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I have had an account with E+ACo-Trade since the beginning. For whatever it may
be worth, here are some of my personal observations and opinions on E+ACo-Trade
as it presently exists:
1. Their target customers overlap many/most of the target customers of
Schwab. Hence, they have little interest in, or operational or
infrastructure support for, daytraders, very short term traders, or options
traders.
2. Their business model apparently revolves around competing with the likes
of Schwab on the basis of price only. Hence, issues like customer service
and order fills receive only secondary consideration, if that.
Again, I am speaking of the present E+ACo-Trade:
Original Etrade - commissions were the lowest available+ADs- commissions were
lowered even more on a nearly predictable and regular basis+ADs- telephone
answered but never promptly+ADs- human beings able to be located and spoken
with+ADs- Direct dialup access and internet access frequently down or crashed
but easy to use when working+ADs- emails answered in timely fashion+ADs- order fills
were timely and reasonable+ADs- stop orders accepted without undue grief.
Etrade After Going Public - commissions tend toward the high end for a
'discount broker'+ADs- commissions flat and appear to be under some pressure to
increase+ADs- telephones answered promptly but by a voice menu computer system+ADs-
human beings can be summoned to the telephone only with substantial
investment of time and effort, if at all+ADs- Direct dialup access now gone and
internet access now easy but frequently you can't get past the welcome
screen for some minutes due to server time outs, connection resets, garbled
server responses, etc+ADs- emails today apparently routinely ignored+ADs- order
fills frequently delayed or unpredictable+ADs- usage of stop orders severally
restricted either by policy or procedure.
Same story as what happened when Gateway when public.
Given that nearly all on-line discount brokers have a poor to mediocre
reputation for customer service, accessibility, order fills, and
accountability then why not chose from among those with lowest commissions?
Presently I am looking to switch to DaTek.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Clint
-----Original Message-----
From: Robert W Cummings +AFs-mailto:robert.cummings+AEA-worldnet.att.net+AF0-
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 1999 2:26 PM
To: Ron Augustine
Cc: omega-list+AEA-eskimo.com
Subject: Re: On-line Options Brokers
Ron,
E-trade was going to start their own stock ET options exchange. Haven't
heard much other than that but maybe E-trade seems to an alternative.
Ameritrade does as well and is giving a month free trading as an incentive
for new accounts.
Robert.
Ron Augustine wrote:
+AD4-
+AD4-Does anyone have a recommendation for a reliable on-line Broker for Index
+AD4-and Stock Options who has reasonable commissions and good response times
via
+AD4-the Web?
+AD4-
+AD4-I have been using Dreyfus for quite some time, but their on-line
performance
+AD4-has degraded beyond acceptable levels recently.
+AD4-
+AD4-Thanks in advance for any info.
+AD4-
+AD4-
+AD4-
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