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Non-Tech : WANTED Charles Schwab customers.
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To: John Sloan who wrote (8)10/28/1997 10:15:00 PM
From: Thomas V.  Read Replies (3) of 69
 
I agree with the criticism of Schwab. What good is a brokerage that keeps its clients locked out of the market when the need and opportunities are greatest? Schwab regularly touts that their eSchwab on-line trading service has the necessary capacity to handle any situation. Yet I found it impossible to place a trade today via the web, phone or eSchwab direct software. All were "busy".

I did have a little better luck accessing Fidelity after many attempts through their "telebroker" The Fidelity web was not accessible though.

The discount brokers give only lip service as to their capacity to handle unusual order loads. In just the last month I asked Schwab twice via email to comment on what if any provisions are in place to handle peak order loads in a sell-off situation. The questions were never responded to by Schwab. My feeling was that eSchwab phone service was inadequate and the web site seemed only marginally adequate in heavy volume days. My concern was that my account would be inaccessible in a meltdown. Early Monday morning I decided to put stop loss orders in effect to protect my gains with the intent of repurchasing the positions later at a lower price cost. The positions were stopped out later Monday morning. My plans to repurchase Tuesday at bargain prices were squelched though when I was unable to trade my account.

Maybe it's time to go back to a local full service broker, at least you can pick up the phone and talk to someone.
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