Most divvies have a one year wait before they're convertible. Most likely E-trade doesn't care about this triple zero stock and didn't even look it up when you called. James himself completely dictates how long they are restricted, he's already said several times they will be less than six months, the broker has no control of it whatsoever, they're just brokers. The one you just called just completely botched this up so they're probably not looking to be real helpful, it's in their best interest for you to sell everything at 1 right now.