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Bad Customer Service Results In What Feels Like Strong Arm Robbery
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- I opened an Etrade account last year (2011) and set-up a regularly scheduled transfer and everything was going as planned until February (2012) when the amount of the transfer was DOUBLE the allotted amount. I immediately called Etrade Customer Service and was SPECIFICALLY TOLD "There was a GLITCH in the system and that this would not happen again and that they have looked into my account and if I was to have the extra money that was transferred refunded that it would have repercussions on me come tax time or for the early redemption clause on the mutual fund that I had been purchasing".

So now fast forward to May (2012) the extra money had still been being transferred into my IRA account but I was able to manage and thought "well this will only benefit me in the long run by making double the contributions I originally set off to make" but I had stopped all "automatic buys", and waited for money to show up in my IRA and then I would personally purchase right.

This is what I was told that I can do on ANOTHER call with E-trade Customer Service, but get this here I am in May and I realize my account is in the NEGATIVE, so I call them on Monday to get this straightened out and was told that one of my AUTOMATIC TRANSFERS would clear in 2 days and that I should call back then and figure out what I need to do to keep this from happening again.

I get a call 3 days later explaining to me that I need transfer money into my account immediately to cover the cash call or Etrade will be forced to sell shares in order to cover the negative amount holding me responsible for any and all tax liabilities in the future unless I do a quick transfer. My complaint is why was this dragged out until I hit a negative amount when I originally called about this 3 1/2 months ago and the fact that it was their wrong doing and misinformation that caused this so why I am the one being penalized for their mistakes. They should be ones who have to wait until the next transfer in order to cover the negative portion of the account.

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Just Try to Get Your Money
By -

Unbelievable! Due to a personal emergency I needed to liquidate stock and access the funds. First of course is the joke of a $20+ 'trading fee' but then I started the process one week PLUS before I needed the funds. I get the whole SEC excuse for the 3 days to settle (although I am not sure just how entirely accurate that is) but then once the 'quick transfer' to my bank account was initiated what entailed was ridiculous. When 24 hours had passed with zero activity at my bank I called. What I was then told was it would another FOUR business days before the funds would available to my bank! What?!

So with a holiday in the middle and two weekends the time frame from executing a trade to actual deposit would be TWELVE DAYS. Of course they would do it sooner if I would simply 'pay' $25 dollars for a wire transfer! What happened next says it all. When the CSR offered to cancel the 'quick transfer' in order to do a wire transfer the funds were immediately available back in my account. So it takes 9 days on top of the three day settling period to have the funds available to the owner of those funds but essentially when you make a deposit into your account it's instantaneous and instantaneously held captive by e*trade.

Caveat emptor, and even though it's likely not significant to e*trade I will be liquidating ALL the funds at once and moving them to where I can actually access and use them when needed. Keep in mind I am not upset about the trading period but the idea that they hold on to funds for a week in this day and age of electronic transfers... that's almost the same if not worse than the days of handling it all by paper. FTR, my Fidelity and Ameritrade accounts have ALWAYS posted deposit requests to my personal bank account within the same day. Buyer beware and do yourself a favor and simply stay away.

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If You Value Your Sanity Do Not Use Etrade - for Anything!
By -

NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- We had a Line of Credit that was sold to ETrade Bank. They are absolutely the WORST company I have ever dealt within my life. Trying to get the loan paid off is a nightmare. After a recent home refinance, our title company sent a payoff with the request that the loan be paid off, closed and title release forwarded. If there were any problems, such as an incorrect amount required for closing, please call the title company immediately.

After two months we discovered that there was still a small balance remaining on the account. After spending nearly an hour on the phone and speaking to two individuals trying to find out why we were not supplied with corrected information for closing, we were told that their service department is NOT ALLOWED to call customers when there is a problem. All they can do is cash checks. They will not contact you even if you request it in writing.

When you call them no one has the authority to do anything. You can only write or fax them, they have no contact numbers for individuals. They also claimed not to have received any paperwork with the check, then after further research found an eTrade form, but denied finding the title company's transmittal request. I for one do not believe that a title company would send a check, the financial company's payoff form and neglect to send their own transmittal form, signed by us, requesting release of the lien (I have a copy of the form).

I used to work for a bank that actually helped customers, so I could not believe this horrible attitude. Our bank would have been on the phone within 5 minutes to clear up any problems. Thankfully, we were not in a situation where we were trying to sell the house and had to wait for a lien release.

This is a situation where we were trying to GIVE them money. Their poor customer service has cost additional time and fees on our part to get this matter settled. Can you imagine the horror if you were trying to get your money out of them. If you value your sanity, read the other reviews of eTrade and go elsewhere. There are other financial institutions/brokerages who still value your business, that are cheaper, and have helpful customer service departments.

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Worst Customer Service
By -

CALIFORNIA -- Please, do not open up with E-Trade Financial. You will lose all your money like I did and you will be charge for a lot of stupid reasons and every time, you have to call them to give your money back. Since you put your money in E-Trade account, it's impossible to remove it again. They kept my money in account and my checks returned and I paid a $75 check returned fee to E-Trade and my bank. I made a very important wire-out transfer to my another banking account because I had a mortgage to pay but it returned to my E-Trade account again because the Customer Service mixed up.

They advertised 100 free trade but that is not true. They charge you $13 for each trading and you have to pay and if you buy over 2000 shares, you have to pay 1.5 cents extra, and you have to do all your 100 free trading within a month. And then they may credit it back to you almost 2 minutes after opening your account, which I'm not sure. So far I haven't received it yet. But not the money - you pay 1.5 cents for over 2000 share - you have to pay that once for buying and again for selling that stock and it will be 3 cents.

E-Trade has a very bad financial situation and you can check with stock market. Don't put yourself in a big chance of losing your everything with E-Trade with merging account. I had a margin account with them and since stock hit the lower price in last two weeks, they forced me to sell my stock or they will sell it without my permission. They don't tell you they have a charge and it calls malignancy fee, which is $40 every 3 months. Anyway, I've been told to not open account with E-Trade but I didn't lessen and now I'm a loser.

If they did transfer my wire money correctly at the first time, now I wasn't a loser, and I wouldn't buy stock again and they wouldn't forced me to see it or they will sell my stock to any price. I transfer money last Friday, 11/28/08 but today, 12/02/08 my money is not into my another account. And when I called them, they said it will take by next 2 more day.

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Mismanaged an IRA Account
By -

My husband and I are in E-Trade nightmare hell. We have nearly a half million dollars invested in an IRA there. Two years ago, my husband called to purchase a $100,000 CD within the IRA account, our only one with E-Trade. It took two hours, which should have been a sign. (The other sign was E-Trade taking over three weeks to open the IRA with all this money without notifying us--a common complaint I see from these boards. Just found my desperate letters on that.)

Anyway, some idiot moved the $100,000 out of the IRA money market without my husband's permission. Mind you, we weren't surrendering the IRA funds--just wanted to transfer the hundred thousand out of the money market into the CD within the tax-free IRA account.

Fast forward to last week. The IRS sent us a bill because we hadn't paid taxes on the interest on the $100,000 CD!
Turns out they moved the money from the IRA and mis-registered it as a regular account. We cannot get any satisfaction from their outsourced Filipino help line, nor from the local "relationship manager" who was unbelievable rude and had a real blame-the-victim attitude.

In four separate phone calls to four separate people, we were told they would "solve" the problem within 48 hours. It's been a week. Every phone call says something different, but one of their people said: "We can't do anything. You just have to pay the tax until the CD expires in 2010." Unbelievable. I am in the process of pulling out all the other funds and putting them at another brokerage.

We may hire a tax lawyer. E-Trade has not been able to produce anything historical that shows the money was moved out of the IRA. We have statements--new account number, true--with the IRA statements, so didn't realize until the IRS notice that this money was invested outside the IRA without permission. They are so horrible and ineffectual, we are going to get a lawyer.

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Etrade screws up royally and Customer service really sucks
By -

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA -- It all started on Sept 12, 2007 when I faxed over some documents showing my name change. I sent it to both the bank and stock broker side. The stock broker side was quick to get things changed. The bank side had no clue. I called them on October 1st asking what was going on. They had no clue and tried to claim that I never faxed it over. But when I mentioned that the brokerage was good then they decided they would look for it. I was able to give them enough information to find it. I had followed the information on the web site which said that if I wanted a new bank card and checks to make sure that it was in the letter.

It was about a week later that I finally saw that the information was finally changed however they had not sent checks or a new bank card. I ordered new checks via online but called to get a new card. When I got the card, it had the wrong name on it. I called them up and was told by the customer service agent that he had seen this before and would ensure that a new one was sent out with the correct name on it. During this time, the card that I had was working. When I got the second card, it had the wrong name on it as well. I called the bank back up and the customer service agent told me several times that he had never seen this before.

The next day I went to buy lunch with my debit card and it had been canceled. I called the bank and was told it was SOP to cancel a card when a new one was ordered, however they had not followed the policy when ordering the previous two. I asked when I called to speak to a supervisor who was feeding me the same useless information that the other customer service reps had given me. I then asked to speak to his boss. Randy (the supervisor) told me that I had all ready asked to speak to a supervisor and his boss did not take calls. I hung up and immediately called the CEO's office.

I talked to Sasha there and he immediately set out to help me out. He was able to verify that a new card was ordered and the order had the correct name on it. He was also able to tell me when the card was going to get here. I am very disappointed with customer service reps. I also requested from Sasha that someone senior review the tapes of the days record and I made sure that he was aware that Randy had told me that I could not talk to his supervisor. I hardly recommend that people stay away from E-Trade.

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Ripped Off My Checking Account
By -

I opened this savings account online and initiated the ACH transfer of the initial balance from my checking account. 3 days later they took the money from my checking account. It did not post to their account. Per their agreement the account is not fully open until they have a signature card on file. I received said card and returned it to them 3 days later. Over a week passed and still my money did not appear in my savings account. I sent an email. The response was, "We cannot locate an account for you, you have to call."

I called the 800 number and spoke with a representative who spoke so little English that she absolutely could not understand me or why I was calling. I asked for a supervisor. After a VERY long wait, the same rep comes back on the line and says there are no supervisors available. I terminated the call and sent another email requesting the account be closed. No response.

I drafted a letter ordering them to close the account and return my deposit and put it into the mail. I also Googled to see if others had this sort of problem and was dismayed at what I found! I hold out little hope that I will ever see my money again. Fortunately it is only $25.00. Now I am extremely sorry I even considered E*Trade to do business with. Extremely sorry.

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Lost Access to My Account.
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

For no apparent reasons my account at E-trade was locked. I called the company and despite the fact I provided the E-trade representatives with my SS number, date of birth and current address they did not unlock my account. Not to mention I spent couple of hours on the phone answering ridicules questions. I will be withdrawing my money from Etrade ASAP. After reading reviews on the Internet I realized a lot of people are having the same problem. This may be an indication Etrade is having a financial difficulties so it has to froze accounts to stay afloat. I think Etrade soon will be going out of business. My advise - stay away from Etrade.

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Lies and More Lies. Be Advised Not to Use Etrade for Stocks
By -

WOMELSDORF, PENNSYLVANIA -- ETrade is the GoDaddy of stock trading. All marketing with a crappy service. The customer support is a nightmare. The website is full of half truths and misleading verbiage. First, I deposited my funds with "Quick Transfer" (more on this below) and called to confirm my free trades. They told me that because I previously had a savings account with their bank that I was considered an existing customer and did not qualify for any free trades or promotions. They suggested I read their website as if it actually contained this information. I was so mad.

The website says nothing to this effect. If I would have selected the option not to link by trading account to my bank account I would have qualified for the promo. Next, they proceeded to tell me that because I was a new customer they would hold my funds for 10 days (they just said I was not a new customer). So while my money sat in limbo for 10 days my stock shot up and I lost out on one of the best opportunities I ever had.

To this day their website says nothing about this type of hold. I read all the transfer information they have. You would think they would share this critical info. I want to cancel my account now, but I am reading they are going to charge me to get my money back. This is the worst company on the planet. They should get taken down for false advertising.

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E-Trade Has Stolen USD 466.000 From Me
By -

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA -- I wanted to make a third party wire. In order to make sure nothing would go wrong and no faxes would disappear I went into their affiliate in Chinatown, Manhattan. Despite standing in their affiliate with passport and driver'€™s license they insisted on having the wire instruction notarized. I have it notarized in Citibank. The E-Trade computer systems are not working, so they fax the document to Customer Service. Days go by, nothing happens. My account becomes restricted and the balance is changed to USD 0.00.

A month has gone by. I have contacted E-Trade by letter two times, visited three different affiliates in California, Chicago and NY. I have called Customer Service over and over again wasting hours trying to get through to the Security Department to clear up whatever issues they have with my account. They have not contacted me once. They have effectively stolen USD 466,000 from me. I cannot pay my mortgage. My apartment will be sold below value. Do never open an account at E-Trade! You have no rights! They take your property from you and will never contact you again!

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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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