They keep on making simple mistakes, handing out incorrect advice and provide no explanation after the event. The recent one being the 1099 issue that I had with them. My employer was with them so I had to be with them. After many employee complaints, the employer provided a second brokerage option recently. and I will switch asap.

My latest 1099 issue with them -

ETrade customer service system sucks big time. They haven't fixed the problem until today and can't even tell me when will they fix it. ETrade made a mistake on the 1099 and then multiple commitments were made to fix the issue by specific dates. Every time they didn't fix it and didn't provide any justification whatsoever. They plainly said that that is the way it is and it is my prerogative to take my business to a competiting broker.

I brought to their notice the mistake made on my 1099 and I have been chasing them for the past one and a half month. They made two runs of corrected 1099 in the past 4 weeks and every time the representative said they will fix it in the upcoming run but they didn't. I escalated to the supervisor before the second run and he escalated but still no fix in the second run. Based on some untold creteria, they decided my request was not important enough to be addressed. After the second run, I asked to speak to somebody higher in the command chain than the supervisor and supervisor, in his judgement, decided that it wasn't important enough and that request was denied. In addition to $ expenses (last minute reschedule of appointments with tax consultant, fee to file the extension), dealing with ETrade is just frustating because they don't give a headsup before the run and don't give any explanations.

I Googled around for reviews on E*TRADE before deciding to bank with them. I heard nothing but horrible reviews but ignored them thinking that many of the issues were just specific to reviewer circumstances or obsolete by now. I haven't even received my checks yet & I am attempting to close the account due to an already existent account freeze where I received notification that there is suspicious activity, to call and confirm identity, and to deal with customer service which has absolutely no clue and no options in regards to my account status. I'm told to wait for a letter in the mail, that they have no one I can talk to for details, and when asking for someone to talk to in regards to closing my account they stated that they don't have anyone capable of doing that. They were, however, very equipped when I needed to OPEN a new account. I only put $100 in the account but I can tell already this is going to be a total hassle. I regret that I ignored the reviews--I should have known better. If this is the vibe I get now, I can only imagine how much of a hassle it would be down the road. I went with Ally Bank & I ain't lookin' back. Ally, on the other hand, is a totally different story. Check 'em out.