OptionsXpress Online Options, Stock, And Futures Brokers Options Express Optionetics They make lots of promises, including an immediate refund if you change your mind, but are lying!! Roseville, Minnesota

These fly-by-nighters have now struck in the Minneapolis area. It's the same old deal. No audio recording is allowed, because they aren't going to stand by any of their promises. They want to present everything about investing in options as being very simple, and state that even a five-year-old can handle it. They state that if you buy a put and a call option on the same stock, you can't lose more than 15% of what you invested, and that unlikely disaster happens only if the stock stays level. If your option becomes "worth" a certain amount, do you know for a fact it will sell?

They guarantee verbally that you have 2 full weeks to examine all the material (which is available on ebay and Craigslist, by the way), and that you can get a full refund right up until the end of that time. In writing, though, the only right you have to a refund is the 3 days guaranteed by law. They even say you don't have to return their stuff, but that's another trick. When we signed up, they didn't show us the little yellow paper stapled behind the pick receipt, but I looked at it, and it gave a clear date for the 3 days' right to cancel. There was just too much difference between what they said and what was written. Of course, the first written thing in the contract was that only written things would count as part of the contract.

You also have a right to your money back, IF you do 36 complete buy AND SELL trades, each of which precisely conforms to their rules. What if you've already lost a lot of money after only 5 trades? What if you are sick to death of it by 10 trades?

Anyway, we went in the very next morning to take advantage of the promise of the immediate refund, and they didn't want any of their new lemmings to see us. They told us to go away and wait in the lobby, though we didn't. After everyone was safely inside, they quietly explained that only the office in California could help us out with a refund. We know from reading the other complaints below how much help people get with that, don't we? If they can charge a credit card right then and there, they can give credit back on one, but they wouldn't. They got very huffy and talked about how generous they'd been to help us call California. Then they called in a security guard to help protect their interests with regard to the ignorant new lemmings.

This program is not for people who have no or little experience. I can't speak for the ones who have lots of experience, but it's not the already wildly successful people who are going to see these things.

Thank God for the people who come into these "complimentary events" to ask questions to get people's minds turning. These salespeople know exactly what to say and what to steer away from. When the presenters get mad at you and defensive and rudely slap you down, count it as good deed you're doing for the sheep going to the slaughter. You won't believe the things on the back of the pink sheet. They say they aren't licensed or authorized to do just about anything they claim at these fly by night meetings to be doing. They say they've got their own people on the trading floor, and then they say they aren't brokers or authorized by any commission anywhere.

Their BBB Report in Chicago merits a C. This may be why they moved their headquarters to Redwood City, CA. The written contract says nothing about a refund for the 2 weeks they say you have, but they certainly do say it.