings. I purchased some stocks and then just let the account sit. I called when I found out that the rate was not what they originally promised and they rudely informed me that they could change the rate anytime they wanted. I was irritated but left it alone as I had other issues going on. Just printed off a stmt to find out that I have been being charged $40 a quarter for a mgmt fee! I was devastated. When I called the "customer service rep" was rude, sarcastic, unapologetic and said that is the way it is. Too bad. If I want to avoid fees, make a trade! I have never been treated with such disregard and obvious contempt. She said I could close my account if I sold off my little bit of stocks! Please someone tell me how to move stocks to somewhere that I can just let them be until they at least get up to what I paid."
Kim Savage - Virginia, USA (Jul-2009) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Horrible company! I moved my account to E-Trade about 2 months ago and have had nothing but problems. Everything is a hassle. They lost a wire transfer to my bank and each time I call in about it they say they will submit it for "research" and each time it comes back 2 days later (they never call me to let me know, even though they say they will) and it says there is no problem....they lost $6400 that's a problem. At this point I am hiring a lawyer to resolve the issue. There is no working with these people and the company is unethical and unhelpful. Stay away unless you want to get in a legal battle."
Sean Becker - Florida, USA (Jul-2009) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I am from middle east intersted to invest in USA market and noticed E-Trade opened an office in Dubai to target this market but glad I came accross this site and decided not to open an account with them in first place."
Irf - Qatar, Qatar (Apr-2009) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I, too, have been charged $40 per month for nothing. No calls, no notice. I am closing my account and tried to get them to send my shares (deposited by my company on a stack purchase plan) to my present broker. They will charge me $60 for an electronic transfer. I have to send a check to make up for the monthly fee and the transfer fee to get my own stock. I notified them in writing that i want my account closed and hope they do not bill me for having an empty account."
David Wiener - Texas, USA (Apr-2009) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I just started with on-line trading with E-Trade so I understand I haven't been around enough to say how they are, one way or the other. I did find this on their website, relating to the $40/qtr fee: Your account will be reviewed and a $40 Account Service Fee (ASF) will be assessed, if applicable, on Wednesday during the last full week of each quarter. You will not be assessed an ASF at the end of the calendar quarter if any of the following apply: your account is an IRA, your account is a Custodial account, your account has been opened less than 12 months, you are a qualified Power E-Trade customer at the end of the quarter, you are a qualified Priority E-Trade customer at the end of the quarter, your E-Trade Securities account balance is at least $10,000 at the end of the quarter, your combined balance in linked E-Trade Securities and E-Trade Bank accounts is at least $20,000 at the end of the quarter, you execute one or more stock or options trades during the quarter, you make a minimum of two bill payments using online bill pay during the quarter, you make at least three ACH deposits of at least $1,000 each during the quarter, you have an E-Trade bank money market or money market plus account during the quarter, you have an outstanding balance on an E-Trade bank VISA card at the end of the quarter, you have an outstanding balance on an E-Trade E-bank home equity line of credit at the end of the quarter, you obtained an E-Trade Mortgage loan within 12 months prior to the end of the quarter, you obtained an E-Trade consumer finance corporation RV or boat loan within 12 months prior to the end of the quarter. Additionally, the ASF will not be charged if you originate an E-Trade mortgage loan or an E-Trade consumer finance corporation RV or boat loan within the prior 12 months. View detailed commissions and fees. If I read this right, along with being exempt the first 12 months, subsequently, all you have to do is make one stock trade (for the $12.99 fee) and you will not be charged the $40/qtr. fee. It would seem that E-Trade doesn't want you to open an account with them and them do nothing with it unless you have significant assets in that account. It would seem that this $40 charge is intended to be punitive. I mean, think about it. Do you really think it costs your local bank $33 worth of trouble, that they charge you, when you bounce a check?"
Charles Polglase - Maryland, USA (Mar-2009) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Exactly the same problem as couple of others on this board. I bought stock that I looked at as a long term investment so I did not even check up on it very often. Suddenly log in to get my 1099 to find a 0 dollar balance saying they have been charging me 40 dollars every so often until they bleed me dry. Never have I heard of such a practice, but as I can see on here fighting it seems to be worthless though I plan on trying. They never once contacted me to tell me they were selling my stock. I have all alerts set up but they hide it from you so you can not fight it until it is to late. No wonder they can afford to do all the marketing they do. They rip off their customer then spend it to get more suckers. I just looked more on their site looks like for the first year they charge you nothing, (luring you into a sense of complacency) but after that charge you 40 dollars every 3 months for the privilege of having an account with them. The worst part of this is I read and re-read their site upon signing up and saw nothing about this and even if they changed their policy they never told me in an email about it or even told me they were selling my stock. They now say I actually owe them money! haha. Lesson learned I guess, at least I did not loose as much as some. They of course will not get another dime out of me. P.S. if you are an active trader they do not charge you the 40 dollars but if you ever laps into a period of inactivity they will start charging you 40 dollar every 3 months until you do. If you do not have any money in a "Bank account" they will just sell your stock no matter how much the loss may be to get your money."
Michael Williams - New Jersey, USA (Jan-2009) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Although these posts date back to 2006, I must add that E-trade continues to show extremely poor performance in 2008 as well. anyone out there with an E-Trade account, please, for your own sake, move out and find another brokerage. Ameritrade, Fidelity, Scotttrade, and even Gecco, all perform far superior to E-Trade and charge way less per trade. E-Trade is a rip-off with the worst customer service. Their daftness is exhibited in every word communicated when on the phone with them and they have absolutely no understanding of the trading system. It's almost like they're reading out of a book, which shouldn't be the case when handling people's money. I'm an avid, but extremely dissatisfied investor, who's been with E-Trade for a year now (and will be moving out in a couple of days), and have incurred very significant losses due to the inept system and incompetent service staff. E-Trade: 1. Has a system which doesn't recognize and understand day trades. It mis-labels accounts as day trading accounts, throwing all kinds of restrictions on the account, when the account really hasn't day traded. 2. Doesn't execute trades efficiently. Don't believe a word about their 2 second execution guarantee. It's all fallacious. I've had many instances where sell/buy orders were put in but never executed, when they should have. 3. Customer service reps try to defend the system, knowing that it's made an error. I've literally had to hold their finger and walk them through the entire process of how a trade occurs and why I'm making the case I am. 4. Prevents you from making trades by unrightfully tagging your account stating that your account has reached a certain trading limit, when of course, it hasn't. Strong word of advice ! If you're on E-Trade, leave now before they get a chance to rip you off. If you're a new trader looking for a good broker, E-Trade is definitely not for you! There's a reason their share price has fallen to $1. Don't trust a firm with a bad system. You'll end up paying for it. Please pass this message on to all new and old investors alike, since this is coming from first-hand experience."
Aftab Taylor - Illinois, USA (Dec-2008) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Beware of E-Trade! Hidden Fees! Customer-No-Service! Scam-artists! I definitely do not recommend that anyone use E-Trade unless they are wanting to lose a bunch of money instead of make it! I just found out that I had secretly been accessed $40 "account service fees" every 3 months for the past 2 years just for having an account with them! That's right, nothing special, just an account with stocks that I bought 2 years ago and let sit. I opened my account 2 years ago, being lured in by the "Commission Free Trade" promotional advertising - do fall for it! I'll be happy to go back to paying commission to my traditional stock broker after losing a fortune in fees to Etrade. What could the $40 fees per quarter possibly be for, anyway? It's absolutely ridiculous. Not once in those 2 years did I ask for advice, speak to anyone on the phone, or ask for special services. Etrade is very sneaky in the way they charge you, too. You won't even know it's happening. I signed up for E-Trade's "free" emails to notify me of any updates, and not once did the emails tell me money was being deducted from my account. No phone call, no email, no alert! I can tell now that E-Trade's website tries to hide the fact that they are charging you these fees, because I had no idea just from looking at my account history. Even when I visited the front page of the website after signing in to see my transaction history, I couldn't see that I was being charged anything. It was all an accident that I even found out today, 2 years after opening my account with them. I only found out because I was surfing their site for over an hour just clicking every link I could find to learn more about options and futures trading. The fees page was so hidden, though, that I couldn't find it again shortly after leaving that page to find the customer service number to call. I just got off the phone with customer-no-service. The customer service rep even had a hard time navigating the site to tell me where I could find the fees I was charged! If Etrade's own people can't navigate their site, how do they expect us to? Still, after arguing, after negotiating, I could not get any of the fees removed. I even got the customer service rep to put E-Trade's account supervisor on the phone and she was just as unhelpful as the other lady. I've lost more money opening an account with E-Trade than I've made in my own stock picks. Thanks for the negative account balance Etrade!"
Dana Klein - Georgia, USA (Nov-2008) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I just opened an account with Etrade and I feeling I made a big mistake. They promised 100 free trades, but in small print that was in the first 30 days, and it takes almost that long for them get the account open to trade, even though they had my cash from day 2. They take the 30 days from the day the account was open, not the day you could start trading. I feel duped, along with poor customer service and bad policies."
Diana Davidson - Washington, USA (Aug-2008) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I do not recommend doing business with this company. Their customer service is inept and their policies and procedures make doing business next to impossible. This is especially the case if you have any changes in life events like marriage or changes of address. After 4 calls to customer service and 2 faxes w/ info sent they still insist on holding $4600 hostage."
Joe Garippo - New York, USA (May-2008) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "With all due respect, the customer service with Etrade seem to be unique to them. I moved my accounts under their umbrella in December 2007 and this was the beginning of a series of mishaps on their side - lost faxes, non-response to requests, no returned calls. They have an Orlando Office at which you can never call to speak to a representative but always have to leave a voice mail. In my case, having a simple request (2 sent) to replace a lost debit card has turned into a major issue due to Etrade's non-response to my request and questions. I had to request in writing that my lost card be cancelled! What kind of responsible brokerage firm requires that a customer request in writing that a lost debit card be cancelled? I don't expect to be treated like a king but I do expect exceptional customer service, especially at their above market brokerage rates. I don't mind spending a few extra dollars for service but I do expect to receive exceptional service in return. In contrast, my experience with Scottrade was flawless and it appears I'll have to move my accounts back and my cash accounts back to ING. At least these companies respond to customers - unlike Etrade."
Ed Miller - Florida, USA (Feb-2008) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I'm living a nightmare from last Saturday (Jan 12th, 2008). I checked the balance of my account and it showed zero instead of almost $ 20,000. As of today, the only response I received from the CSR is that my account was closed due to security reasons and that I'll be contacted soon for further instructions. I tried to escalate but the didn't allowe me to. I feel horrible about this situation, I live in Argentina, my savings just disappeared and it seems I can't do anything but wait an improbable call."
Marcelo Tarica - Buenos Aires, Argentina (Jan-2008) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "These guys are crooks. They have hidden charges and are uncooperative. I'd recommend anyone over Etrade."
Lee - USA (Dec-2007) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Been with Etrade for 12 years. Lots of accessiblily problems at first, they learned, fixed and improved. Like their online offerings, statements, real time stuff. Don't like their miscalculation of the mortgage business. They're quitting it I think. Not much comment on that aspect in this blogospere. Why? Sounds like most of these guys are griping about years ago rather than the good service ET's been providing for a long time, and like kicking a fallen icon. They can get back up, you know. $4 something a share? Geez, buy a coupla thousand. It'll never happen again."
H. K - USA (Nov-2007) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I simply cannot believe all the prima donnas on this page. I have used Etrade for bank, credit card, and brokerage for years and I have never had a problem they have not dealt with quickly and fairly. I have never had a "hidden" fee. For all you people who think you need to be treated like the King of Siam and never have to undergo any security holds or fax any ID information - grow up. It isn't Etrade's rules - its Homeland Security's rules! I've transferred between accounts and other brokerages many times and yes, there are sometimes holds before you are free to withdraw or transfer those funds, but those holds come from the SEC and Federal banking rules! And you moan and groan because you or your wife has to answer some security questions over the phone! I'm happy to answer those questions because only I can and YOU can't, even if you did manage to sniff my account numbers. It is really funny how people rant and call Etrade crooks and incompetent because they are complying with the law and protecting your money from being stolen."
Chuck - North Carolina, USA (Nov-2007) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I have been with Etrade for 5 years. I haven't had any major issues with them. I did have a couple of issues with liquidating a CD; customer service was bad...a lot of repeated calls, lost faxes, etc. But everything worked out in the end. I also had a hiccup with my checking account; my account was frozen, and I wrote a check, which bounced. However, this hiccup was partially my fault since I reported a possible fraudulent account...Etrade cancelled my checking account and reissued me a new one; of course, they didn't let me know that this had happened. Trading with them has been great. All my orders where effectively executed, including stop orders. I also have IRAs with them; again, no issues."
Bob Evans - Georgia, USA (Nov-2007) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I am having the exact same dilemma right now. These guys are either crooks or have the worst corporate communication skills I have ever heard of."
Isaac Feldman - California, USA (Oct-2007) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "It sounds like you were trying to transfer your account to another firm, is that correct? If so, I believe most firms charge a transfer fee. There isn't a fee to close your account. "
Rob Jones - California, USA (Oct-2007) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I just closed my account after 4 months. They took two months just to get my wife added to the account. Customer service is the worst. They had me fax in her info twice and did not bother to call back. Said I didn't send it. Finally got someone who amazingly found it! Then when she logged in, one of these new security questions which is done by a third party service asked her where her ex-husband lived!!! Now how unethical is that. I called and they said that it is not their problem. Yes it is! You have my money, you respect me by not asking my wife such questions. Oh, and because she did not know the answer, it blocked her. So I had to call to get her switched back on which only took 50 minutes!!!! Not a week after that, I looked at my account balance in my savings (5.05%apy) and $1000 was missing!!!! Plus, my two transfers were stopped! I called and got a run-around for three days. Finally they admitted they messed up and put the money back in. Didn't offer anything but a shallow apology. I don't know what is going on up there but I am not standing around to see. I have closed both my and my parents' accounts with them and moved to another provider. Everyone beware of Etrade."
Jason - Tennesse, USA (Oct-2007) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I opened an e-trade savings account 10 days ago by setting up a transfer of $100 from another bank account. The money was withdrawn from the other account, but never showed up online at e-trade. I have called and sent e-mails to e-trade trying to find out what is going on. They have been dishonest, incompetent and rude. Then I decided to look around and found this page. My eyes are opened. Up until now my experience has been that banks in the US have been honest. I would say run don't walk away from e-trade. That's what I will do if they ever find my money."
Richard - California, USA (Sep-2007) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I really Like etrade so far, I have a trading account,complete savings and the checking. I can see all my accounts at a glance, transfer money and see how my funds and ETFs are doing. A ton of analysis tools to see how your funds are doing etc... Real nice."
John - Florida, USA (Sep-2007) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Etrade is the worse online broker i've ever used. High fees, hidden fees and I would go to any other broker - stay away!"
Ponni Onni - USA (Sep-2007) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - " I will make it simple they are crooks. Never invest a single penny with this company. They have lots of hidden charges and will steal your money."
AJ Young - Oklahoma, USA (Jul-2007) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I had E-Trade for a while, but when I tried to close the account they wanted to charge me fees. Instead I added checking, for free thank you, and wrote myself a check for free. Then they had to close it for free."
Mathew H - New York, USA (Jul-2007) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I had a credit card so that I would not have pay any fees per quarter. I had a balance on my card and they still hit me was with in-active fee. I have read over the past two years lots of complaints. I only kept the card so I could empty out my brokerage account. I heard from someone that the only way to get out of brokerage account was to sell everything then write a check to yourself. I current have only a dollar in the account."
Charlie - Georgia, USA (Jul-2007) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "You can contact SEC.com. That is USA security and exchange commission web site and you can file a complaint. I am having same difficulty and check cashed by Etrade has not been posted in my account for last 2 weeks and customer service is useless."
Mahesh - USA (Apr-2007) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "E-Trade is probably great if you never have an issue- I had been with Scottrade for years with great service. I decided to move to E-Trade to take advantage of the linked savings at 5.05%. What a mistake!!! Shortly after transferring my account from Scott, they put the account on "restricted" for reasons they would not tell me. I went into the local E-Trade office and was informed that the banking was separate from the brokerage and they could not help me. After many calls and being on hold for XXX hours, I was informed that I must FedEx a notarized copy of my drivers license to the security department and then they would discuss the account with me if all checked-out. Well, what was going on?? I had done nothing with the account which should have 10's of thousands of cash and many stock positions showing on my account website. They allowed me to login but all accounts showed zero. Was I ripped-off and left with nothing or what? My attorney finally, with a limited power of attorney, got them to speak with me and they said my account had been compromised and that someone tried to transfer out $2,000. Next, they agreed to re-activate the account and wire out my cash and let me transfer the account back to Scott. Now I get a call from the lady at E-Trade security saying "we made a mistake and accidentally placed a fraud alert on your account that should have been on someone else's account. How nice! Hours of wasted time, $300 for my attorney. What could they have done differently - everything. Like contacting me with a heads-up on the account and more. Avoid E-Trade even with the seemingly great interest rate and features. Oh, the ETrade office where I signed-up informed me that were actually there for the purpose of signing up new accounts. Great!"
Dan - California, USA (Apr-2007) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "E-Trade pro is a decent platform for trading. There is an issue with running the pro platform in certain LAN settings-probably related to firewalls (data feeds wont connect). The market trader platform works fine at multiple locations but I like the pro interface a little better. The pro works fine at my home LAN. Pros of E-Trade pro: Easy money transfer between other etrade bank accounts, standard real time data feeds that so far have worked fine, standard charting platforms, top ten lists, most actives, real time news ,etc. Regarding trading, you may notice etrade now uses their own MM symbol ETRD for non NYSE orders. I have actually gotten some good fills with ETRD mm. Also for extra ECN fee can route 8AM - 8PM to 3 ECNs of choice (arca, cinn, brut). Trades update to account in real time and settlements in margin accounts are fast and reliable. Having linked bank and brokerage in house is nice. Cons of E-Trade pro: $9.99 commissions are high compared to $5 trades at izone, ECN access fees high compared to other ebrokers. Less than 30 trades a q and they want to bill you for the platforms (29.99)and charge you higher commissions. Basically Etrade's package platforms can be had at izone for half the price (slightly difft layouts). If izone offered 8-8 ecn access it would offer everything pro does at half the cost. I have contacted Etrade via phone before regarding account q and they are decent, not great. If you keep over 50k in Etrade accounts you don't get the nickel and dime charges etc. Overall I think E-Trade is a decent choice for those who manage money in multiple accounts and like moving money in and out of the markets to MM checking and savings account which Etrade bank pays great rates on. There are probably better direct access brokers if you place hundreds of trades a week, but for even day traders who average 5-10 trades a week Etrade pro is adequate as long as you test the platforms on your ISP connection before making any high risk trades!"
GG - USA (Apr-2007) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I have been with Etrade for over 4 years. They have continually hit me with these service fees, and I am just a little guy. However that is not the beginning until I tried to close my account because of their service charges. I have spent months and over 4 hours of phone time, plus email and they still won't close my account. I get a different story from each trader, and financial service rep I talk to. I highly suggest to stay away from Etrade."
Tim Gordhame - Wisconsin, USA (Mar-2007) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "E-Trade customer support is beyond crap.... they actually charged me $60 after my account had been closed for months, and so far, after hours on the phone, they have continually denied that they made any error at all, and won't take the charge off my account. They are beyond terrible."
Lauren Goldstein - USA (Mar-2007) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "The high fees are ridiculous for someone just looking to get into the market on a long-term, low-investment basis. Haven't had any problems thus far with the platform, although when I purchased some shares, I was surprised that the execution price was about 20 cents more per trade than what I was expecting, even with the 20 min. delay. The price never even got that high that day...something definitely fishy going on there."
A Keane - New Jersey, USA (Feb-2007) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "E-Trade stand first with their all educated hard workers staff members and their system."
Mesfin Mulushewa - Ethiopia (Jan-2007) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Avoid E-Trade! We had several negative experiences with E-Trade: too many fees; dreadful customer service; took over 3-4 weeks to open an account; promises $550 Free Trades, does not deliver. If you want some worst horrible nightmares, trade with E-Trade."
Will - Australia (Jan-2007) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Wow, looks like I have been very lucky with E-Trade. I have 10 years experience with them for regular banking, IRA, and trading. I have had decent experience with them. I am not an active day-trader and don't use their Level II platform, but have had fine execution time and price data using the regular platform. I will concede that calling them is best avoided, but I have always been able to get my questions answered. Like most companies these days, customer service reps are hit or miss. The website has always performed pretty well for me. Getting money from them is a problem, but is with many online banks - best strategy is to open a local brick and mortar account in your neighborhood and make a deposit via wire or a check from your e-trade acct. E-Trade will only wire funds to other accounts under your name, which sort of defeats the purpose when you need to pay someone for something. But based on all the negative feedback here, I am thinking about a preemptive switch to a new broker!"
Gavin Hasselgren - Illinois, USA (Jan-2007) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Just to let you know...E-Trade doesn't execute the orders....they go through a market maker and the market maker executes the orders...It wasn't their error."
Joseph Gleason - California, USA (Dec-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Worst broker ever. Many times I couldn't even logon to their website and it gave me no indication about what the problem was. I'm 100% sure the password I provided was correct. And you know what, when I called up their customer service staff, they told me my password was right and asked me to try again, and there you go, it works! I don't know what tricks they played to make all that happen."
William - Australia (Dec-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I have had bad experiences with customer service. My "personal relationship manager" told me to send in the wrong forms to change account names and start a new CD. I sent them in and no one ever called or emailed me that I had sent in the wrong forms. I had to wait and wait and inquire why nothing was happening! I went to my local bank to open a CD. I do like the website, but really miss Harris Direct too."
Barbara Anderr - Michigan, USA (Nov-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Brown was bought out by E-Trade about 9 months ago. That is how I got to E-Trade. My commission stayed at $5. Ameritrade bought TD Waterhouse about 10 months ago and my TD Waterhouse account became a TD Ameritrade account."
DJ Anderr - California, USA (Oct-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Fast executions, inexpensive fees and excellent customer service."
Robert Boal - Kentucky, USA (Oct-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Their phone support S***. The wait time is always more than 45 mins (All associates are busy....blah blah). At least they should give anticipated wait time so you can go for a coffee break and return."
Trader Joe - USA (Oct-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I have been with E-Trade since they bought out Harris. Their website and tools are a big improvement. Their customer service sucks. I have been patient but they have been consistently bad. Their latest error cost me real money. I had a trailing stop order on GS that they say triggered on a bid price that was $3 below the lowest execution for the day. They said it was 'strange but that it was one of the risks of trading'. These guys are crooks. Time to move my account!"
Shree Khare - California, USA (Oct-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "You need to be smart, E-Trade has some of the highest rates in the nation and they have a 1K requirement, most other banks make you have 10K or higher to even get the rate if they even offer it... most of the time they don't! The fact that you don't know how to send and email to request funds or call in during non busy hours is your fault. Be real lady."
John Davis - California, USA (Oct-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "You are an idiot... are you familiar with the patriot act? It requries all brokerage firms to check your info with a credit reporting agency... the fact that you traded on the account has nothing to do with etrade. The difference between Etrade and another brokerage firm is that they don't require you to provide photo ID when you open the account becuase you open it online... they are required... By law... to restrict your account before you can have access to it. You can also have them send you your funds... Get smart."
John Davis - California, USA (Oct-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "E-Trade Pro has a bad problem with the level 2 windows in Pro. This has persisted for a very long time. When typing in a new symbol, the level 2 window turns a blank color with nothing. It freezes up. I have missed getting into many trades and had to wait for the window to unfreeze. By then, it is too late, as the price has already gone up. When are they ever going to fix this? Also, sometimes when trying to get into or out of a trade, I get a pop up window that says; 'error, call broker'. Yeah right. I am a momentum trader who plays highly liquid stocks that move very fast with huge volume! A momentum trader cannot do business like this. What a joke! Am now considering moving my money to one of the brokerages in NYC that caters to institutions and hedge funds mainly. I need the quickest executions with no breakdowns in the trading platform. Anyone else experienced these same problems with E-Trade Pro? And is it going to be a real hassle to move my money out of E-Trade?"
Larry Jones - New York, USA (Oct-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "This is a request for some help in my plight with E-Trade from some of the other people that have had issues with E-Trades poor service. I first requested 5 months ago to cancel a check that was issued by Etrade and have the funds returned back to my Etrade account. As of today, I still have not had my $35,000 returned back to my account for my own use and Etrade has not confirmed that they have located my money in their systems, nor have they given me any firm timeline when the funds will be returned, despite repeated e-mails and expensive phone calls (internationally). It's been 5 months so far with no end in sight. What are my options here? How can I make E-Trade find my money and return it. What type of compensation should I be entitled to? My situation is made more complicated because I am not living in the US nor am I a US Citizen. I worked for a US company and my stock options were made available in E-Trade US based business, so I am forced to deal with them to get at my stock options. Is there some sort of Government body in the USA that can enforce compensation on financial organizations that are so negligent in their handling of customers funds? Has anyone had any success in pursuing compensation from E-Trade due to negligent handling of funds? My wife and I are at our wits end with this company. If anyone can assist please Reply or add your E-Trade review to this post."
Philp Christopher - Victoria, Australia (Aug-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "E-Trade is a complete joke. They allowed me to transfer money into their accounts without needing photo ID verification, but once it was in there, they suddenly decided they needed it... effectively holding my cash funds, citing the 'patriot act' or some crap as the reason why they took my money and wouldn't allow me access to it for over 2 weeks."
Sayer Ji - Florida, USA (Aug-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Avoid E-Trade! We had several negative experiences with E*Trade Financial. First, E-Trade ignored several of our change of address requests. It took several months before E-Trade and their third party vendor, Clarke American, stopped sending our account materials to the wrong address. These materials included our PIN numbers, ATM cards, and checks. The other negative experience was with E*Trade's online bill pay system. E*Trade issued payment a day later than scheduled and, as a result, we were assessed a hefty penalty fee of $250.99 for the late property tax payment that E*Trade caused. After several phone calls and ignored faxes, we spoke with one of E-Trade's branch managers, Amy Alley. She was very unprofessional and rude for the entire conversation. E-Trade refused to cover the fee caused by their negligence. That was the final straw for us. We're in the process of switching our accounts to another institution. I wouldn't recommend E-Trade to my worst enemy!"
Deborah Glenn - USA (Jul-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Generally E-Trade can be a very good place to trade. The trade executions are accurate and quick and the website is very intuitive and comprehensive. I wish I could refute the generally bad sentiments about their customer service. Alas, I can not. There are several reasons for most bad experiences there. 1) They are not able to hire the best candidates across the board, because the salaries are very low. 2) They often get employees who just want a job and are not committed to the industry. 3) Many customer service reps are unlicensed. And, if they are licensed, very very inexperienced. 4) Good reps tend to leave after obtaining licensing for better situations. 5) Generally, the job is very stressful, the employees are not treated well, and turnover is very high. There are other reasons for the bad experiences that don't fall on E-Trade, though. Sad to say, many investors are not aware of the rules surrounding what they want to accomplish (compounded by reps who don't know either). And, many clients do not read the ample information present on the site. So, it goes both ways. My recommendation is to learn all you can about the industry, trading, and administering to your own account. Once that is done, you'll find that your experience will go smoother. And, when you meet up with a "know-nothing rep", you'll know and can ask for someone a little more experienced (ie. competent). (ex-E*Trader)"
G - Georgia, USA (Jul-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Let me sum this all up! E-Trade is f***ed up! Too many fees!"
Raymond - USA (Jul-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Because of poor service, I have repeatedly told ETrade to close my small account and refund my money. They have repeatedly ignored my directives. Perhaps they do not want to admit to a declining customer base. Anyone else have this problem?"
Philo Willetts - USA (Jul-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Etrade wiped out my account to pay for negative balance of fees for over 4.5 years. No notice was sent to me, just sold my stocks and left me with -0- balance, called Shandra Baker manager at Etrade, said they would refund one 1/4 if kept account opened and deposited $1,000. No notice, no calls, account wiped out."
Frank - North Carolina, USA (Jul-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Inquiry: Polling to see if anyone else has experienced an inactive E*Trade account/brokerage account suddenly being submitted for an unauthorized change of address and then unauthorized withdrawal of funds via internet: Funds stolen? Had an E*Trade account resulting from the death of my son's father. As executor of the estate, E*Trade transitioned the account funds to me. Come to find out they apparently (?) did not open a new account for me and did not change the old internet password on the internet account. Sentimentally, and with intentions to later work with my son on investing his daddy's monies, I left the funds with E*Trade as a brokerage account. Moved, submitted a change of address and continued receiving statements at my new address. Several months later, get an E*Trade notice the address is changed again (was not submitted or authorized by me). Absolutely could not get through to their customer service! Hours and days worth of trying. Sent E*Trade a letter notifying them something was wrong. Never heard back. ~1 month later, get E*Trade notice the funds were transferred out of the account--zero balance! Spent hours and days trying to get through to E*Trade customer service! Finally, get through and after numerous rounds and attempts to escalate had to settle for a supervisor in customer service. They absolutely refused to allow me to talk with their Fraud Department! Long story short, finally, after a huge, extended effort, I get E*Trade to reimburse me the funds; demanded they send me a check and close the account. The supervisor I was working with goes so far as to 'record' my instructions to close the account. Supervisor was telling me the matter would be turned over to E*Trade Fraud for investigation. This closure was fall/winter of 2005. March 2006, E*Trade contacts me demanding I return the funds to them! Unbelievable. I spend hours documenting this situation, corresponding with them. Only to have them send me on a 'goose chase' to report identity theft. My identity has not been stolen, the funds in my son's inactive E*Trade brokerage account are what was stolen. Has anyone else had a similar situation occur with an inactive E*Trade account? Please let me know."
Courtney - USA (Jul-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "There are thousands of us with restricted accounts. Even if you fax the document you will not be unrestricted. They claim that the fax didn't get there etc. I filed a complaint with the SEC and also my state attorney generals office. I truly believe they are running amuck unchecked. Now they have acquired a retirement fund. Those poor old people will be robbed or driven nuts by the E-Trade people. I am in my 3rd week with this problem, I have been a customer for 5 weeks and this is the 3rd problem they cannot resolve. Good luck but take action, the SEC can be found online and provide email doc."
Gary Tolman - Arkansas, USA (Jun-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "E-Trade randomly closed my account in Oct 05! I executed a sales from that same account in March 06, no problems, on an allegedly closed account this seemed rather odd. I try to execute a sale in June 06, the account is empty - my stock options have vanished. After much phone wrestling to get the options back they want me to apply for a new account, fax (Fax? What year is this) the document to them so they can open my old account. They are talking to me on the phone and have verified who I am but they still want paperwork that they had years ago. Apparently this is because the account has been dormant since Oct 05 lies lies lies, it was used in March 06. I got pissed off, sold at market over the phone and closed the account. This is one of many problems I've had with E-Trade - e.g. they took 4 months to send a check book for one account - they truly suck."
Geoff S - Washington, USA (Jun-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "When is this web page going to help all these people congregate to form a class action lawsuit? Duh!"
Kent - Colorado, USA (Jun-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "E-Trade customer service has improved tremendously in last few months. Haven't been able to trade as much as like, but only fair to report that in my opinion service has turned around. Short phone wait times, friendly customer service, and fast trade executions. Also, haven't had website slowness problems that occurred earlier in year. Would recommend this broker."
Vivien Braslau - Texas, USA (Jun-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "E-Trade is absolutely dreadful in terms of customer service. If you want to spend hours listening to muzak on the phone and then have your assets eaten up by fees, by all means go with this company."
Gil Abraham - Arizona, USA (May-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "3 years with a great on line broker Harris Direct. And then they were bought out by the worst brokerage firm in history E-trade. I lasted 45 days with E-trade and could no longer stand it. I switched to Fidelity. E-trade must have felt guilty because they paid me the $300 to transfer my accounts. Take your business to anyone but E-trade."
Edward Wallach - Delaware, USA (May-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Never banking with E-trade. Stay away from it. I have been calling them since last Monday (Called 5 times already) to transfer money from E-trade bank. I am calling them again now, have been on hold for more than 20 mins. I had a brokage account with E-trade, it went well these years, so I decided to open CD account with them last year, it is a terriable mistake. If you are reading now, please take my advise, stay away from E-trade bank. The other banks may have same CD rate or lower, you don't have to deal with this kind of bank."
Christine - California, USA (Mar-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I opened IRA account with E-trade, now they say my account has been restricted after they have taken my money and I have already made trades. They say I need send to copy of photo ID which I don't have and don't want and that their was no mention of needing. The weird thing is I have had a brokerage account with them for several months with no problems."
Matt - Missouri, USA (Mar-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Worst horrible nightmare. Even though I have investable asset of almost $100K, I had to wait on the phone for over an hour for a customer service rep. to talk to. Stay away from this broker."
C - California, USA (Mar-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "E-Trade engages in consumer fraud. I wish I had read this page first. Been a customer only two months, and I could write a page on what they have pulled with me. The main highlights: Promises 100 Free Trades.....does not deliver. Misappropriates money for 2 weeks, not allowing you access (they sit back and make interest). Customer service: horrible!"
Scott - USA (Mar-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Hold time can be up to 1 hour. Account fees left and right. Customer service sucks."
Raj - California, USA (Feb-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I have asked E-Trade for the deposit slips for one of my accounts. Since then, almost two months have passed, and after having spoken twice with them on the phone (25 and 45 min waiting time) and sending them two e-mails I still did not get deposit slips! They do not want money of their customers! What kind of an investment company is this? Who is talking about customer service here? non-existing service."
Igor - California, USA (Feb-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Totally disgusting customer service - beyond belief! They cash a deposit check within 24 hours, yet take up to 2 weeks to credit my account. They send me a notice that 'your old checks have expired' yet require that I request new checks instead of automatically sending me new ones. So now, 4 weeks later, I cannot access my funds. I am on hold (once again) right now for over an hour (this is the third time this week, and I've had to hang up because I have other things to do). How difficult is it to change to another brokerage? Fees involved?"
Jim Figler - Maine, USA (Jan-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "Yes, E-Trade are total shit. It's good to see US guy giving info. I know your used to some customer service at least."
Michael - United Kingdom (Jan-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "My E*Trade funds were placed in 'a money market account' and assigned an account number. Without notification, E*Trade changed my account number. I made numerous attempts to access my account over the internet, but failed. As a part of the nightmare, I called E-Trade's customer service. After struggling with being on-hold, disconnects and language barriers, Customer service couldn't locate the account either. I located the nearest physical E-Trade branch, to discover a new account number had been assigned to the account and E-Trade had been assessing $25.00 to $40.00 quarterly deductions, depleting the entire account."
Cavender - Texas, USA (Jan-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I'd have to agree with the many sentiments expressed here - E-Trade is pathetic. After getting sick of them milking $40/quarter in 'maintenance' fees out of my inactive account, I finally decided to close the account in Nov 05. There is absolutely no way to close the account online, you have to call and sit on hold for 30-45 minutes. They stuck me with the completely unreasonable $10 check fee of course, just to return my own money to me. Two months later I receive a statement from them reflecting my current $0.01 balance. I again call to close the account - hold time 42 minutes. The rep claims my last call was just entered as a check request, not a closure request. He agrees to close the account. I ask him if he feels that 42 minutes on hold is acceptable customer service, to which he replies that they are switching to a new phone system and that is causing delays. Right. That's why there are complaints going back to 2000 of 30-60 minute hold times... Do yourself a favor and choose someone else to handle your trading business. Avoid E-Trade."
Pat - Oklahoma, USA (Jan-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I have been an E-Trade customer for about ten years now, and I have to say that the negative reports I've been reading are astounding. Either these people are in the employ of competitors, or are just plain wrong! I have never had any of the problems these people speak of. I joined E-Trade with a small account of money, and over the years have built it up to a substantial amount, so I know that E-Trade does it's best to do what is asked of it. I have tried many other brokers online, as I don't wish to have all my assets in one brokerage, but after dealing with some of them, I may consolidate everything with E-Trade. I use Schwab as my staid broker, for less risky stocks, and E-Trade for everything else. I have been with Vanguard, Ameritrade (twice) and some others, who's names I can't remember, and none of them can hold a candle to E-Trade. So I think you have to give them a chance, as no brokerage is perfect."
Theodore Miller - New York, USA (Jan-2006) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I have not had any significant problems with E-Trade. They have special rates for frequent traders. There execution is better than my Scottrade account by price and time. I see the complaints about customer service and I think there is none these days. I have had run ins with Netzero.com and HP yes HP. I would state my problem on line and they both sent a generic email answer that had nothing to do with the problem I sent. I even stated no problem and requested a supervisor to contact me and got the same generic answer to a problem. Customer service, don't expect much cause it isn't out there."
David Harris - Washington, USA (Dec-2005) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "E-Trade service is really bad read for yourself. 1) Phoned Sunday, 12_04_2005 (45 minutes hold time), to close one of my E-Trade accounts and move the content (less then $2000) to my E-Trade IRA account. I was told it would be done the same day and would be visible on Monday morning. 2) Monday morning the operation is still not visible. Phone (20 minutes hold time) to ask why. I'm told by Ziishan (ext 3171) that it took a little longer and should be done by the next morning at the latest. 3) Tuesday morning still not done. Phone (10 minutes hold time) again, this time I speak with Levar (ext 4453). I explain what I want and tell him about the previous two calls. He tells me it should be done soon. I ask 'When will it be done?', he responds 'Well it's initiated now'. So I insisted he gives me a 'done target date'. Put me on hold again (for minutes at a time). This time he comes back and says 'You can not transfer the securities into your IRA'. So now after insisting for a 'done date' I got a 'never will happen condition'. At this point I do not trust what this man is saying since he appear to have been trying to just get me to end the call (his last word were 'the transfer is initiated'....). I ask to speak to a manager, to get this done. I get Rene (ext 4453). After describing the situation to Rene, I proceed to try to understand the structure of the 'customer service department'. I learn that she is really an 'acting' team lead, the real team lead is Chris Dodson which himself reports to Connie Forster. Anyway after making her verify (since IRAs are not her expertise) she confirms that I must sell my stock and then transfer the cash to my E-Trade IRA. I get online sell my stock at market and tell her 'ok now my account is all cash, when can you close this account and transfer it's content to my other E-Trade account?'. She says that they now have to wait 3 days for the 'stock sell' to clear and then, they will finally complete the transfer and close the account. According to her this time, it should be done by next Monday. I hope it will be. Conclusion E-Trade customer service sucks big time. By the way the reason I'm closing one of my E-Trade accounts is that they were charging a $40/maintenance fee per quarter, $160/year since years. They 'double suck', stay away from E-Trade...it's a matter of weeks before I close my last E-Trade account. E-Trade is going down...leave the boat while you can."
Delsol - Colorado, USA (Dec-2005) - Reply or add your E-Trade review
E-Trade - "I have mixed feelings about E-Trade. My recent problem was concerning some actual stock certificates I had since a minor. I coordinated with E-Trade in advance to determine what the appropriate paperwork that was needed to transfer the physical certs to my account. Basically, they said I needed a letter and a copy of my birth certificate. I personally visited their office in DC and provided just what they needed. Now about 2 months later, I see there those certificates were "adjusted" off my brokerage account (approximately $4700). After calling them immediately, they said that I had not provided them a copy of the birth certificate. After they checked their records, they realized the error they had made. However, they were quick to fix the problem and the shares were quickly added back to my portfolio. For the most part, they have responded extremely fast to my emails and my phone calls. Is it because I'm a Power E-trade Pro customer? I'm not sure. I'm still evaluating other options in case I decide to pull my funds."
Russ Fortner - Tokyo, Japan (Nov-2005) - | | |
