From: hinker@acl.lanl.gov (Paul J. Hinker)
Subject: Re: K. Aufhauser & Co., Pacific Brokerage Services
Reply-To: Paul J. Hinker <hinker@acl.lanl.gov>
Organization: Advanced Computing Lab, LANL, NM
	<1992Aug14.072019.10695@leland.Stanford.EDU>
	<1992Aug14.160341.7093@cbfsb.cb.att.com>
	<1992Aug14.180644.15616@leland.Stanford.EDU>
Distribution: usa
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1992 00:01:01 GMT

In article <1992Aug14.180644.15616@leland.Stanford.EDU> bsk@leland.Stanford.EDU (Brian Keller) writes:

In article <1992Aug14.160341.7093@cbfsb.cb.att.com> chandrab@cbnewsf.cb.att.com (b.chandramouli) writes:
>1) The major one is, they require you to have money in your account
>   to cover your trade before they will accept your order. They do
>   not like the  usual 5 working days that is allowed to send in the
>   check. With margin accounts, they do allow a little bit of
>   flexibility but I like the idea of placing an order without
>   any restrictions and sending in the check for that amount in 5 days.

>> Good questions - in a sense, I suppose my previous post was incomplete since
>> I didn't address these.  As they told you, they DO allow the 5 working days.
>> On the first trade they typically require cash in the account but after that
>> they give you the 5 days.

   For what it's worth, I opened an account with PBS recently (about 4
months ago) and they let me make my first trade without any money in
my account.  Granted it was a small trade [~$1500] but it went off
without a hitch.  Also, I purchased two issues and got a better price
on both [1/8 on one and 1/4 on the other] than I specified.  The trade
was confirmed while I was on the phone as well.

>2) The minor one is, some of their brokers are not professional to
>   the degree I expect them to be. May be I am spoiled by Fidelity
>   with respect to what to expect for customer service, but I think
>   they have a lot to improve. ( In fact I told one of their
>   brokers about this once.)

>> Actually I switched from Fidelity to PBS. The brokers are comparably
>> professional. One advantage of PBS over Fidelity is that the first person
>> you reach on the phone is a broker. Fidelity drove me nuts forwarding
>> me around the country in search of an available broker. One advantage of
>> Fidelity, however, is being able to place orders 24 hours a day.  PBS is
>> only open during the day.

   I've heard from several people that this is a big advantage.
Aren't all trades executed during regular trading hours?  Since I
don't maintain a large positive cash balance in my account, calling in
a trade at 2am means I just have to call back and find out how much to
write the check for anyway [once the trade is executed].  I'm happy
with the service I'm getting with PBS.  I'm not what anyone would
consider an 'active' trader and the service/price is right.

   I've got no affiliation with PBS other than I have an active
trading account.  I certainly don't speak for Los Alamos National Labs
or the Department of Energy.

Paul Hinker hinker@acl.lanl.gov    ///  If it works, it's not state-of-the-art
MS B287	    505-665-7446          ///                           --Hansen's Law
Los Alamos National Labs ACL  \\\///    All our stuff is broke
Los Alamos, NM  87545          \XX/                    --Forslund's Corollary
--
Paul Hinker hinker@acl.lanl.gov    ///  If it works, it's not state-of-the-art
MS B287	    505-665-7446          ///                           --Hansen's Law
Los Alamos National Labs ACL  \\\///    All our stuff is broke
Los Alamos, NM  87545          \XX/                    --Forslund's Corollary