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E-trade Consumer Reviews - Page 5

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Complaint
By -

After notifying Etrade in Feb. that I did not either sell or transfer funds from my Roth IRA to an external account, (after ten phone calls), they informed me that it was not a fraudulent transfer. Who else can I report this to. Don't the police have to do an investigation since the bank routing number and checking account number to which it was transferred ($17,000) are known. I called Bank of America to which it was transferred and they told me that that account was fraudulent and is now closed, however, etrade refuses to investigate. I have 24 separate accounts (family and friends) with Etrade.

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Beware the Float
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I first called E*Trade to close a CD instead of rolling it over on 2/12/09. I finally received the check 4/2/09. In the meantime, I faxed, refaxed, and re-refaxed a letter of instruction to close the account, together with all the supporting documentation. I spoke to at least 3 customer service staff, and each time, there was no new information in the computer. Now, having received the check, it has been placed on hold. Although the assistant manager of my bank would not explicitly say so - "they have had some trouble collecting funds from some banks and insurance companies". This was for an amount well under $10,000.

I cannot imagine why customer service would be this bad. AND, although I received the check, the account was now closed well after the rollover period, but the check was not accompanied by a statement describing the transaction - so I have no idea how much the penalty for early withdrawal was. So, I cannot either confirm that amount, or report it on next year's taxes. Do you think they are doing this in order to get the float?

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Deceptive Practice
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Recently in order to meet margin requirement with Etrade, we sold one security from our portfolio. After selling one security, we tried to sell another security from our portfolio to create cash in the account. But Etrade system did not allow and every time message was "We cannot accept the order because there are insufficient funds in your account".

We were selling our stocks. When we call them by telephone. We were told Etrade is working to correct the system. However they can enter the trade manually. I do not understand if it's ONLINE system, why do we have to go through a middle man.

All orders are reviewed by their back office serving wealthy clients. This could be to fill orders in house to make additional money. All the time there was a difference between the real time quote and orders filled. This practice is going on at least from the last two and a half years and have the same explanation that ETrade is working to solve the system problem. Did anyone else encounter the same problem?

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Deceptive Accounting
By -

I have been trading online since 1998 and had good and honest trading experience with Brown Co. But with E-Trade (bought out Brown Co) who have other conflicting financial services, it's quite different. With E-Trade, orders are not filled at the real time value, orders are directed to exchanges where E-Trade receive the best kickback, orders are withheld or filled in house. E-Trade without our authorization purchased securities in the account.

End of the day cash missing from the account, money withdrawal takes forever while deposit date changes from one day to another while withholding the money, margin calls appears at their own free will etc. Like to know if anyone of you had similar experience or is it only me? My experience with E-Trade is similar to what I had with Morgan Stanley Online who went out of business within less than six months.

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Etrade Has A Policy Of Freezing Accounts Without Warning
By -

I was a happy E*Trade customer for 4 years. My account balance is about 150k and I place about 300 trades a year. I logged in from another location and they froze my account. Checking, savings, brokerage, everything. No notice or explanation as to why I could not view or access my account, everything was just gone. I found out when my E*Trade visa card was declined at a restaurant when I was out with my girlfriend. It was Friday night and customer service wouldn't be available until 8am Monday.

I contacted customer service and they were useless. I asked them to contact me next time and they refused. Fidelity said that would never happen, gave me 100 free trades, and a 6 month gold membership for switching. I suggest you do the same.

I just talked to another E*Trade representative today while I was closing my accounts, and he was actually really understanding. He disagrees with the company's policy and acknowledged that this is a serious problem but there was nothing he could do to immediately fix it. So, if you have an E*Trade account send customer service a message requesting that they change this asinine policy of locking out accounts without notice! If you log in from an unrecognized computer they should just ask some security questions like every other financial institution does. This can happen to you too and this is the only way we can stop it.

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Closing Account - Rolling Over Funds to a Real Brokerage Company
By -

CALIFORNIA -- The last thing I need is my financial services company treating me like a phone and cable company. I don't want to be redirected to Manila and around the world giving out my sensitive information (hello, identity theft anyone?). Only to be on the phone for a good part of an hour until I finally get an American who actually knows about IRA's and American tax laws! I was with two other brokerage companies who were acquired by E*Trade. I know good service. This is not. It's completely unacceptable! This is one financial services company that I will celebrate if it goes down in history with Lehman.

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E-trade Is Misleading
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E-trade makes it sound like it is easy to sign up and start trading. I signed up. I used their Quick Transfer function to fund my account so I could be quickly trading and take advantage of the market prices while they were low. Oh, No. They take your money and hold it for at least 7 days until you can trade on. Rep told me I could not trade till the end of the month. They also will not let you buy stocks for under $10 a share for the first 3 days you are a customer.

When I asked about closing my account and getting my money back they told me we cannot do that until your account clears either. Then they sent me a message saying we can continue activating your account until you fax us a copy of your driver's license and social security card. E-Trade Sucks.

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Deplorable Customer Service
By -

E*Trade has blocked access to my trading account. I am not able to trade, access or view my holdings. I called and spoke with an E*Trade representative, identified myself as the owner of the account and inquired as to what has happened. I was told that one possible reason for this could be a login to my account from a foreign country.

Despite my inquiry I was not given a specific reason as to why my account was secured. Explaining that I travel globally 240 days a year also fell on deaf ears. I was then told that I would not be able to trade or cover any margin debts currently on my account until my account was reinstated. I was then told that a notarized letter of Authorization is required within one hour from my phone call to re-activate my account.

However, after inquiring about what a letter of authorization is, I was not given an answer. I further explained that I am in Iraq and do not have access to a fax machine and since emails with attachments are not allowed the only option available to me is the postal system which requires at least ten days for delivery.

In this current stock market I am losing thousands of dollars because I can not trade. I attempted to draft what I thought E*Trade might demand in an LOA and sent it via email despite their restrictions, a reply was received stating only that "Attachments are not allowed. Please mail your request." To send the required letter requires a minimum of ten days and we are already long beyond that. At this point E*Trade has offered no follow up, no assistance and no resolution.

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Funds Transfer to Broker Account
By -

OK I thought I'd vent my frustration here because it seems it's the only thing you can do when dealing with Customer No-Help Service. I opened an E-Trade A/C a couple of weeks ago and was firstly impressed by the website set up. It took awhile for my initial deposit to go through but gave it the benefit since it was a new account and not linked.

A week later I transferred a large sum using the Quick Transfer system on E-Trade set up to my linked account. No problem got an email and notification the next day my funds were transferred and accruing interest. The funds were also deducted from my linked account. The market was majorly moving so I was ready to trade on some researched stock I'd been waiting for the right time. But alas! Although my funds were in my E-Trade account, accruing interest, and cleared from my linked account... THE FUNDS WERE NOT AVAILABLE TO TRADE! What the **.

Customer No-Help Service assured me the funds were there accruing interest but would not be available to trade for 5 days! In a moving market it was quite frustrating to see my chosen stock rise dramatically and not be able to trade! Thanks E-Trade for holding MY MONEY in nowhere land. Note to E-Traders, make sure you set up a link from your external account and transfer from there. It apparently will be available on same day of posting in E-Trade... not 5 ** days later!

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More Trouble Than Its Worth
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I tried to open an account with E-Trade to get their 5.05% interest rate. Their website would not allow me to use my P.O. Box in my address where our mail comes. I had to call twice to get this entered in my profile so that I could receive information they wanted to send. When nothing happened after 2 days, I accessed the account but it would not allow me to use their online message center. When I called their telephone system, it was a joke. The automated system repeated the numbers I gave them but could not 'understand' my response. Then it started giving squirrelly responses. I had to call three different times to finally get through the system.

When I eventually spoke to someone in 'customer service', they wanted me to fax my driver's license 'twice' and another statement to verify my physical address. I told them my driver's license had the same information I had given them - in fact, they had said it was the information on my driver's license that caused the concern to begin with so they already knew what was on my driver's license! I have opened any number of accounts including bank accounts online. This was the most laughable, frustrating, and useless experience I've ever had.

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E-trade Rating:
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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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