I have been with ETrade for a pretty long time, probably more than 5 years I would say. They used to be a great company to deal with, very customer service oriented and reasonably priced. But over the last few years, and especially since they became more popular and their ads drove many new customers to the site, the level of service has really declined. The web site is noticeably slower and it is almost impossible to get a live person on the phone during trading hours. I have been looking at other discount brokers and prices are pretty similar now, but the other sites have better research tools and better layouts for information. I do still have some investments with ETrade and their CD rates are a little better than others, but one of my goals for 2008 is to identify a better alternative and make the change to another broker. ETrade has been coasting and needs to find the enthusiasm and customer service they had back in the early days.
I have been with ETrade for a pretty long time, probably more than 5 years I would say. They used to be a great company to deal with, very customer service oriented and reasonably priced. But over the last few years, and especially since they became more popular and their ads drove many new customers to the site, the level of service has really declined. The web site is noticeably slower and it is almost impossible to get a live person on the phone during trading hours. I have been looking at other discount brokers and prices are pretty similar now, but the other sites have better research tools and better layouts for information. I do still have some investments with ETrade and their CD rates are a little better than others, but one of my goals for 2008 is to identify a better alternative and make the change to another broker. ETrade has been coasting and needs to find the enthusiasm and customer service they had back in the early days.