I was with various versions of Schwab (Schwab, Schwab1, Schwab500, e.Schwab) for 10 years, and now have my trading account at Datek.
Schwab's July 1 systems hose-ups were the last straw for me and I finally initiated the DTC transfer. Once I got Schwab in gear on the transfer, it went in 3 days from Schwab receiving fax (must have signature) as advertised on the Datek web page (I don't know if the DTC doc is still there though). It brought a smile to my face to see the portfolio update during the day!
Compared to Schwab, the speed and price visibility of execution has been enjoyable and the instant buying power updates and instant availability of bp is WONDERFUL! At the e.Plumbers, trade confirmation was agonizing and once your buys for the day (sells got ignored) exceeded your nightly calculation of buying power all subsequent buys did not autoexecute buy went to their manual desk --- and anybody interested in real time quotes knows how far prices can move in 5-10 minutes. So far, knock on wood, I haven't discovered a Datek error in my account.
RE SUPPORT: at Schwab, you could get somebody on the phone in 5 to 10 minutes. But they considered execution of a market order w/in 2 minutes of placement as good enough. I did get a few trades "fixed" but only after great effort and angst on my part --- no substitute for doing it right the first time. At e.Schwab, a mailbot would have been more satisfying than dealing with the "Schwab-mail" support staff. You could call (1 free call/month, then $5/call), but the humans worked on pacific time (a relative of island time (isld.com time?)). And e.Schwab charged 29.95+SEC fee for up to 1000 shares.
I have requested 2 or 3 checks from Datek, no complaints. I have executed @70 trades since mid-july, no complaints ... only compliments.
Good trading to all, and best wishes for a speed resolution to those having difficulties. And shouted encouragement for the growing Datek support staff to achieve the support excellence to match the technical execution exellence! |
