Vampires at Scottrade :)

[HobbyDave]

Scottrade didn't have any good methods of transferring money between accounts (and their interface was out of date, their service was poor, etc), so awhile ago I transferred to E-Trade.

Just 5 minutes ago I received a call from Scottrade, which went basically as follows:

Person: Hi David, this is <name> from Scottrade. According to our records, your accounts here at Scottrade were transferred in the past to E-Trade. In recent days we've received a lot of calls from those E-Trade customers who were interested in transferring their accounts back to us, due to the recent news reports. We thought we should check to see if you were interested in transferring your accounts back to Scottrade as well.

I just said no thanks, and they left it alone, but I thought it was pretty funny/interesting/annoying that they were calling around hoping to pick off E-Trade customers due to the news reports. I wonder if the other brokerages are taking the same steps?

Not that I don't understand the business reasoning, it just strikes me as a bit odd that they didn't talk to me for well over a year, and suddenly call me, hoping I'll panic and transfer my accounts to them.

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HobbyDave Not that I don't understand the business reasoning, it just strikes me as a bit odd that they didn't talk to me for well over a year, and suddenly call me, hoping I'll panic and transfer my accounts to them.

In a discount brokerage there is limited time for calling customers; this seems to be a pretty good application of the "Strike while the Iron Is Hot" adage. I imagine they will definitely get some takers. Older people especially can become very fearful about situations like E-Trade.

Ha

[RetireeRobert]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HobbyDave Scottrade didn't have any good methods of transferring money between accounts (and their interface was out of date, their service was poor, etc), so awhile ago I transferred to E-Trade. Just 5 minutes ago I received a call from Scottrade, which went basically as follows: Person: Hi David, this is <name> from Scottrade. According to our records, your accounts here at Scottrade were transferred in the past to E-Trade. In recent days we've received a lot of calls from those E-Trade customers who were interested in transferring their accounts back to us, due to the recent news reports. We thought we should check to see if you were interested in transferring your accounts back to Scottrade as well. I just said no thanks, and they left it alone, but I thought it was pretty funny/interesting/annoying that they were calling around hoping to pick off E-Trade customers due to the news reports. I wonder if the other brokerages are taking the same steps? Not that I don't understand the business reasoning, it just strikes me as a bit odd that they didn't talk to me for well over a year, and suddenly call me, hoping I'll panic and transfer my accounts to them.

My daughter had an account at Scottrade for about a month until they screwed up one too many times on new customer processes. So we closed it out and went to Waterhouse where she has been quite happy. That was three years ago. She periodically gets mailers from Scottrade as if she is still a Scottrade account holder. Go figure.

[utrecht]

It seems to me that they would be pretty busy with all the related things needed to do with transferring assets if they really received alot of calls from E-Trade customers wanting to transfer back. They seem to have lots of time on their hands. Sounds like wishful thinking to me.

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by utrecht It seems to me that they would be pretty busy with all the related things needed to do with transferring assets if they really received alot of calls from E-Trade customers wanting to transfer back. They seem to have lots of time on their hands. Sounds like wishful thinking to me.

Back office/Front Office

Ha

[utrecht]

I still dont buy it. How come its only Scottrade that we've hear this about? Previous customers from Scottrade are the only ones who want to switch back? I doubt it.

[CybrMike]

I have a scottrade account that I never use (has money in it though). I just leave the investments alone mostly except for a little rebalancing. Their interface is a lot worse than TD Ameritrade's though, so I keep the bulk of my money there.