Fees and Service

[bearkeley]

Okay so as we discussed earlier the USAA fees are a bit high but the service is great.

We noticed that E-trade and Scott Trade have low fees does anyone have experience with their customer service.

Several years ago I had an e-trade account (I actually still have it but I ignore it hopeing it will go away ) and found it difficult to get help. Dont know if they have improved.

Any thoughts.

[Spanky]

I have an E*Trade account but never require any assistance. Thus, I cannot really comment on their customer service.

[education]

bearkeley--

I just got back in the market this past week. You know, the day BEFORE the market went to hell again. I had a scotttrade acct I opened for on-line trading that I never used. When I got back in, I saw they had a local office so I went.

They were quick and helpful. There was no pressure. They worked it so I can use my acct on line or face to face. I like face to face much better, so it is a no-brainer. It cost me less by half than when I was dealing with "the big boys" brokerage firms in 2000. And I lost money w/o any guidance from these so-called wonder guys. Lots of money!!!!!!!!!! I'm sticking with Scotttrade.

Professor

[JPatrick]

I've had a Scottrade account for several years and find it to be generally OK.
My only bitch is that occasionally when daytrading I don't feel I get the best possible execution, but I really have no way of proving it so I guess I don't have a case.* The local office is helpful and they seem to be eager to please.
You really can't beat the prices.
If you plan to do any aggressive trading, you will find a high speed internet connection is a must to take advantage of their support stuff.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

In investing, and almost everything else, I've seen very little correlation between marketed or paid for 'quality' and the actual service provided. I think any "good" service, at least what you'd hope you can expect, is almost accidental.

[haha]

I have had a Fideliy account over 30 years. Always Gold Standard Service. I don''t think I can remember one bad experience, and I've had many extra good beyond normal experiences.

Ha

[sgeeeee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bearkeley . . . We noticed that E-trade and Scott Trade have low fees does anyone have experience with their customer service.* . . .

I had a HarrisDirect account and HarrisDirect recently sold me to E-trade. So far, the service s~cks wind. I mean major vacuum s~ucking. They sent me a letter telling me how to sign on to my account. It didn't work. I went through their procedure several times, but it wouldn't let me log on. I tried to call and was on hold for over 45 minutes before I just gave up. I wrote an email message (using the "contact us" form) that never got answered. Two or three days later, they fixed their web problem so I was able to log on. So my next task was to get electronic updates with my Microsoft Money. I waded through menus for quite awhile and decided to call again. Same thing . . . about 30 minutes on hold till I finally gave up. I again used their web site "contact us" form. That was two nights ago. Still no answer.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I've found 'email service' to be completely worthless almost 100% of the time. I just call now. Either I get no response to the email service or I get a reply that says they cant service my request via email and I need to call. Usually I can see absolutely no reason why the item requires me to call.

Worst service I've gotten from brokerages was american express and smith barney (the smith barney one was back in the days of the $300 trade). Ameritrade also stunk although they were cheap. Vanguard is pretty good, I have no complaints.

[smooch]

I opened a Scott Trade account and the service has been very good. And it is refreshing to pay $7 per trade after $55.35 per trade with Merrill Lynch.

[pms163]

For an inexpensive broker, Interactive Brokers (IB) is good. Trades are $1/trade or $0.005/share, with a $10 minimum per month and no additional monthly fee for an IRA or similar account. If you're doing two or more trades per month, it's hard to beat.

It has a few drawbacks -- e.g. no mutual funds, no interest on cash for cash balances <$15K.

And customer service? What's that?

[youbet]

After shopping other brokerages, I've decided to stick with Schwab. I live close to an office and find I can usually walk in and get excellent service at any time. Calling ahead for an appointment makes good face-to-face service guaranteed. Their web site is good and that is what I usually use. The automated phone service is so-so. Most impressive is calling for help on weekends or holidays. My call is always answered promptly by a representive who knows what he/she is talking about. Example: I called at half time of the Bears game two weeks ago asking about covered calls. The representative explained that I needed to fill out a form to set my account up for options and put them in the mail, answered several question I had about doing the transactions and even walked me through the appropriate pages of the web site. We were done by the time the game started, I grabbed another beer and some snacks and was back in the family room by for the 2nd half kickoff.

They aren't as cheap as some of the true discount brokers, but much, much cheaper than the full service brokerage I used to use. And the estimated $200 a year in higher commissions and fees I pay is more than justified by the excellent service. They never try to sell me anything or make any recommendations as to specific investments. They'll make recommendations for a fee, but I'm not interested. I just want to be able to walk in or call and have a knowledgeable person answer every time and at anytime.

[brewer12345]

I have said it before, but I have had excellent experience with Schwab. The incremental commissions are negligible, especially if you are a buy and hold type.

[sailor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brewer12345 I have said it before, but I have had excellent experience with Schwab. The incremental commissions are negligible, especially if you are a buy and hold type.

Experience is good, but comissions are tad high.
$100 to buy $20k worth of BRSIX (decided not to buy it - I'm thinking about IWC for 9.99 commision instead)
$55 to buy $30k worth of GIM (bought it yesterday).

[brewer12345]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sailor Experience is good, but comissions are tad high. $100 to buy $20k worth of BRSIX (decided not to buy it - I'm thinking about IWC for 9.99 commision instead) $55 to buy $30k worth of GIM (bought it yesterday).

Hmmm, well, if you are buying mutual funds that aren't on the no-fee list, or lots of shares of low-priced stocks, then Schwab might not be the best place for you, price wise. For the vast majority of "stuff" traded on an exchange and a fairly wide selection of mutual funds, they are competitive, though.

[Irwin41]

I have an account with them because the company I used to work for used them to hold employee stock purchases. I called them just the other day to ask a dumb question. I was on hold for over an hour before I gave up and went to Fidelity to ask my question.

[ladelfina]

weird.. I have never been on hold w/them for long.. usually just a couple of minutes. I like them OK. I get $12.95 trades, have only bought funds a couple times but am now won over to ETFs and they seem solid, reliable, etc.

I wouldn't bother switching to something cheaper since I am pathologically buy&hold.

[Rosalita]

I was also a Harris Direct customer who was sold over to E-trade. I highly recommend NOT going with E-trade. I've spent the last 3 weeks trying to get a hold of someone. I had the same experience as "SG", they changed my account login information and did not tell me, they changed my account numbers and didn't inform me. I've been on hold for 1 1/2 hours at a time trying to reach a real person - but alas the call is always dropped before anyone gets on. Apparently "welcome packs" and emails were sent out to all Harris customers, but somehow myself and several other Harris customers I've talked to never received them.

I did find out a way to reach someone live - not that they can always help - tell them you need a "new account". Amazingly, you'll have a live person on line in under 1 minute. Their customers they couldn't care about, but new business they do.

I had to walk down to a real office so I could speak to someone. I'm in the process of shifting everything over to Fidelity. Too bad Harris was swallowed up - they were great to deal with, easy and always someone to help if you needed it.