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Pastimes : ETRADE Sucks! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Margarita who wrote (805)	11/5/1997 2:00:00 AM
From: BenYeung	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3262

From thestreet.com Online brokers, battered by customer complaints during last week's stock-market turmoil, are spending big to upgrade their systems, possibly in part because of a little governmental prodding. The Securities and Exchange Commission, which last week expressed little concern about the problems encountered by online traders, said Tuesday that it is telling frustrated online-brokerage customers that it expects action from the brokerages themselves. "The SEC is basically advising people who call us that we expect the online brokers to review their systems in light of last week's activity and improve them," said spokesman John Nester. "And we expect that customer complaints will be handled promptly and equitably." The SEC will follow up to make sure the complaints "have been addressed promptly," Nester added. Citing agency policy, he declined to say whether the SEC had relayed this same message to the online brokers. Officials at several online brokers either declined to comment on the SEC's statement, said they hadn't been contacted or were unaware of any such contact. The SEC's statement Tuesday follows what it considers a flurry of complaints it received from online traders. After the market's tumultuous two days on Oct. 27 and 28, the agency received 47 emails, two letters and one phone call from investors unhappy with their treatment by brokers. Of that total, 75% involved online brokers, Nester said. Venom-filled messages were posted on online bulletin boards, and online traders complained about their inability to log on to sites or once in to make trades. More than 300 emails expressing outrage tumbled into TheStreet.com, some in response to a request for readers to rate their online brokers. An example: "ETrade consistently either refuses to comment on its failures to meet demand or publishes propagandistic releases of how it has triumphed in the face of great volume." Now, ETrade Group (EGRP:Nasdaq) is spending $20 million to upgrade its systems on top of the $50 million it annually spends on technology, a spokeswoman says. Part of the upgrade will increase the capacity for simultaneous users to 25,000 by year-end from 10,000 to 15,000. Simultaneous-user capacity was shown as a key issue last week when many customers logged in and refused to log off as they continued to trade, looked up stock quotes or simply held their place online. And in an email to customers Monday, E*Trade CEO Christos Cotsakos wrote, "Regardless of the cause of your frustration (including those beyond our control), we offer no excuses. We accept our responsibility and apologize for any difficulties you may have encountered." Charles Schwab (SCH:NYSE), the market leader, says it is boosting its simultaneous-user capacity to about 25,000 as well, up from 10,000. A spokesman declined to say how much Schwab is spending on the project but noted that the company will spend about $300 million on technology this year, up from about $200 million in 1996. DLJdirect, a unit of Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ:NYSE), is doubling capacity for its Web site, but a spokeswoman declined to provide specifics or to say how much the project costs. And AmeriTrade Holding (AMTD:Nasdaq) is doubling capacity, too, in part by buying two new Sun Microsystems 4000 servers at a cost of as much as $300,000, according to Michael Anderson, president of the company's Ameritrade unit. AmeriTrade will spend a total of $10 million on technology this year, up from $8 million in 1996.