I've touched some nerves lately. (Once again, I won't post emails using expletives, even though I'm sure it makes you feel better to say it.)
Regarding my troubles in getting my money to and from E*Trade, Nathan G. writes:
"Wow. You honestly think that your carefully crafted E*Trade bashing will make a difference? The manipulation of your reported dates to include two weekends was glaring, and your belief the story needed specific dates included was defensive. E*trade's funds clearing time frame is similar to everyone else, and you know it...no one is going to make stock decisions on your boring little story...Pitiful."
From Vern P.:
"It's unfortunate that you chose to mention E*Trade by name. While they were only following prudent and standard banking practices, the implication of your comments was that they had wronged you. I, on the other hand, have been a satisfied customer of both their banking and brokerage services for years. They have always treated me very fairly and courteously, while providing excellent services at competitive rates."
Tom writes:
"Sir, I do not know what are you talking about. My funds from an external account linked with my E*TRADE Brokerage account are available in 2-3 seconds. You should do it instead of a regular transfer. Linking the accounts take 2-3 days and you do it once."
Brent K.:
"You must have done something funny with the E*Trade account setup, it only takes 24 hours tops to fund your account. And once the account link is set up, it takes seconds. I know because I got my first margin call this week!!! Don't give up on E*trade, it's better than any of the other trading platforms and it far beats whatever your advisor is charging you. It's nice to be in control of your money."
Beth T. writes:
"I have yet to figure out why they take so long to credit your account when you transfer money, so I called them and asked, and they told me if I would wire the money from my bank to them then it would be credited the same day. Still doesn't make sense to me. It's all computerized so whether I do it myself via account transfer or call the bank and incur a wire transfer fee IT'S ALL STILL VIA COMPUTER!!!! Give me a break.... sounds like one more way someone is making money off my money besides me!"
SONY V. MICROSOFT--I'M A "SONY-BOBBING, MICROSOFT-HATING FREAK"
Then there are the emails regarding my son's long-time preference for Microsoft's Xbox suddenly changing to Sony's PlayStation.
Brian B. says my son will regret his decision:
"Once your son is finished with MGS4 he'll find there's not much else to play on the PS3. Leaving the Xbox 360 behind with all the great software available today plus the titles revealed at E3 last week was a mistake. I'm sure your son will be looking to buy another Xbox 360 by the fall when 'Gears of War 2' is released."
From Bryce C:
"You might be interested to know that the PS3 can do video rentals similar to Netflix and Xbox. However, the big difference is that you don't have to pay Sony to get access to the movies, because Sony doesn't charge you for their online service like Microsoft does. You just pay a rental fee (just like if you were going straight to Netflix)."
From Brian A.:
"Please do not let Jane Wells ever make an article on video games. She says her son is an expert, watches everything video games but he did not know about Metal Gear Solid until Sony's press conference? The game came out a few months before this conference, if he's a video game expert he should of known about this game. And trading all his stuff just for a PS3 and one game? No video game expert would ever do that. I'm still laughing at the fact she says her son knows all the trends like 3 months in advance but did not know about Metal Gear Solid until this year press conference even though the game was known for a few years now and came out a months ago. Also there's no proof in her article that Sony is winning. Did Sony pay you guys/her to make this article?"
Note from Jane: he knew about the game, he just wasn't sold on buying it... as for proof of Sony winning, here's part of an AP report from last week: "Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 bested Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 console in June. The PS3 sold 405,500 units compared with just 219,800 for the Xbox 360. The higher PS3 sales were fueled by the launch of the highly anticipated 'Metal Gear Solid 4,' which is available exclusively for Sony's console. The game sold 774,600 copies, not including those bundled with the PS3."
BEST EMAIL OF THE MONTH SO FAR--a love letter from Christopher T.:
"Jane, please leave the gaming commentary to the gaming journalist. You really are beginning to sound like a Sony-bobbing, Microsoft-hating freak. Besides, what kind of person would intelligently decide the winner of the console war by the actions of a hormone-controlled, irrational 16-year-old boy. I really don't like your taking sides in this matter, so I'll be not watching CNBC anymore. But it's mainly because my dog stepped on the remote and changed the TV to ABC, so this is 'Ultimate Proof' that ABC is the better network. You're an idiot."
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