Poof, vanished into thin air.
So, I get a little concerned, but not too much. I decide to call their customer service line - 1-800-WE-SUCK-1. They have one of those all automated systems where you have to enter you account number, followed by you SSN. Then it says that it is transferring you to an account rep.
But, instead, you get "sorry, this call cannot be completed as dialed."
Grrr... I try it again. same thing.
So, I call the number again and try hitting O when it asks for my account number.
"Sorry, I did not understand your account number. Please enter it again."
I press O again followed by the # sign.
"Sorry, I did not understand your account number. Please enter it again."
This time I press 666 followed by the # sign.
"Please wait while we connect you to a customer representative."
Figures... So, I am on hold for 13 minutes before I get a live person. She asks me 6 ways to Sunday of verification info, some of which, I don't even know, like what was my LDL cholesterol count in 1997. She finally asks me what she can help me with. I tell her a good chunk of money is missing from my money market account.
"Oh, well you will have to talk to an associate about that. Please hold."
45 minutes later, I am still on hold. My neck muscles are cramping up and I am head tilt with spasms that Bush gets when he is asked an uncomfortable question.
So, screw the phone, I'll go to the nearest E-Trade office and talk to a live person there. I walk the 7 blocks and ask to speak with someone about my account and the missing money.
"Oh, you'll have to call the customer service line for that."
I explain, I have already done that and could not get through. My neck spasms are starting again, but it is from anger, not phone neck.
Smugly, he says he can't do anything. There has been a computer glitch and they can't access accounts until next Tuesday. Luckily, there were several people with sales people who were looking to open up accounts. As loudly as possible, but without being obnoxious, I reiterate my dissatisfaction with the missing money and the hour + I spent on the phone getting no answers.
At least one of the people there to open an account got up and walked out behind me. So, at least I got some satisfaction out of the trip.
So, if you are thinking about opening an E-Trade account - Don't
There computers suck. There customer service sucks. They suck.
Update: I found these other reviews on-line
E-Trade - "E-Trade is awful. Every time I have had a complaint and call the helpdesk it takes forever for them to pick up. One time I had lost my debit card and I waited on hold for over an hour before the battery on my cell phone died. E-Trade is just plain awful. If I didn't have my direct deposit and other banking already through them I would just leave. I will, however, start to transition everything so I can get another bank. I've had it with them." - Salvador - Florida, USA (Sep-2005)
"Customer Service at E-Trade is very very poor - among the worst I have seen in this or any other industry. I have called them on various requests at least once every business day for the past two weeks and the average hold time before I could speak to an agent was 48 minutes! A few of those days I waited on hold more than one hour to speak to someone... - A. Sircar - Connecticut, USA (Aug-2005)
"All interactions I have had with E-Trade customer service has ended in disappointment and complete dissatisfaction. I have attempted to deal with E-Trade customer service more than 7 times on various issues. All ended terrible. I am still a member on E-Trade with 0 dollars in my account. - J. Slunder - California, USA (Jul-2005)
"E-Trade sucks. I wish I read the comments on this website first. The listed price of $19.95 a trade is not entirely accurate. E-Trade also imposes a $3 processing fee in addition to the $19.95. What the hell? When I finally cancelled my account, I was charged a $10 fee to get my own money." - R. Beckman - California, USA (Feb-2005)
"Worst customer service I have ever experienced." - Hamid - California, USA (Nov-2003)
And it looks like E-Trade has sucked for a very, very long time - Etrade's Rosy Picture Wilts in Face of Truth
9 comments:
Stickin' it to the man. I love it! Keep us posted about their response, if there ever is one.
I've been with etrade for several years now and so far I've had no complaints.
but they have put in place some very disturbing get your money back fees.
At first, I opened my account with "Discover" which was then bought by dean Witter which merged with Morgan Stanley which was then bought by Harris Direct which was then bought by E-trade.
Each time, I have to dig up my old files and resubmit purchase prices, etc to them. But, so far the best out of all of them was harris direct. Reading up on them, E-trade has the worst reputation out of all of the online brokers and the most customer complaints.
I heard Rove was gunning for you...
Try Scottrade.
In addition to online trading, there are plenty of offices to turn to, for just such a situation.
Scottrade (to trade) and Charles Schwab (great services, banking, etc) also have great, intuitive charts.
If you need to impress a Republican, open an account with Smith Barney.
Sigh...welcome to the wonderful world of "e." =D
Well, "e" is definately full of something, but is ain't "wonder." Unless "wonder" means wondering where my money is.
I have nothing more to add than another voice in the "I HATE E-TRADE" group. My head is still spinning from my fruitless debate with e-trade customer service. I hope they go out of business soon!
Jon
Hi! What a great blog. I do know something about the company you are talking about here. I learned it from this great site www.pissedconsumer.com. Etrade specializes in different financial services: trading and investing, retirement, banking and credit cards, planning, mortgage and home equity. Company's major business is on-line discount stock brokerage service, which I unfortunately decided to get engaged with.
There are no words to describe the horrific customer service exhibited by the Scott Trade employees at the Bell Isle Branch in Oklahoma City. They cost my 16 year old son $500 and then acted like I was bothering them when trying to work out an acceptable remedy. They didn’t do anything, not even apologize. He had worked 6 months to save that money and I took a half day off work to personally deposit the money so that he could make his trade. They didn’t fund his account and his trade didn’t go through. They didn’t even send an email or anything and when asked, they said that even though the told me a money order was acceptable form of deposit, it was in fact NOT so they just didn’t place his trade for over a week. Not until I took another half day off work to go 55 miles back to their office where I was promptly dismissed so that they could spend the rest of their day chatting with each other. If you want unreliable service, people who do not care about your account or your future relationship with them, then by all means give Scott Trade all your money. They couldn’t be more condescending, less interested in helping resolve a situation or even fain an apology at the inconvenience and disappointment that they caused a hard working teen who was SO looking forward to a long term relationship with Scott trade. He did learn a valuable (though expensive) lesson in how NOT to treat customers.
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