e*Trade

John of Los Angeles, CA February 7, 2006

John of Los Angeles CA (02/07/06)
Last month I opened an online brokerage account with e*Trade. I'm a novice, but I thought I dip my toe into the world of investing. I transferred 2000, made a few buys, and all was rosy. Then, as soon as my 2000 cleared the bank, e*Trade switched off my account with no explanation. My portfolio was blank and I had no access to my cash. I called customer service and they said they wanted to verify my account via telephone and that someone would call that day or the next. Okay, sounds good. Glad to know they take extra precautions.

It is now going on three weeks and I've received no call and my account is still non-existent. I've called customer service four times (I was once on hold for 2 hours) and they just tell me the same thing—I need to talk to a "Linda." The last person told me my account was flagged with the word "indictment," which has sent me into total panic mode. I have never been indicted for anything ever!

I've sent 5 emails, 3 faxes, one letter, and I've left 5 phone message for this "Linda" (whose voice mail does not identify her by name nor that she even works for e*Trade) and I've heard nothing back. In my last message, all I asked was for her to please call me back just to reassure me she is real, there really is an "e*Trade", and we would eventually straighten out the situation. I received no call.

Frankly, I beginning to think I've been hustled and I will never see my 2000 again. E*Trade has my money and it looks like they are keeping it. Stocks that I would have sold have lost money and I can do nothing about it. Approximately 600 cash is just sitting in my Brokerage that I need to pay bills, but I cannot access it to transfer. This phantom " indictment" charge has me terrified—has someone stolen my identity? Oh, just for comic relief, yesterday I finally did receive something back from e*Trade. It was an email form letter suggesting I consult their automated online Help Center "designed to answer many questions." It's a nightmare.

Patricia of Massapequa Park, NY February 1, 2006

Patricia of Massapequa Park NY (02/01/06)
I spent over one hour this morning on the phone having to make three separate calls to Etrade due to problems. Your Power Etrade phone number no longer gives customers the quick response it is supposed to. Since taking over Harris Direct, Etrade has been operating like a second rate brokerage firm. Problems all over the place from trade executions to balances not updating to very long phone holds to lousy customer service! It is a disgrace. Here is what I went through today in the first hour of trading:

1. My first buy order on VYST – it sat there appearing to be an “open order” for a very long time – no response from Etrade on whether it executed nor could I cancel it. I tried calling Etrade and was on hold for ten minutes – I couldn’t wait so hung up. Bad enough your site was not updating information regarding trade status but I was unable to get someone on the phone.

2. My sell order of CALB – I put the order in on the bid – the bid was large enough for that order to execute right away. It sat there for 15 minutes – I once again had to call Etrade and waited 10 minutes before a broker picked up the call and put me on hold another 5 minutes to get the trade executed. Luckily for me it was not a stock that was moving – I would have lost the trade within that time if it were.  Of course your Etrade broker blamed it on the fact that it was a penny stock. I have heard that excuse so much from ET. Funny, I never have execution problems on pennies when I trade with Ameritrade nor do they use that excuse.

3. My third and longest call was to customer service regarding the fact that I still have yet to see a credit to my account from my points that I accrued through an Etrade credit card program. Any points earned in 2005 were supposed to be applied to 2006 trading for free commissions. Last year it took me about five phone calls for Etrade to credit my account for free commissions – it was like pulling teeth to receive something I was entitled to. Once again it looks like the same problem.

I called and was put on hold for 15 minutes. I then spoke with a customer service rep that didn’t have a clue what he was talking about. He kept insisting that it had “run out” and that I wasn’t entitled to the free commissions. I tried to calmly explain to him that he didn’t understand the provisions and that I needed to speak with someone who did. He finally was able to pull up some information that proved he was wrong and that he was reading old information. This took another 15 minutes for ME to explain an Etrade program to one of YOUR representatives.

After taking up about 25 minutes of my time he finally transferred me to someone within the credit card department who at least seemed to have a clue on what was happening. She promised me that she would research why I have yet to receive a free commission when I am indeed entitled to 24 this year with the points I accrued. That took another 10 minutes on the phone.

ETRADE is an absolute disgrace! By taking on Harris Direct you have compromised your original customers – real nice! Etrade obviously can’t handle the new load of customers and was ill prepared – new personnel should have been hired and trained prior to the merge.

David of Hawthorne, NJ January 28, 2006

David of Hawthorne NJ (01/28/06)
I have been calling etrade's 800 numbers for over a week 3-10 times a day with no response. I was a Harrisdirect client who ETRADE brought out, whenever I called harrisdirect it was a 1-3 minute wait.

I have much cash in my account from a recent sale of stock and I can't get to anyone to see if they know what to do with my cash. Harrisdirect made mistakes and in less then 5 minutes corrected the problem. I can't talk to anyone at ETRADE about this problem; how can the exchage allow this company to operate; can I go after the exchange and etrade?

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