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October 2023 by Mark T.
11/1/2023thinkorswimCharles Schwab & Co., Inc.schwab.com/contact-us877-519-1403This is a review for a stock trading platform which I just installed and compared with my previous platform called StreetSmart Edge (SSE), also provided by Schwab. This has gotta be a first review and I hope it will be relevant to somebody, I could have used this information.thinkorswim (TOS) is a powerful, feature filled and customizable equity trading platform that is in many ways superior to StreetSmart Edge.Trades are easy to setup from multiple places and very intuitive with lots of options available.Charting appears to be at least as equivalent to SSE with apparently many more studies available. I was able to replicate my SSE chart setups quickly.The MarketWatch Calendar is an excellent feature where you can display the dates for earnings releases, dividend ex-dates and other stuff. I had to create individual manual notes for these in SSE, a real time saver.However it does lack some key features that SSE has; the ability to display the daily change in account value (so you know how you did that day), the ability to execute a sell order using specified lots (for tax purposes, however you can still do this with Schwab.com) and the ability to display top holdings for funds and ETFs in Fundamentals. There are some minor quirks like being able to retain the number of days when displaying account information (it always defaults to 1 day when switching menus).TOS takes a little getting used to time because it is so customizable and will take at least a few days of work to get it the way you want it to look and work. Service has been excellent through the chat support feature with very helpful and responsive agents. When I first ran it, I was thinking of going back to SSE but after a little use I really like it and not going back to SSE.
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February 2022 by Jack Damm
I have had accounts at Schwab for many years. The folks at the branch in Los Altos have always been courteous, knowledgeable and prompt. I have rarely waited more than a few minutes to get service. Their online web pages are well-organized and helpful as well.
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June 2019 by Deanna M.
I have been investing with Charles Schwab for 35 years, I was very happy until my last advisor moved about 6 years ago with no warning. I then went in search of an advisor at Schwab in the Los Altos/Palo Alto area. Surprisingly I went through three trail advisors at Schwab that were not a good fit for me at all. I found them to be uninterested and condescending, I felt they did not respect me as a female investor. Just when I was ready to give up on Schwab, I had the good fortune to meet Kevin Kruchko. He has consistently given me good advice about investments without pushing me into anything. He respects that I am the investor actively handling my husband's and my accounts, the other advisors wanted to interact only with my husband. Kevin has been so easy to work with. Whenever I have a question or concern he gets right back to me. When I've asked him to give information to my accountant, he does it without a problem. He has given very personalized service,I wish all of the financial advisors would respect women investors like he does.
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December 2018 by A S.
This Charles Schwab office is Los Altos is very organized and well-run. I met with financial advisory Ashman Murti. Ash is the real thing. He knows what he is doing and willing to give real substantive advice. I spoke with him the day before my visit, and when I arrived he had all the paperwork ready for me to sign. Great customer service! We also discuss making adjustment to my portfolio. He is knowledgeable about the market and truly interested in the art of investing, unlike the other Schwab advisers that I had dealt with at the Sunnyvale branch over the past two years. Last year I was at the Sunnyvale branch, and the financial advisory I met with could not even properly handle a simple IRA conversion. I will be going back to the Los Altos branch in the future.
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September 2018 by Alexander Olson
They are incredibly friendly and helpful here. And everything is so simple. I went in to transfer an account over to Schwab and they looked over the forms to make sure I had everything correct and then handled the rest. All of that took less than a minute. Schwab's simplicity and customer service is amazing.
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May 2018 by Jeff H.
Started my new job since last December and also started a new 401k account with the new company. Came into this branch, since it's close to home, and talked to the representative about rolling over my old 401k to the new account. The representative was confused and asked if I was trying to cash out my 401k and deposit into my individual trading account..... I mean, are you serious? Especially when I stated I want to roll my old 401k to a new 401k account with a new company..... Why in the world would I want to cash out my 401k and get a 35% penalties and 20%+ federal income tax on it???? After d*** down the vocabulary and using easier terms then the representative was like, oh, we don't touch any 401k plans.... You will need to call the Charles Schwab 401k Plan hotline to get this resolve.... I mean... when you heard rolling 401k why didn't you tell me that to begin with but wasting my time? May be Charles Schwab need more TRAINING with their BRANCH EMPLOYEES since they are so CLUELESS. Not Recommending people to talk to the branch representative cause they are clueless and you are probably wasting your time to try to get an answer from them.
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January 2018 by K P.
Wow! I have always heard that Charles Schwab was premium customer service, investing experience, etc. I am in the process of moving my accounts from another bank and have simply been trying to set up an appointment with the Los Altos office for a consult as I live in Los Altos, and for three days now not a single person answered the phone nor was there an answering machine. Trying to get through to the 800 number to help me was a horrible wait time so I am giving up.
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December 2017 by Peter B.
OMG, These people are a train wreck. I had seven accounts with them. About two weeks ago I set about to get some of MY money out of one of MY accounts. I finally got it TODAY. Last Friday I spent over four hours on the phone with Schwab, being transferred from one department to another, and "my issue" was constantly being "escalated", which is Schwab's insider term for "passing the buck to someone else, who won't accomplish anything either." After four hours on the phone with one department, then another, then back, etc., we finally got it worked out. They were to have a check for me to pick up this (Monday) morning. When I went in to the branch, the check was incorrectly made out and was useless. I spent another couple of hours, and finally around noon I got the check that was first requested nearly two weeks ago. Spare yourself the brain damage. Run, don't walk, the other way. Go to Fidelity, or anywhere but Schwab. By the way, do you want to check what I am saying - try phoning this branch to speak to a LIVE human being. No such luck. You will only talk to recorders. The humans, if any there are, don't have time to talk to a lowbrow schlub like you. Just a hideous experience. I am moving ALL of my accounts elsewhere, damn the tax consequences. I won't do business with these bumbling idiots.
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August 2017 by Tom Loughran
Came on a Saturday, the person at the desk was rude, and showed he did not want to help me. I thought i was at a soviet soup shop. He treated a older person with simple question with contempt.
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June 2017 by GG C
I visited this office around 11:45 AM this Tuesday. After 15 minutes wait, I was told there were no one available at that moment, and there would be a callback to me in about 1 hour. I went back and waited for more than four hours and there was no callback (no email, nothing) at all. Then I called the office number (still more than 1 hour before their close time) several times, but there was no one to answer the phone. It was a very bad customer experience and I did not want to visit the office again.
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September 2015 by Connor McCormack
Friendly and quick service, never usually much of a wait.
