I have been reading comments from other to decide where to move my account which is now with Etrade. I was a Harrisdirect client and really had no problems, but the switch to Etrade has been a nightmare! The big plus in my case is Scottrade has local offices. Just go and read some of the rating comments about Etrade right now. Missing money in portfolios along with the inability to reach anyone on the phone. After waiting 2 hours on hold, the local branch is very important to me now . Etrade is a joke. As far as penny stocks I have a number of gold exploration companies listed in Canada, and Scottrade's fees are some of the lowest for trading foriegn equities.

I've had no issues with Scottrade. However, I was quite unhappy when they added the $17 trading fee for quite a few of the mutual funds they offer that were previously no transaction fee. I am also not pleased by the fact that they don't reinvest stock dividends. Whenever my stocks pay dividends in my Scottrade account I have to wait til the dividends accumulate to at least $100 so I can invest that $ in one of my mutual funds. I'd much prefer to have the dividends automatically reinvest in the stocks that pay them. Overall Scottrade has been quite good with the exception of these 2 points mentioned above.

Scottrade has serious problems with it's online trading tool, Scottrade Elite. It is a great tool, when working. Unfortunatlely, they can't keep the back-end servers up and running. Two total failures were experienced near the open on 1/11/06 and today 1/12/06. The worst thing is they don't seem to have a plan to fix the problems. Also, their customer service depends on a good branch manager. If you don't have a good one, you are in trouble. If you try to contact their national customer service center, you are referred back to the branch. I in the process on moving my last account from Scottrade. If you are considering Scottrade as an online broker, look elsewhere! I think that it would be hard to find someone worse.

Bad Luck with ST I just opened an account last week. A few days later, I deposited my stock certificates into my account at the local Houston branch on Westheimer. It's been six days now and all of the shares have not added into the account. According to the stockbroker, all the shares should already be showing and he doesn't know why they haven’t been added. I've been calling them everyday, trying to get them to add the rest of the shares. They tell me the same thing, "We'll get back with you...we're waiting for the main office to call us back on this". This is really starting to bother me, since I can't sell the shares due to this delay. I'm very disappointed with the branch personnels lack of care and irresponsibility. With all the figures they work with, I would think they could at least add correctly. First impressions make all the difference. I'm switching to another broker as soon as this problem is fixed. I should’ve read the Scottrade reviews before I decided on this broker. With all the bad reviews I’ve read today, I would have never signed up with Scottrade.

I love my Scottrade broker. Cheap prices, great company.

The absolute worst customer service I have ever experienced. Brokers were extremely rude and uninterested in customer retention or satisfaction. Talking to people in the home office was an exercise in futility as they are cut from the same stock as their local brokers. Dont waste your time or money. Just pony up the couple extra bucks per trade and go some place else. It is worth it.

Scottrade is horrible. You cannot even fund your account with them unless you bring a money order into one of their offices. Can you believe that! This started a few weeks ago when I received a first class letter in the mail from Scottrade saying that eCheck, Scottrade's third party contractor for funding accounts was hacked and that until they find another way for you to fund your account, you'll have to wire transfer (hugely expensive) or bring a money order into one of their offices. I've tried emailing them several times for an explanation as to why they would simply fire their primary funding source without having another one in place first. What a stupid decision! Whosever idea that was should be fired. All I ever got back from them was the same form letter...bla, bla, bla. You can't reach them by phone either. After careful research, I've moved my account to Firstrade. Same price and there does not seem to be any idiots running the company.

I love Scottrade and let me say that these posted comments so far don’t understand the brokerage industry very well so I will respond to the many complaints I’ve just read: Daytrader: Scottrade Elite is a platform for the active daytrader (over $25k in equity) and 2 new features were added (Nasdaq TotalView and Trade Ideas). These features, along with advanced security measures, REQUIRE Windows Xp/2000 or above. Microsoft does NOT support ME or 98 anymore. You are telling me that you have over $25k in assets and are able to utilize Scottrade Elite, but you CAN’T afford a $200 Windows upgrade? Give me a break. Casper: Scottrade lets you buy ANY penny stocks, and it’s not 50% of the premium, its ½% of the principal. That is .005 of the principal which comes out to an extra $5 per $1000 of stock that you buy. If you buy $2000 worth of penny stock the total commission would be $7 + .005 = $17 total. Where can you trade penny stocks for less? Destes: Scottrade is not a bank and is not owned by a bank like some other brokerage firms. They don’t have the check processing power of a bank and cannot take third party checks. Can you walk into a retail store and pay with a third party check? Not usually. Is cashing the check and then simply writing a new one from your own 1st party account that difficult? Xbnkrbrkr: To go through the automated Account Transfer Process it is required to have in possession a recent statement. This protects customers from unauthorized transfers and ensures that the proper assets get transferred correctly. Are you telling me it’s that difficult to obtain your most recent statement? Firms mail, at a minimum, quarterly statements or provide them online…it’s not that hard to print a recent statement. Tit4Tat: Scottrade charges you for everything? NO inactivity fees, NO maintenance requirements, $7 trades for stocks above $1.00 and NO ACAT out fees. What exactly were they ‘charging’ you for?

I love Scottrade and let me say that these posted comments so far don’t understand the brokerage industry very well so I will respond to the many complaints I’ve just read: Daytrader: Scottrade Elite is a platform for the active daytrader (over $25k in equity) and 2 new features were added (Nasdaq TotalView and Trade Ideas). These features, along with advanced security measures, REQUIRE Windows Xp/2000 or above. Microsoft does NOT support ME or 98 anymore. You are telling me that you have over $25k in assets and are able to utilize Scottrade Elite, but you CAN’T afford a $200 Windows upgrade? Give me a break. Casper: Scottrade lets you buy ANY penny stocks, and it’s not 50% of the premium, its ½% of the principal. That is .005 of the principal which comes out to an extra $5 per $1000 of stock that you buy. If you buy $2000 worth of penny stock the total commission would be $7 + .005 = $17 total. Where can you trade penny stocks for less? Destes: Scottrade is not a bank and is not owned by a bank like some other brokerage firms. They don’t have the check processing power of a bank and cannot take third party checks. Can you walk into a retail store and pay with a third party check? Not usually. Is cashing the check and then simply writing a new one from your own 1st party account that difficult? Xbnkrbrkr: To go through the automated Account Transfer Process it is required to have in possession a recent statement. This protects customers from unauthorized transfers and ensures that the proper assets get transferred correctly. Are you telling me it’s that difficult to obtain your most recent statement? Firms mail, at a minimum, quarterly statements or provide them online…it’s not that hard to print a recent statement. Tit4Tat: Scottrade charges you for everything? NO inactivity fees, NO maintenance requirements, $7 trades for stocks above $1.00 and NO ACAT out fees. What exactly were they ‘charging’ you for? Less fees than the competition, good free research and a good website and branch offices. Good luck with customer service at Ameritrade/Etrade's huge call centers.

I started Scottrade about five years ago,transfering from both E-Trade and Ameritrade(there was extra charges like ...inactivity,and one or two others).Up until now Scott has been great.They just upgraded their "Elite" software so it only works with Windows XP.They must think I will go out and buy the XP system or just buy a new computer.I am trying to make waves and hope they keep it compatible with Windows ME.I called one of their branch managers and he told me that Microsoft was getting rid of "98" and "ME"(not true). P.S. to the people that were disapointed because of not being able to buy "Penny Stocks"....why the hell would you want to buy them?

I had sharebuider (which is expensive and have bad cust service) but no doubt that scottrade has beaton them by far. very bad cust service (specially online one) . dumb asses just copy the text and email you if you ask any question. then they dont let you buy penny stocks as theyc harge you 50 percent of the premimuim. You cant buynor you can sell. Now abt their website. Pathtic. Seems like a 10 years old kid has create dthat. very bad analysis. cant get right data. sharebuilder was the best. now i have tos each for stocks at other sites and then buy at scottrade. i m moving out. they are really abd.. i dont knw how j.d power & associates gave them 5 start ratings... seriously.. all of the people who have mentioned dissatisfaction for scottrade are right. really bad experience...

i sent a check into scottrade in seattle to buy some penny stock i play. got a call stating they could not take the check because it was written on a company check. i can take an owner draw anytime i feel like it. i do run the company. scottrade had me talk to a manager. he stated that it was not company policy to accept the check. that is poor customer service. i would have to cash the check. get a money order and send it to them just to have the money deposited on my account. i told scottrade that i was not a drug dealer or a terroritst and that perhaps they should change their company policy.

The worst of the worst.. AVOID AVOID Smooth sailing and then a Nightmare! The company lost shares and could not find them.

What do all these brokers want...your business. Should they try harder to get it? Tried to open a new account and called in advance to explain I only had a statement dtd 3-05. Was told policy required 90 days or less but they would attach a note and process my application that way. When I arrived at the Salt Lake office they refused to accept my application...again stating their need for a current(90 days or less) They could not explain why a more current statement than I had was necessary other than it was needed (policy) to verify information.I pointed out that a 90 day old staement could virtually have no current information to verify. When I asked to speak with some one at the regional level I was given a phone # to call. I called that number and got a service rep. My mistake was to outline my complaint to that rep. after he would not give me the name and number of a regional manager or Roger Riney, CEO. He told me that it was the policy and it would not be changed...a decision I believe he is not in a position to make. My reply was BS. He said I was degrading him and wanted to know my name so I would not be able to open an account with Scott...at that point the frustration in dealing with this company was high and I lost it and did degrade him. My point is there was never an attempt to work the differences out...it was thier way (lower level employees) or the highway. Heaven help you if you want to speak with someone higher up, that information is guarded and very hard to obtain. You better have a good law firm that can write nasty letter if you want an action out of this group.

Scottrade is terrible, plain and simple. Stay away from this company. I is a perfect example of you get what you pay for. I have never had a good experience with them. The staff, especially management, make it perfectly clear that you mean nothing to them and they don't care about anything at all. I have had management ridicule me on the phone during problems. They are beyond rude. The only way I can describe it is to say they are arrogantly ignorant and insulent- extremely low class. Doing business with them is difficult. They are constantly charging me extra for everything. They are extremely limited on services and are very rigid in their policies. They are very slow in doing everything. Forget penny stocks with them. Also, I have had a lot of just plain bad luck with them. I think it is because do not promote success and they have very negative energy.

I haven't had any problems with the functionality of the website and my trades have all gone smoothly, except once where they sold short some shares that I wanted to sell. Price is unbeatable as far as I've seen. The customer service is a little slow dealing with deposits and withdrawls, but anything is better than what I was dealing with in E*Trade!

Scottrade sucks. Their staff repeatedly promised to add a verbal password when I opened up an account. I don't like the idea that anyone with a couple of easily obtained facts about me can get access to the account. Anyway, they never set up the password. After ranting to a couple of managers, one finally admitted that they do not like to set up verbal passwords. The annoying thing about this is that they were basically lying the whole time. Scottrade is thinly staffed by stupid, unprincipled people.

I see the comments stating that Scotttrade has cheap and fast service. If you trade occasionally, I can see how one might get this impression. My experience has been dramatically different and BAD, in several areas: 1 Execution platform. Many mornings when I try to log on to the Scottrade servers they are either not working or after logging on they fail at the worst time, when the market opens. Frequently I get the message trading not available or modification is off from the system. Then when I call to have a broker execute the trade, they are either unavailable(because everyone else is calling in) or they can't even get to their own back office. 2 I was frequently puzzled about a strange execution pattern. On limit orders of several thousand shares, 100 shares would execute immediately at my bid, then the market would back the ask away from me and my order would sit there for minutes causing me to either bump my bid by several cents to get it off or go to a market order(which would fill several cents against me). I couldn't figure this out until I discovered several weeks ago that Scottrade doesn't even execute their own trades!! . they sell 100% of their order stream to Knight, which makes a profit on handling the stream and then shares the profit they made on the client's trade with Roger Riney. Roger happens to be on the board of directors of Knight. Bottom line is if a better broker that does not sell it's order stream charges a penny a share, it is a better proposition than losing 1,2,3,5 or more pennies per share. 3 Scottrade continued to overcharge me for limit orders, after they instituted same price for market or limit orders. 5 When selling a stock short, the briker must obtain the shares to short them if they are available you might notice that many stocks are not available to be shorted from Scottrade. THis is because they sell their order stream to Knight and do not have a direct relationship to the market makers who MUST make them available. I have frequently been in the middle of a short trade and either cannot short more shares or am told that my short must be closed out because the shares are no longer available. Bottom line. If you are a 401 acount trader and only need to do a few buys and sells per month on a cash account and don't mind giving away a few cents of each trade, Scottrade is the place for you. If you count on your trading to make you money regularly and want to pay a true discount fee with a broker that actually trades your shares with the exchange go somewhere else. The following link: http://www.tagaudit.com/r6viewpub.asp is for a website that will give you the SEC required execution specs on all brokerages.

The only good thing at Scottrade is the $7.00 fee, everything else is a disaster. Server was down fairly often, once it was down for the whole 30 min., the excution is usually slower than others (I also have Ameritrade and TD Waterhouse, but their fees are higher.) When I contacted the local branch to inquire about some transactions, they gave me vague answers and when I pressed on, they were very rude. Couple of days ago, I sold some of my stocks, got the excuted trade notification and found out the shares are still there and no money was credited to my account, which means the transaction was not excuted as I was informed by the email. I emailed them (I have been overseas, can't call them), and got a form answer which didn't apply to my question. I am still trying to find out the answer from them and really don't know what to do next, any help would be appreciated. They are nice and efficient when you first open the account with them, after that you have to be very careful, make sure to check you account or transactions often. They are not helpful and often time when you want to short some stocks, they don't have them . I think they are not professional and their main purpose is to make quick money and long term reputation is not important to them despite what they advertise about themselves.

Setting up my account was a pain, as was everything else I wanted to do. They require you do everything by mail and it took forever to set up (about a month) then I wanted to do echeck and that took another two weeks to set up and it didnt even work. This is crazy. they are a online broker and I have to do everything by mail!!

Unbelievable service! Went in with the opinion of just another online broker and was amazed at knowledge and proffesionalism of the staff. Big kudos!

I did my research of mutual funds and trimmed down my choices to 6. I then went to their branch office which is quite close to where I work only to find out that they only have 2 of the 6 I listed. Those two that they have were the only ones not yet rated by Morningstar and Lipper. The manager was very unfriendly and never even gazed at me. People there were not very sophisticated. They never even bothered to offer me any alternatives or interest in giving advice on my investment. That was the nail to their coffin for me. First they said that they don't trade some penny stocks and only learned that when I wanted to buy this certain penny stock. Second, they do not offer trailing stops and said that they have no plans of offering it in the future. I don't think I'll be ready for more disappointing surprises from them. Scottrade may be cheap but you get what you pay for...dismal service, dismal features, dismal selection of mutual funds. I will be transferring my account somewhere else, perhaps FirstTrade for my mutual funds. If you're looking for no-frills deep discount online brokers, I recommend using Lowtrades or ChoiceTrade.

Scottrade does a good job advertising but a very poor job delivering. I know of no other electronic broker that requires so much human intervention. This is a major problem in a rapidly moving market. It is also a problem because Scottrade is not adequately staffed. Even worse back office operations and compliance are disasters. The firm is outright belligerent when problems are encountered. Other services like Fidelity have more sophisticated interfaces which greatly ease trading. In comparison Fidelity has enabled people that are available 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Fidelity has back office depth, and a better interface, and they are more helpful. Guess what the discount fees are lower at Fidelity as well.

Repeated incompetent service. Display no ownership whatsoever for issue resolution.