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E-trade Consumer Reviews - Page 2

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Diabolical Customer Service and Support
By -

Four weeks ago E-trade advertised a great rate for a 6 month CD. I opened an account on Jan. 3 which was quite easy, called a few days later to give them my bank details as they had instructed me to do, i.e., routing number and checking account number. After that call they told me in seven days my money would be transferred out of the my checking account and into my new CD account. It is now January 31, 2008 and they still have not transferred the money.

When you call to tell them of the problem, which I did as soon as I saw that it was over 7 days and my money is still sitting in a non earning interest checking account they told me they would have to open a work flow number and it would take 2 business days. I called on a Thursday and asked them if they could tell me why the money could not be transferred before the weekend? The pleasant, but very scripted and robotics customer service person keep repeating the policy.

I told her I needed to know that my "guaranteed" rate will still take effect and the unknown delays would not impact it, she said... “Oh no, I can't guarantee that.” Told me to wait until I received a letter in the mail after the transfer was completed and if it was not the rate I signed on for then I can call back and dispute it!! I asked to speak to a manager, however, I was transferred to "a more experience representative." Who repeated exactly what the other person already told. And, was not overly sympathetic to my problem.

I called back on the Monday (they do not give customer's call backs.. even under the circumstances. I had to call them) only to be told that I had to wait until Tuesday (mind you this is 3 weeks later from the time I called to have the money transferred), because I called late in the day back on Thursday so that did not really count! I called today, only to be told the same thing.. that my money still did not transfer over and that they did not know why so they would have to open another work flow research application and let me know in two to three business days.

I again asked to speak with a manager, only to have the customer service rep get back on and say, “Oh my supervisor is on another call.” I said, “OH I AM SURE SHE IS.” So she continued to apologize to me about how sorry she was. I told her I felt bad for her that she is working for such a poorly managed company who puts them on the frontline with no support or back up. She continued to shovel me niceties hoping I'd go away. I told her that I want the rate I was promised and that I want the manager to call me not in 3 more days but the next day. Ha-ha. I have a better chance of single handedly pulling the troops out of Iraq!

It occurred to me that E-trade reps are trained to handle unhappy customers because they are so prepared to take bullets and ranting. They all stay calm and just apologize and repeat over and over the procedures (which obviously don't work). I work for a 60 Billion dollar company and no one had to train me on how to handle an unhappy customer. They teach me how to make darn sure the customer is happy and treat them how I would want to be treated if I was that person on the other end of the phone. E-trade folks have no sense of urgency or passion. I say it must come from the top down.

As of today, I have lost money and so has E-trade. I want my rate as a matter of principle but I may have to cut my already great loses and move on and leave E-trade where they belong.. in the dust! It's sad to see a company that could have so much potential throw it away due to lack of genuine care for the most important parts of their organization. #1 their customers and #2 their employees.

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Takes Money, Wont Give It Back!
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- I deposited money over a month back. They won't give it back even though the check was cashed. They will not allow a 3rd party (With my authorization) to speak to anyone in management and with a BBB complaint as well as a CFPB complaint filed they still don't respond. They take people's money and spend it on more commercials to get more people to try them out. Don't do it!

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Trading experience
StarStarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 2/51

LA -- Cammyton2atgmaildotcom
I got ripped off by this broker recently it was difficult to get a withdrawal after several failed attempts. I had to hire a recovery solution company to get my funds back. Glad I got a refund happy to share my experience.

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Will Not Return Money
StarStarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 2/51

Used managed account. Never liked several stock and bond picks. Lousy return. Asked for money out. After three requests from a new broker and 21 days missing good turn up in stocks costing me several thousands. Account still locked up. Spoke to them over four times. Always told it was pending. Do not put money in managed account unless you want lack of access.

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Can't Close Account as Executor of Estate
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

I am the executor of a sizable estate. There is about $500 in an eTrade account which had probably been closed but not swept. Of all the accounts, some containing hundreds of thousands of dollars, this is the worst nightmare. Every week, I am told they need something else or the never ending "it is under review". NEVER, NEVER put your money with eTrade. They are very unhelpful and frustrating. I have been working on this for 6 months and truly believe they won't close it, which means we can't close the trust.

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Don't Open an Account; You Won't Be Able to Close It
By -

Summary: Incoherent, buggy web-interface, lots of service charges, Very poor customer service (be prepared to wait for 2 hours or more). Here's what I went through: I opened an account a month back. I haven't been able to access the account since. I was charged $10 a few weeks back in a statement. So I decided to check again. My account still had the message "your account is temporarily unavailable." So I placed a call... and started playing with the interface. This is one of the most confusing web pages. Most clicks take me to an 'open another account' page. I had to activate my service by filling a different URL.

The balances seemed to show. I could not transfer money from my bank account (thank god). I could not log in to make trades. The log in page redirected me somewhere else. By this time I was frustrated, I tried to close the account but I could do it on the web. And the call... it took 2 hours to talk to a customer service rep. He charged me another $10 to close the account. I told him this was ridiculous. He told me that I had to read the fine print. He also claimed that he cannot credit the account, but he can close it and that I should take this option when I have the chance.

I asked for the manager, and he put me on hold for another 20 minutes. The same guy picks up the phone and tells me the manager is busy. He claimed now that he credited the account (must have learned something new in those 20 min). The funny thing is that I still don't see the credit on my web page. He then gives me a FAX number where I have to send a signed statement that I want to close my account. I did not have to do any of this when I opened an account. eTrade is the most incompetent company I have had to deal with. Take my advice: Don't open an eTrade bank account. They are not trustworthy people.

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Etrade Brokerage Not For The Meek Or Faint Of Heart
By -

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA -- E*Trade's Auction Rate Security Fraud. I am over 60 years old and in the fall of 2007 I was lured by E*trade's ad for a JP Morgan money market fund for an IRA. In Short, I called to purchase this money market fund, (the trade could not be placed online). I was transferred to their "fixed-income" department and was solicited to buy Auction Rate Securities, for which the market has been frozen since Feb 2008.

E*Trade, in my opinion, knew the risk of this soon to be illiquid market, yet pawned them off on me and thousands more of their "clients=victims". They have been totally uncooperative, intransigent, rude, threatening, and unwilling to accept responsibility for their fraud and lies perpetuated by their agents back in late 2007. They offer no solution to help assist those of us caught in this mess, and they continuously deflect, deny, and defend their lack of accountability and irresponsible stance.

They have effectively stolen my 50,000 in an IRA no less and they only put up a smoke screen with low rent mafioso like attorneys. E*Trade from my experience is pure pond scam, and has zero ethics, and morality. Who on Wall Street does? They are the worst of the worst. RUN, DON'T WALK AWAY FROM E*TRADE, they will screw you over financially given the chance and are totally untrustworthy to be a custodian of anyone's money.

USE E*TRADE AT YOUR OWN PERIL.. I worked 20 years for my IRA money, and E*Trade does not have the honor, integrity, and lacks any accountability of the smallest scintilla of nil honesty. They SOLICITED Auction Rate Securities as a safe cash equivalent investment, the same as a money market fund. E*trade was warned and aware this market was a scam. Their former CEO a Lillien, was urging his brokers to sell the junk out of their house account. And that they did.

They have committed legal theft and have been all but the last broker (other being Schwab) to make their investors whole. If you want high blood pressure, anxiety, frustration, rudeness, untrustworthiness... then E*trade is your broker. If you value your sanity STAY AWAY from E*Trade. They, in my opinion, are thieves and wolves who will eat your account alive if you give 'em a chance. I am trying to spare others the angst and intimidation that you would incur if you have a brokerage account with them!

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Watch Out for Extremely High Fees - Avoid
By -

Let me preface by saying I have had E-Trade Accounts for more than 10 Years.. E-Trade is inexpensive for trades and has some great tools BUT - they have some huge fees that can blind side you. I found out the hard way. I have 1 smaller account I used for trading, about $1000 value three years ago. I held INTL shares and just thought I'd get out of trading for a while. I just logged in to my account and realized they had been charging me $40 EVERY 3 MONTHS for account fees. So in 10 quarters, they charged me $400. That's a pretty fast way to lose my investment.

I have 7 E-Trade accounts currently - all but one are retirement accounts or education savings accounts for my kids. All told, I have in excess of $25,000 invested with E-trade, a 2nd mortgage and a credit card. I asked their customer service to waive or return some or all of the fees, because I met their requirements. They would not. Not even a little. I know - I should have paid closer attention, but I signed up for electronic notifications and I used a outdated email. My own fault there.

I just feel they are clearly using the huge quarterly fee to eliminate unprofitable accounts (how it's unprofitable, I don't know) - and when they are targeting a loyal and hopefully valued customer, they should express some latitude. BTW - I sold the stock, and now to transfer the $494 I have left to my bank account will incur a $60 transfer fee! I'll bet, most of the fees not associated with trading (which they advertise all the time) are very high and serve as their main source of profit. I believe there are better alternatives and unfortunately, that's where I'll be transferring the remainder of my accounts.

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Formal Complaint Policy Procedures
By -

MERRIFIELD, VIRGINIA -- November 2007 by phone contact, I set up an account with E-Trade Financial Bank, thinking my account was set up after following the direction's of the Teller. I had to go and deposit from my external account B Of A, a $100 to start up a checking, and $1.00 to set up the savings. Upon doing all that was requested, I was informed that I would be receiving all Check books and Visa card within 7 working days and those days went for more than what was stated.

After not receiving the information needed for the account, I called E- Trade Financial again. They informed me that they needed me to fax over my personal ID in which they gave me the fax number to pass on the information. I thought I was finished and all was completed. I waited another week, and nothing again so I called and asked about the account again. This time I was told that my account was denied due to me for not sending my ID as I was requested.

I let them know after getting my information and number I was given to fax the requested information to them, I did what I was asked to do, and you all should have let me know what decision you had made before you cancel the account, at least you should have given some kind of notice to me what decision was made. This time I was told to set up the account online and I took their advise. My Goodness, this time it went OK, until I was trying to make a withdrawal from my account after making more than a hefty deposit in there.

It was worse than the first time and I was told that they didn't want my service anymore and I stated the feeling is mutual, I don't want yours. I do agree with their Security procedures, but when they create questions that you have not put down for your personal information in processing the online application, there is a big problem at that point. I will never do any business with these people again. And I am in the process even as I write this message in attempting to retrieve my funds now at this time. Hopefully no one else go through what I have!

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Etrade Doesn't Know What Is Unusual About Nothing
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS -- So, I have some stocks and stuff and I thought, maybe I will consolidate it all to ETrade. I mean, they are cheap, good products, etc. Why not? HA! So, I opened my account. Easy. I go online to do the online transfer and get a message: "You are not authorized." Okay, so I email customer service since it is not urgent enough to call. They say to mail money or use the link to transfer. Ummm... it didn't work which is why I emailed them to begin with. SO, I replied and cut and paste the message.

Now they reply that I have to mail or fax a copy of my ID, SS Card (front and BACK) and utility bill. Okay, I get it - they want to make sure I am me. Fine. So I fax all of it in. I get a message that it is received. Next day I login to a new message: DUE TO UNUSUAL ACTIVITY WE HAVE FROZEN YOUR ACCOUNT. Hmmm... What activity? There is NO money and NO stocks because you asked for my ID so I did that? What constitutes unusual activity? Perhaps no activity is unusual. Of course, NO ONE can explain why so I sit on hold and transfer and hold. I send another message to customer service via email for fun.

A couple a days later, they answer saying that they need to VERIFY information, but won't tell me what information. They send 16 account alerts to me on a single afternoon. Most refer to the "unusual" activity but one mentions they could not read my ID. Well, here is the thing. IDs now are designed NOT to copy well and fax them in and it's worse. So I offer my US Passport which copies better but that is NOT acceptable. So, needless to say, I give up. I am out nothing because I did not ever get around to transferring my securities in. Just keep that all in mind.

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E-trade Rating:
Star Empty star Empty star Empty star Empty star
1.1 out of 5, based on 20 ratings and
63 reviews & complaints.
Contact Information:
E-trade
1271 Avenue of the Americas, 14th Floor
New York, NY 10020-1302
1-800-387-2331 (ph)
ww.us.etrade.com
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