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Non-Tech : WANTED Charles Schwab customers. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mauser96 who wrote (50)	11/1/1997 1:36:00 PM
From: Joe E.	Respond to of 69

Re your post,which said, among other things, " I've decided what to do to prevent this from happening again." Yes, the views aired on this thread have also helped me to understand the situation better and to formulate a strategy. My understanding (all of these are just my tentative opinion, and I welcome any corrections): During this period, eSchwab apparently was no easier to access than ETrade, and for me ETrade trading was inaccessible. eSchwab charges much more than E*Trade. eSchwab has been airing commercials claiming to be better when the market is busy than eSchwab's competitors. I would not be surprised if an independent governmental body came to the concludion that these claims were misleading. (They may still have been true in some narrow sense, particular if based upon some past period studied.) Soley because of the ads, I would also not be surprised if people with eSchwab accounts eventually got some compensation, BUT the path is rocky due to the plain text of the customer agreement, and arbitration processes. Arbitration is not a place where flighty theories get compensated. Any compensation is likely to be in the form of something like 2 free trades per account to the accountholder and $15 in cash per account to the lawyers. This makes participation by anyone but the lawyers a nearly free donation to the "make your lawyer richer club." Solutions (all of these are just my tentative opinion and I appreciate any corrections): Best Solution: Yes have two accounts at least. No, not all of them at discount on line brokers. Wimp Solution one: Write Mr. Schwab and humbly request that he give some thought to getting more capacity. Wimp solution two: For your online discount broker find one with excess capacity. Datek???? Wimp solution three: Consider paying less for your trades by switching to an online discount broker without TV advertising, who probably won't be any better but can charge less.