IB customer service experience

Discussion in 'Interactive Brokers' started by chud, Jul 17, 2006.

  1. chud

    chud

    Last Thursday I was trying to buy an odd lot size of SMH shares. My
    buy order was not getting filled and I didn't receive any message
    telling me what was going on. I contacted IB customer service and
    asked them what the problem was. The representative told me that some
    exchanges don't accept odd lot market orders so I should send a
    marketable limit. I changed my order to a marketable limit and it
    still did not execute. I didn't get any answer as to why I wasn't
    getting filled, so I went ahead and changed the order to an even lot
    and was filled immediately. I asked why I didn't get any kind of
    message as to why the original order was not filled and was told that
    IB didn't give an explanation message because it was sent as a GTC
    order and that was "illogical" anyway. I don't understand why that
    should matter?

    I then got an apparently stock message saying that other customers
    were waiting and my time was up. I asked if he could explain what the
    rules are on odd lots since it would save both myself and IB trouble
    in the future. I got the stock message again, and then the rep ended
    the chat session.

    I later found out from an ET member that odd lots are not allowed in
    the Holder ETF's. If the representative didn't know the answer to my
    question, I would have preferred he just admitted as much and let me
    know he would get back to me via email with an explanation. Instead
    he hung up on a customer who was being polite and asking a legitimate
    question. I know I'm a small fry and odd lot questions aren't big
    worries for IB, but I think customer service should treat customers
    with more respect than what I was shown.