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Non-Tech : E*Trade (NYSE:ET) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tae Spam Kim who wrote (4814)	2/4/1999 11:18:00 AM
From: pete2	Respond to of 13953

ETRADE SUCKS! in the meantime i will be moving my account! Access to some areas of your account may be temporarily unavailable. If you would like to place a trade please call Customer Service at 1 800 786 2575. Open Stock Orders February 4, 1999 10:45 AM EST This Trading Feature Is Currently Unavailable.

To: Tae Spam Kim who wrote (4814)	2/4/1999 2:28:00 PM
From: Oeconomicus	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13953

I was being a little bit facetious ... was hoping you saw my smiley face. A winking smiley face would have conveyed that better. ;-) In any case, the problem with EGRP seems to be that they are more interested in producing Web traffic stats showing that they are good at marketing (and which tend to excite the internut analysts hyping their stock) rather than providing good reliable service to their existing customers. This was the same arrogance they exhibited in 1997 when they put out endless PR touting how many new accounts they were signing while their service was deteriorating. They seemed to have learned from the disaster of Oct '97 and the stock's falling from grace that good service and a broad range of financial services would get them farther than a bunch of marketing hype. They bought Optionslink, added service levels geared to different kinds of customers, etc. and they very showing very good profits - all while continuing to grow at a reasonably strong pace. However, since Softbank threw wads of cash at them with instructions to spend it on marketing, their service has again deteriorated. The money went to their heads and they forgot the lessons. This is a financial services business - people are being asked to trust E*Trade with their money. It is not a technology business ("don't worry, we'll fix that in version 2.0") and it should not be a media business ("we want to be a destination site where people come for news and to play our stock market game"). They make their money from transactions, margin loans and other financial services and should concentrate on delivery of those services rather than rushing to sign up more new customers than they can handle. The latter may serve to pump the stock in the short run, but only the former will win customers' trust and make the company a long-term success. JMO, Bob