Online Broker Survey: Reliability Improves

Though far from perfect, online brokers seem to have improved their standing with customers in the last six months, according to TheStreet.com's latest Online Broker Survey.

The more than 2,400 readers who filled out our online questionnaire in August and September report that Web site reliability is getting better. A vast majority of them feel they're treated fairly when the dreaded margin call arrives.

Still, survey participants had plenty of complaints to share -- bad executions, high costs, poorly trained customer reps and accounting snafus, to name a few. And nearly one in four say they're thinking of changing brokers in the next six months, so brokers still have their work cut out for them. ...