What is a flashlight tool kit? Well, TD Ameritrade sent me one the other day. It was a gift for me, as one of TD Ameritrade's most valued clients. A note inside said, "Here, all in one place, are the tools you need to achieve success, and the guidance to help light your way."
The flashlight tool kit itself is somewhat hard to describe. It is silver in color emblazoned with their green on white "TD" trademark, and resembles a small clothes iron. A flashlight is mounted in the front, and the tool kit opens up to reveal a set of tools. Inside, the tool set includes small screwdrivers, and a set of interchangeable screwdriver bits with ratchet sockets.
As one of TD Ameritrade's most valued clients, I wished that they would offer me access to APEX which I've been asking for. That would be more helpful than a flashlight tool kit.
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7 comments:
Wow... LOL
Well you cannot say they have never gave you anything. My brokerage have not sent me nada!
I got one too. It was a little surprising. I have APEX status. What's so special about it?
According to TD Ameritrade, with APEX you get preferential service, free level II quotes, streaming news, capital gains tracking, and no service fees.
My frustration is that I would qualify for APEX based on my assets held at the brokerage formerly known as Waterhouse. But they won't count my "Waterhouse" assets, and refuse to grant me APEX access unless I were to transfer funds into a "new" Ameritrade account. My argument is that I could just as easily transfer my funds into an E*TRADE or another competitor's account, and probably get better customer service in the process.
I have the iZone account with the APEX status. I met their requirements by assets and by trade volume. Even with APEX I do not get free streamer, however, I get the Advanced Analyzer for free. I've tested it out and it looks like a very sophisticated technical tool, but haven't had time to use it frequently.
In my experience, Ameritrade has very poor customer service. And an ex-employee told me all the good customer service people has left the company. I'm slowly moving my money out of the account. I thought of cancelling the account, but I got used to the interface and the $5 trading commissions. I'm also with Fidelity and Scottrade. They both have better customer service, hands down.
Izone is like a low-commission version of Ameritrade. So the APEX access that I'm talking about is a different thing. Supposedly Ameritrade APEX offers priority customer service, handled by their best service representatives...
Out of curiosity, what are the trade and asset requirements for Izone APEX? For Ameritrade, it is 15 trades per quarter or $100,000. Even a regular Ameritrade account offers free Streamer, but not Level II quotes. With Ameritrade APEX, I would still have to pay the higher ($10) commissions.
I have a regular Ameritrade account and a Roth IRA with APEX access. I have had very good customer service in recent years (maybe because of APEX). I have $33k in the two accounts but easily make the 15 trades per quarter between the two accounts. They are charging me $7 per trade in the regular account and $$9.99 in the Roth IRA. I like the free DJ news in the Streamer. I don't use the Level II quotes - I wasn't under the impression they were free but didn't dig too hard.
I also have an IB account. Their margin rate is much lower and for small numbers of shares the commissions are much lower. I plan to keep the Ameritrade account because of Streamer and to have a backup if IB is down. I got the IB account to trade futures but over time will probably add stock investments too.
I also have Australian accounts.
Ameritrade has very poor customer service from my experience. 25 minute wait queues and inaccurate information related to an estate change I needed to make. I spoke to 4 csr's and received 3 different "ideas" on what forms I need. I had to make a similiar change with Fidelity and it was handled with out a glitch.
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