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Non-Tech : Web Street Securities (WEBS) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: cicak who wrote (596)	8/8/1998 10:57:00 PM
From: Linda Kaplan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1339

Phillip, Take offense if you like. I don't know you. But I know how Web Street has behaved. It's Web Street Securities who sacrificed their reputation through their own behavior, making them suspect not only in my eyes, but many others. Anyone touting Web Street will be suspect because of the people at Web Street who logged on here under false pretenses. If you have read the thread you'll see that many customers posted numerous posts documenting similar problems to mine with them. I'm not the only one to have posted repeatedly about the issues. Some of those people say they were kind of offended that they weren't singled out by Web Street for public attack and vindictive action as I was -- yet. A lot of people will be leaving Web Street, not because of me, but because of Jon Rosenberg's posts and Web Street's unprofessional behavior toward a customer. You'd like to see it resolved? So would I. It would have been resolved if Web Street had wanted to resolve it. Instead, yesterday, they declared war on me. I can and will take the time to see that their behavior is exposed elsewhere, and to explore filing charges against them. Worry less about how I spend my time and more about how Web Street spends theirs. After all, it's your money in their hands. You should ask them to credit you not only for MY $100 but for the $50 they STOLE from my account. I'd bet Rosenberg will be happy to give it to you. Then you should give me a big thanks for that money that Web Street stole from me. Shouldn't you? As I roam the other boards I'm finding other examples of customers that Web Street seems to have cheated out of funds. Watch your account carefully. You may get my credit, but who knows what other money might be mysteriously disappearing from your account? Everyone should reconcile their brokerage statements from Web Street promptly, though if money is gone and they promise to refund it, in my experience the chances are small that they will actually give the money back. Linda

To: cicak who wrote (596)	8/9/1998 2:44:00 PM
From: wlcnyc	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1339

Phillip, "And I am very impressed that they offer no commission on NASDAQ trades of a 1,000 shares or more for stocks with a price >= $ 2.00. That's a big one as far as I'm concerned and I'm not aware of anyone else offering the same. If there are, please tell me. Having read the above in your post last night, I wondered about your question. Just by coincidence today I ran across a broker today called Empire Financial Group at lowfees.com I am certainly not recommending this broker since I know nothing more about them than I read when I stumbled across them today while looking for something else entirely. While it is true that their free commission is based on "$5.00 a share Stocks" it applies to NASDAQ and Exchange Listed stocks. Obviously, the benefit would depend upon how "big" an investor you are. Another one of your statements that lingered in my mind is the following: "...Web Street Securities does need to improve the computer program that runs everything but I have confidence that they will......" And how it needs improvement. I have been with Web Street Securities since February and have reported many bugs to them and I have yet to see them corrected. These include the fact that my account is somehow linked to more than one account number. I reported it and was told that it would be fixed immediately. It hasn't happened yet and that was 2 - 3 months ago(strangely, the person that told me this was named Ryan and I thought he was in Tech Support but maybe he just happened to answer the phone for Ramona.) They have other features that are conceptually nice, but in reality don't function work at all! I have been told that they program for Netscape 4 so the system does not perform properly on earlier versions of Netscape or on Explorer. I was also told that once they have completed programming for Netscape 4 they will address Explorer 4 (and earlier versions of either will NOT be addressed). In the meantime, the system does not work properly on any version of Netscape or Explorer. In fact, with Explorer the Open Order Screen is very misleading because it does not always show all open orders. With all this in mind I glanced through the demo at the Empire Financial Group. I was impressed with the screens, mostly because of what is lacking at Web Street. How well they function I have no idea. For example their Positions screen shows 4 decimal places, Web Street rounds up to 2. I have yet to find a place within Web Street to create portfolios, Empire has this. Other screens, such as the History, Open Order and Today's Transaction appear to be much more informative than what is available at Web Street. True, I cannot find a function like the "Trading Pit" but that is not important to me since I find it difficult to use so I don't. It all depends upon your needs and preferences. Again, I am not in any way recommending Empire Financial because I have no experience with them at all. As I am far from a happy camper when it comes to Web Street Securities, I am constantly on the look out for another broker. Even if I had been pleased with Web Street, after Jon Rosenberg's attack on Linda, I would be very concerned about dealing with any company that uses such tactics. I do not know Linda except from reading her posts on this thread. Having experienced many of the same problems with Web Street, I understood what she was talking about as well as her frustration with Web Street. I have expressed some of my frustrations with Web previously on this thread. I have also said that the only thing Web Street has going for it is Sherri Smith who, up to that time, had always treated me in a professional, courteous and pleasant manner. Otherwise, I had always detected a certain arrogance from this company and even in Jon's previous posts here. But his lastest posts top anything I could have imagined of this or ANY company. I frankly think that he owes Linda an apology - whether or not she would accept it. I believe he has put himself and Web Street in a very difficult situation and needs to do something to establish trust and professionalism. Something other than trying to buy new customers or the allegiance of the current customers. The reality of the situation, no matter what he has expressed, is that NO company should ever treat ANY customer this way (I have had over 25 years experience as a customer service manager). He is proud of Web's Street good ratings. In my opinion those ratings are undeserved. They appear to have been based on advertised "features" rather than an actual "user test" of the system. In any event, in order to maintain those ratings, Web Street will have to repair and overcome the damage to its reputation that has been done by Jon's posts. Just expressing my opinions on the whole situation. As a disclaimer, let me say I have no connection to Empire Financial. AND, I certainly don't have any connection Web Street EXCEPT as a dissatisfied customer. Good luck Bill