 |
Insightful stock market charts at |
 |
|
Insightful stock market charts at |
|
Here you can read 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 Top Dog Brokers page. And, as always, if you have experience with a deep discount broker, simply fill out our Top Dog Brokers Form and let us all know what you think.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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-TradeE 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 & 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?
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.
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.
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!"
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."
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."
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."
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."
E-Trade - "These guys are crooks. They have hidden charges and are uncooperative. I'd recommend anyone over Etrade."
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."
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."
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."
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."
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. "
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."
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."
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."
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!"
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."
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."
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."
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."
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!"
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!"
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."
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."
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."
E-Trade - "E-Trade stand first with their all educated hard workers staff members and their system."
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."
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!"
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."
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."
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."
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."
E-Trade - "Fast executions, inexpensive fees and excellent customer service."
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."
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!"
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."
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."
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?"
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 to this post."
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."
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!"
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)"
E-Trade - "Let me sum this all up! E-Trade is f***ed up! Too many fees!"
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?"
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."
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."
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."
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."
E-Trade - "When is this web page going to help all these people congregate to form a class action lawsuit? Duh!"
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."
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."
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."
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."
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."
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!"
E-Trade - "Hold time can be up to 1 hour. Account fees left and right. Customer service sucks."
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."
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?"
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."
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."
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."
E-Trade & Schwab & Ameritrade - "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."
E-Trade & Scottrade - "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."
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."
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."
E-Trade & Scottrade & Ameritrade - "9/29/05 Just closed account; transferred to Scottrade. Why? Account activity fees were way out of line. They didn't care at all when I called to close. Then found out there's a $60 transfer fee which Ameritrade and Scottrade do not charge. Lastly, their $15 fee for exact same service is too high compared to Ameritrade and Scottrade (11 & 7 respectively)."
E-Trade - "E-Trade is awful. Every time I have had a complaint and call the helpdesk it takes forever for them to pick up. One time I had lost my debit card and I waited on hold for over an hour before the battery on my cell phone died. E-Trade is just plain awful. If I didn't have my direct deposit and other banking already through them I would just leave. I will, however, start to transition everything so I can get another bank. I've had it with them."
E-Trade - "Customer Service at E-Trade is very very poor - among the worst I have seen in this or any other industry. I have called them on various requests at least once every business day for the past two weeks and the average hold time before I could speak to an agent was 48 minutes! A few of those days I waited on hold more than one hour to speak to someone. This is unacceptable in an environment of executing market orders. Moreover I agree with other postings that discuss the long times and delays in receiving checks, transfers of funds. I have had to call back multiple times to ensure that a particular request is completed because every agent that receives a customer request seems to be out of sync with other agents that have worked on it. Faxes have gone missing, they are unable to call each other among their call centers, etc. I have emailed them directly asking about some of these issues and have never received any response. Save yourself a tremendous amount of hassle and worry, and avoid E-Trade."
E-Trade - "All interactions I have had with E-Trade customer service has ended in disappointment and complete dissatisfaction. I have attempted to deal with E-Trade customer service more than 7 times on various issues. All ended terrible. I am still a member on E-Trade with 0 dollars in my account. Recently, I had attempted to open an online banking account with E-Trade. They sent me some checks, an ATM card, a signature form and stated that my account was setup and ready to verify. I attempted to verify it online and it was refused. I spent the next few days (long distance from Beijing) attempting to find out what was wrong. The times they told me to do various things and it would be just fine and I would be able to link my brokerage and bank accounts. Nothing worked. I called back a 4th time and was told I didn’t have a bank account. I explained to them that they sent a letter and an email stating I had an account, and requested that I finish the final steps online. At no time did I ever receive a message stating I didn’t have an account or that my initial deposit didn’t transfer. Instead, they had only instructed me to follow all these steps and finish the setup because everything else was fine…what a joke! Oh, yeah, they put me on hold and even told me they would call me back. The manager told me he would call back and he never did. I have worked in customer service most of my life and have never had such poor service from anyone. E-Trade is truly terrible and the customer support people do lie to their customers and makeup stories about what really happens. That is why I have an email address now that begins with E-Trade_sucks@. I do not recommend E-Trade to anyone and I have friends that have had problems with customer service too and wouldn’t recommend E-Trade. They never apologized for any of the problems they caused and attempted to make it sound like it was not their fault. If a customer doesn’t have an account, then do not send him information stating he does and that he can activate it online. Instead, tell him the truth and help him to resolve the problem. Instead, they want to put blame onto the customer. Ok, that is just one of my bad stories, it never ends with E-Trade! I have yet to arrange a new account but looking for a good place to put my money. Good luck, stay away from E-Trade if at all possible."
E-Trade - "I have been using E*Trade for about three years. I haven't had any problems with them but rarely need to phone for customer support. In addition, I have only executed a handful of trades up to this point. If you have over $50K in assets, including cash & CDs, you can trade for $11.99 However, what I like best about E*Trade is the bank. I have a money market account and some short term CD's which are earning some of the highest rates around. I like the fact that the bank and the brokerage accounts are linked and it is easy to transfer money back and forth. Whenever I get dividends, I transfer directly to the bank and get really great rates. I am concerned, however, that so many other people seem dissatisfied with E*Trade. Until I witness their "incompetence" personally, however, I am staying!"
E-Trade - "E-trading with E-trade is bad. I have had an account with E-trade Financial and closed it on 3-29-2005. As of 4-14-05,I still have not received a check even though I was promised to receive it last week, again for the 13th. I called them again today and learned they have not begun the delivery process yet. The account was closed on 3-29-2005, but they are holding my money as tightly as they can. Finally on April 19,2005, I received my check. Even though my account was closed and the balance is 0 as of 3-29-05, on 4-26-05 I got an email telling me I was eligible for an upgrade. Warning: Do not do business with these people. They are not organized or either they are downright crooks."
E-Trade - "E-Trade sucks. I wish I read the comments on this website first. The listed price of $19.95 a trade is not entirely accurate. E-Trade also imposes a $3 processing fee in addition to the $19.95. What the hell? When I finally cancelled my account, I was charged a $10 fee to get my own money."
E-Trade - "I used them for about 6 years and was reasonably happy... until I actually interacted with them in trying to close an investment club account. It took them months and innumerable phone calls, mis-issued checks, inattentive clueless and unresponsive customer service that all revealed a profound incompetence. Not getting your money out of the bank in a professional manner is a capital offense in my book: I am moving all my accounts and I won't touch E-Trade ever again!"
E-Trade - "E-Trade really sucks, I just closed out my account and plan to head over the Ameritrade or ScottTrade."
E-Trade & TD Waterhouse - "This merger is disturbing. A horrible broker (TD) merging with a terrible broker. Two wrongs does not make a right."
E-Trade - "Had issues early on with the display of a stock symbol and it was a bit of a battle to get them to fix it. I finally sold the stock which ultimately fixed it. Lucky thing to it hasn't done much since I sold."
E-Trade - "Worst customer service I have ever experienced."
E-Trade - "I have had very bad experiences with customer service over the past 2 months. They misplaced my paperwork & then blamed me for their 3-4 week delays because I did not have my account number at the top of my letter (it was at the bottom of my letter, right below my name). Their data scanning personnel cannot read, or so it would seem, because that was the reason they gave for misplacing the paperwork--if my account number had been at the top of the page, the data scanners would have been able to manage the paperwork. They apparently do not read their customer service emails because they never answered my questions correctly--on several occasions."
E-Trade - "These folks bury you in fees--most of which are unreasonable. When you register a complaint, their response is phrased only slightly better than 'tough shit'."
E-Trade - "There's a reason why I left the company when I did....I hated being a professional liar! Anytime anything went wrong, which was often, we had a carefully constructed script for customers. How many times can you tell people the reason their trade is not executed is due to heavy volume, when you look at the day's volume and know it's not heavy?? It's because our systems were down and we couldn't send thE-Trades to the market!!! And if your trade does "execute on time", thE-Trade executions are lousy - the infrastructure sucks! A lot of trades don't go straight to the market, but are spit out to be reviewed by a trader - delaying your execution even more! The employees over overworked, underpaid and stressed to the max - you're lucky you don't get "Yeah what do YOU want?" when they answer the phone. Been there, done that. And yes, my employee acct was closed due to inactivity fees - ate up what little bit of cash I had left. Good riddance!"
E-Trade - "My trades are costing me $23 not the $19.99 they talk about. There is a $3 surcharge that I discovered when I traded!"
E-Trade - "If you enjoy watching the hour glass on your computer then E-Trade is for you. You have just been informed that the CEO of the company that you hold stock in has ran off with all the company's wealth, sell your stock you say, start now and thirty minutes later you may have you trade through. If you need to learn the hard way, start an account at E-Trade."
E-Trade - "Want continued costs charging you for every transaction or posting to your account? Then E-Trade is your poison. Keep on filling those fat cats of E-Trade pockets with your hard earned money. Customer service?? They actually have that?"
E-Trade - "Avoid E-Trade! I have an Optionslink account for Employee Stock Purchase Plan shares. One day, I initiated a market order that went unconfirmed for more than 30 minutes. So, I cancelled the order. That cancellation was electronically confirmed by E-Trade. But my shares did not become available again. So, I started making inquiries! Several hours later E-Trade called to say that thE-Trade actually took place earlier in the day, but it was never recorded in the system. Then they posted an execution statement with a time on it that preceded the cancellation order. My employer says that E-Trade notifies them of this delayed confirmation problem occurring about 2-3 times a month. The company has an employee base of about 3500 people. User beware! When I exercised my options grant, E-Trade deducted $180 from my brokerage account. Says that was due to time delays with the stock transfer agent. Now, I read in the WSJ that E-Trade's CEO takes home $80 million a year. Hmmmmm..."
E-Trade - "Don't trust their portfolio software unless you only do basic transactions. If you were to short put options, for example, you will be entertained in a major way (I promise)! Their Super Bowl ad confirmed what I already suspected, the CEO hired a bunch of chimps to do the hard parts."
E-Trade - "I have been very happy with E-Trade. $50. sign on bonus was paid on time and have had excellent service. I wish thE-Trade rates were lower and it's a consideration for me to move to another broker but other than that I have very few complaints. ThE-Trade confirmation time is almost immediate."
E-Trade - "Watch them like a hawk. Absolutely no customer service. High rates. I will never trade with them again."
E-Trade - "E-Trade has frozen my ability to view or access my account unless I accept their new agreement which pops up every time I try to go to my account. In order to review the new terms I would have to print out untold pages to in order to ask questions. My copy of price quotes for getting a stock certificate states a cost of $15.00. I would like to get out and was told by their rep on the phone it would cost me $30.00 to get stock certificates. I am never going to be a largE-Trader and I feel my account is held hostage until I click 'I agree'. What I want now is to get out in the least expensive way as I would lose big time (for my financial situation) if I were to liquidate Cisco now. Also when you purchase a stock with E-Trade you do not actually own the stock as I understand it. Too bad for me and you if they go belly up."
E-Trade - "E-Trade = Disgusting. I have sent 5 cheques to E-Trade which I received from a Californian company. Unfortunately, they were fraudsters and let all cheques bounce. Not only did I loose that money (also, E-Trade took 6 weeks to clear the cheques), but E-Trade charged me $25 of each (6 x $25) and closed my account because they consider 'receiving a bounced cheque a high risk' and because this fraudster sent me 5 cheques which I presented at the same time I am considered high risk. At my best times, I had $250.000 with them. No more E-Trade."
E-Trade - "I am using E-Trade options link account, which is horrible. The customer service simply does not answer your calls (they do send an email, but the contents are meaningless). They have not explained their trading options anywhere in detail (you get one or two lines of explanation which is useless to explain complex calculations). The account statements do not explain thE-Trades. The information given simply does not add up e.g. 2+2 is *never* 4! I would have changed my broker, but I am tied to it because of my employers agreement with them. Needless to say, all this comes with a very high fees. It appears that they are trying to suck out money from their customers for every little thing."
E-Trade - "My experience with E-Trade has been nothing short of a nightmare. Initially after forwarding monies it took almost 3 weeks and daily calls to them for the acct. to open. I decided to open a coporate acct. and was re-asssured that they could be linked.. guess what; no such luck. I cannot check balances of corporate money market account online, have to call them. I executed a "sell" phonE-Trade (at airport after 9/11 shutdown) for "that day only" and it was done "till cancelled" costing me thousands. I attempted to finally close my money market acct. and was given the wrong balance (twice), therefore my check was tagged "NSF" they charged me a fee which they refuse to rescind. I faxed them documentation for the acct. closure which the first rep lost(?). And finally, if you need to reach cust. svc, prepare to wait for at least 1/2 to one hr. with the possibility of being placed on hold several more times. Live and learn!"
E-Trade - "I used E-Trade for about 5 years and have been very satisfied. Hardly any mistakes, and when there were, they were promptly corrected. I have only used them online and never on the phone."
E-Trade - "They absolutely, positively refuse to provide any level of customer service. If you don't like it, go away. I did."
E-Trade - "Time for me to move on to another broker... E-crap does not have their you know what together! The site is very very slow and their accounting sucks!"
E-Trade - "I've had an E-Trade account for over 4 years and been through some ups and downs with their service but they've gotten better and I'm happy with execution prices which always are better than Fidelity does for orders placed at the same time. I find their online interface easy to use but you need to watch your orders. If you make a mistake it's your mistake. I'm not a trader so I don't have an opinion on that aspect. FWIW I closed my account at Muriel Siebert due to very poor online availability."
E-Trade - "I would never recommend this online broker. I closed my account with them and over one month later I have not gotten a closeout statement of my account. I have had numerous emails promising to send a closeout statement but, their statements are as believable as their service...Not!"
E-Trade - "E-Trade got their act together and provide a good service, they should now drop their commission prices to stay competitive with the top 10."
E-Trade - "I use to have an E-Trade account, but I closed it because they made too many errors."
Datek & E-Trade - "I'm a grandmother of 64 and started day trading with Datek over three years ago. I think they're excellent. Super fast, and accurate executions. Very low price and never an argument from customer support. For me, their customer support has been great. I use the streamer daily but now keep the "Island" open too as I find together I get a more accurate picture of the market flow. Yes, from time to time, when the herds they are a runnin', quotes on certain stocks go wild and are inaccurate but so out of line that you usually know it instantly. I have an E-Trade account too but find the interface very confusing and difficult to use and costs per trade are much higher. Also, their customer support is not as friendly."
E-Trade - "Not competitive in price. Seems to be slower in executing orders than Fidelity. Don't like having to reenter my password on every trade when already logged into a secure site."
E-Trade - "Plan and simple they can not add!"
Datek & E-Trade - "Hi, I'm was just introduced to Dogs of the Dow and love it! I was pleased to see that you rated Datek as one of the top brokers. I'm a full time student (and work part time) and don't have much money to invest (read: none). E-Trade slammed the virtual door in my face (a tad rudely, I might add); Datek has been nothing but professional, courteous, and helpful to me. And, cheaper, too!! I'm having fun and feel good about it as I gingerly gamble -- uh, I mean invest -- my measly sums! :o)"
E-Trade - "Up to date, news, real time quotes, excellent service."
E-Trade - "Do yourself a favor and don't even think about opening an account with E-Trade. It took me 5 weeks and countless hours holding on the telephone to get an account open with them, and even then, it had no trading privileges. They required a compliance letter that was sent by me at least twice, yet mysteriously disappeared. Furthermore, they rip you off by having an 11 day hold on your check before they will issue a refund. Avoid E-Trade like the plague!"
E-Trade - "Very manipulative, fills do not conform to 'time and sales', wasting time scalping regardless of market conditions, especially since there new rebate program. Very much a ripoff for the day trader, but also a ripoff on a smaller scale, to every investor."
E-Trade - "It took over 23 days to open an account using a cashier's check. When I finally did get my account information, I also received another account holder's account number, userid and trading password. They seemed very nonchalant about the whole thing and basically said (paraphrasing) 'they were secure enough and that nothing could go wrong.' They scare me. I am moving to another broker."
Ameritrade & E-Trade - "I have accounts with Ameritrade, Quick & Reilly and E-Trade. I rate Ameritrade the best because of price and because they provide stockquest which is excellent for screening or evaluating stocks. The only disadvantage is that they only pay 2.75% on idle funds. E-Trade and Q&R use MM funds that pay almost twice as much."
E-Trade - "I am very disappointed with E-Trade. Their servers almost always hang around the open and close and their execution confirms are slow. It is hard to tell if your order has been filled or not. Not the choice for activE-Traders. Price is ok but service is poor. I'd rather pay twice as much to get better execution. One botched trade makes up for the difference. Run, don't walk to a better broker."
E-Trade - "When everything is working as expected they are excellent. But, when there is heavy volume I cannot even logon! Similar to an item put on sale but not nearly enough in stock. Either spend some money on servers or say farewell to E-Trade."
E-Trade - "I signed up with E-Trade when they offered a $50 sign on bonus. Now, 8 months later, I still have not received my $50. Also, most of my trades come in at $19.95, nowhere near a "deep" discount. But they do offer the best selection of low minimum mutual funds I have found with only a 90 day holding period required."| Insightful stock market charts at | Defining the world of investing | |
| |
 |