Kona,
I couldn't agree more! I am switching both of my e-Schwab accounts
to Waterhouse. For a premium price discounter they sure don't give
premium service. My last two e-mails have never been answered. When
I called and asked the rep why, he said it must of gotten lost on the
www. Give me a break, my first e-mail was asking what happened to last month's statement which I never received. The last straw was when I wanted to buy some Canadian and BB stocks and was told Schwab couldn't afford to trade them at e-Schwab rates. I was told I would have to open a regular Schwab account so that they could charge me 9 cents a share on a 40 cent stock. That's $450 on $5,000 worth of stock. How come Waterhouse can afford to trade it for $12.00. Perhaps they are more efficient than Schwab. Also they trade 24 hours a day. And if you have a problem, you can get help from a real person for free. They even let the broker at the local branch talk to you about your account. Something that Schwab says they can't afford at their low e-Schwab rates.
Also, have you noticed how your margin balance can change by hundreds of dollars from day to day when you have no trades pending while the securities in the margin acount are remaining mostly unchanged.
In case you are curious my second e-mail is about a margin balance which says that I owe $3,000 on my margin account despite the settlement date being past on a trade where I sold about $3,000 worth of stock. I hope they don't plan to keep charging interest on it.
Hope you find a better brokerage perhaps for a better price. Why pay premium price for being a second class citizen. Schwab makes it clear, if you want to be a first class citizen, you must open a regular Schwab account not an e-Schwab. Waterhouse provides the same services whether you trade on-line, by touch-tone, or through an account officer. The only difference is the fee, $12/$35/$45 for up to 5,000 shares for on-line, touch-tone, and real person respectively.
Happy trading, Cisco |
