Comments on: On Zecco’s Poor Customer Service

By: BSC

BSC — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 04:30:55 +0000

It took Zecco about a year or two to flesh out their website and the integration with Penson, which is their clearing house. Initially the website didn’t make a lot of procedural things as clear as it should have been, like an account holder must send in their W-9. So some customers who were new to trading experienced problems such as IRS withholding. There were also problems with their servers being overloaded. But as of June 2009, they’ve fixed the majority of their problems. I’ve had an account on Zecco since they opened in 2006 and I’ve been very happy with it. I have over 25k in my account and since I’m a long term wealth builder, 10 trades per month is usually enough for me. I hold a lot of dividend stocks and ETFs, and having free trades make it easy to reinvest these smallish payouts on a monthly basis. Their customer service has been easy to reach, I go through like one automated phone prompt and I can reach a real person. However, if they ever take it to something like 5 free trades per month I would seriously consider moving my assets out.

By: dd

dd — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 04:21:35 +0000

Zecco is really a garbage. I totally agree. I’ve been dealing with them for transfering money back to my linked account. They did not have any response. They eat my money. Bad bad company. I am totally against this company. Go to find a good company. Avoid this garbage one.

By: jackie

jackie — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:17:04 +0000

garbage

By: Erin

Erin — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:41:39 +0000

I’m a Zecco user, and I have no trouble with customer service. I haven’t had any emergencies, so I just send an email and they get back to me. Contrary to some of the other comments, I think Zecco is really good for people who are new to investing and don’t have a ton of money in the stock market. If you’re making small trades, you want small to zero commission costs.

By: Dividend Growth Investor

Dividend Growth Investor — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 22:46:11 +0000

The thing that really makes me stay with sharebuilder is that I could reinvest my dividends automatically into fractional shares.

By: Matt

Matt — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 19:33:59 +0000

Zecco is perfect if you’re an inactive investor who has experience dealing w/ online investing sites. However, if you’re novice investor who requires some hand holding (the type of people Zecco erroneously attracts), or an active trader you will be sorely disappointed.

However, Vanguard is still my personal favorite for those who choose to buy low cost index funds b/c it’s so easy to setup automatic investment plans. Remember, these automatic transactions are free of charge (just like Zecco) if you have an account at Vanguard and buy their funds, which have always been top performers.

If you’re an active investor, avoid Zecco at all costs and use Interactive Brokers, Etrade, or other low cost provider.

By: Ben

Ben — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 19:12:00 +0000

I have been using Zecco since Febuary ’08. When I opened an account I needed help and got a response to my email within a day. That response time was just fine with me. It falls short a bit on the tools though (monthly fee for this) but marketwatch and other finance sites are fine.

I’ve been buying ETFs for the long term and don’t really intend to sell ever if I can help it.

Because of Zecco my cost basis is 26 basis points for a full portfolio compaired to a cost basis of 40-50 with Vanguard.

Anyway, my vote is for Zecco. . .

Ben

By: aa

aa — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 15:45:45 +0000

You can play long-term all you want with mutual funds and Vanguard. But you can also play short-term and pick stocks with Zecco.

At Zecco, everyone can afford to use dollar cost averaging with 10 ETFs/stocks.

By: jim

jim — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 12:58:00 +0000

I know Bank of America recently started offering free trades too. To be honest, I am avoiding the “free broker trades” game because I don’t want to be tempted into playing the stock market. Right now I just put money into a Vanguard account and go the “smart” route.

By: ToughMoneyLove

ToughMoneyLove — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 12:55:38 +0000

No – a disciplined long term investor should not be trading 10 times per month. For no cost or low stock trading, don’t overlook your bank. My bank has a brokerage division and because I have a good relationship with them on the deposit side (I run all of my incoming cash and debit card transactions through them), I get free stock trades. You definitely should check that out with your own bank.