Been Hosed By Your Discount Broker Lately?

Q

QQQBALL

i noticed on a recent account statement/trade confirmation (daily) that i was now being charged $2.50 per trade as postage and handling from RJT.com for trade confirmations. they said they notified me of the change and that my email confirmation was disabled, so they had to mail the statements. not going to bore you with the details, but that 60-trade DAY cost $150 for the 9 or 10 page STATEMENT. again, that is a daily statement. since i only trade the QQQs, my statements are not terribly exciting or difficult. they all look pretty much the same, except for that recently added $2.50/trade "P&H" charge.

i tried to work something out with them this morning, and they did offer to provide a number of "free" trades. i thought it would be fairly easy to deal with it over the phone by pointing out the unreasonableness of charging $150 for a account statement/daily trade confirmation. again, that is not $2.50 per statement, it is per TRADE! so if you did 60 trades a day, they would deduct $750 a week for postage and handling for 5 letter-size (appx.) envelopes sent via the postal service.

i am not saying that they may not be entitled to recapture postage and costs, since i could have noticed the additional charge the first time it appeared on a statement. i tried to get past customer relations to the compliance department - but, they don't speak to you.... i've sent correspondence to the president of the company, compliance department and filed a complaint with the SEC.

I am not holding my breath.

generally, i try not to snivel; this is a big boy's business, but this one has me a little "out of sorts." if you are considering a discount broker, check all the fees on an ongoing basis, and make sure your email confirmation is enabled. you may also want to consider if you really want the hassles of dealing with a discount broker at all.

:D:
 
Can you not re-enable your e-mail confirmations? If not, then it's as if you have an extra $2.50 ticket charge added to your commissions. In which case I would find another broker.
 
Quote from hii a_ooiioo_a:

Can you not re-enable your e-mail confirmations? If not, then it's as if you have an extra $2.50 ticket charge added to your commissions. In which case I would find another broker.
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i have re-enabled the email confirmations. i am trying to settle with them on the plugging ive gotten on all my trades since the change
 
RJT...........CHEESIT's RICE !

I'd be a bit outta sorts if that had happened to me too !

Tell em to check out the Chats and see what a negative image they are building ( then you gotta go blitz the Chats with evil messages - haha ) !

Good Luck n Happy New Year QBall
 
If you're trading 1500 or less QQQs per order, Interactive Brokers would be cheaper, faster order entry, and (sometimes) faster fills.

I still use RJT on a limited basis, but I liked them a whole lot better before Waterhouse grabbed them. The commissions went up and my impression is that my fills are not as good now either.
 
I've heard of $2 or so per statement, never per trade. That is ridiculous and outright robbery. If they are not prepared to comp you for it, I would move my account immediately. first, I would try to talk to someone in charge. If you are doing that kind of volume they certainly should want to hold on to you as a client. For sure, plenty of other brokers will be happy to have your business.
 
Quote from twobits:

If you're trading 1500 or less QQQs per order, Interactive Brokers would be cheaper, faster order entry, and (sometimes) faster fills.

I still use RJT on a limited basis, but I liked them a whole lot better before Waterhouse grabbed them. The commissions went up and my impression is that my fills are not as good now either.
More...

twobits,

they will still honor the $5 commish if you were a client before the buyout; provided you make 150 trades a quarter. IMO, the fills have gotten crappier... but, couldnt prove that. i know that i really didnt have any complaints before the takeover (of course i left scottrade for RJT) and was very pleased. before the takeover i actually recommended a bunch of folks to RJT. ill never recommend them now. never! and its not about the money either.

i am still amazed that they have the NUTS to charge like $150 for a physical brokerage statement - $2.50 per tradeb or $5 per rountrip. un-friggin-believable.... they must be really hurting for money or having pressure put on them to produce profits at any cost... also, maybe they dont really care to honor the $5 trades for holdovers, so when one complains they just "S-can" the complaint.... lets face it, $5 a ticket is pretty cheap if you are swing trading with orders set well ahead of time.

i guess its cheaper to burn through newbies with $10 commish than treat a longer term client squarely. strange business model - maybe its a numbers game and they intend to rollover their clients every 6 or 12 months. over time, i see more and more people gravitating to IB, my trading partner left RJT for IB and he's really satisfied. he gets market fills almost instantaneously on IB - if you go market on RJT (well you know what happens and there's no reason to be crude - just grab the vaseline and smile).
 
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