I have been with IB from the begining, one of their first customers. It has become almost impossible to get customer service on a level that I can tolerate. Unacceptable long wait times to get thru, once answered the representative is not well informed. Impossible to get thru to funds and banking today for a simple question, tried online chat but to no avail and no answer, sent email, still not answered, 10minutes to get thru a voice mail system that ended up with CS representative who transfered me to a voice mail to leave a message and the phone call was never returned. I am not one that generally complains but the service is just not acceptable.If this continues they are going to lose me as a long time customer. If you are considering IB, understand this is a major flaw, and you may want to keep looking.
hpex1, Why don't you close your account and quit complaining. Let's see you find another broker that executes just as fast and has the same commissions as IB. I have to admit the Customer Support at IB is a bit slow but I have only had to contact them once. Live with it.
JSMITH: Your sugestion that I simply close my account and stop complaining is really out of line. This is an important issue that needs to be addressed by IB and should be posted in an open forum. I would also add this is only the second time I have ever posted on this board, this first time was when I started a thread about PRIMEX routing which seemed to have been a help to many.
For 2k a month in commission savings I can stand their customer service. I lose a few hundred a month due to programming errors, stops not working, etc., but I can't say I lose 2K...Except for women, fast and cheap is hard to beat.
IB is one of the best firms out there no one else gives a commission rate like they do except a prop firm. With out IB the commission of other firms makes it almost impossible for even the best traders that don't trade size to succeed. There costumer service has always been fast and more then helping to me they even go further then they have to. There system is more reliable then ISLD with that how can anyone complain. You should open a account with Cyber or Holds brothers to teach you a lesson you little baby. If it wasent for IB I would still have to trade for Schonfeld and give half my profits and be told when I have to work.
Stick to NYSE, ARCA and ISLD for routing the BEST execution is crap but the rest of the system is fine and get a good quote feed. After that you will be perfectly happy and not need to smoke any drugs to deal with the problem. Although a recreational drug habit is helpful in trading.
Not getting much support from the admitted drug user (and others) here eh? I agree with you that IB CS is bad and appears to be getting worse. It is my estimation that the high number of new accounts have overrun the existing staff and IB has not expanded fast enough to meet demand. When I call CS, as I do almost daily to report the same problem(s) over and over, I get the same 4 or 5 people. They have caller ID and greet me by name when I call from one of my usual phone numbers. The problem that you and I have is lacking the ability to give up those wonderful commissions. I agree that IB needs to address the issue, but until now they haven't. I would guess that until another broker comes along with somewhere near the same commissions, IB won't do much to improve the situation. Without Def, I probably would have sailed out of here a long time ago. I would suggest posting your question here on ET. I have received many more correct answers here than from IB support staff...although they try. I would also write IB mgmt and share your tenure and feelings.
By the way about costomer service at IB when it gets bad I smoke a little bit of drugs and it seems to get better. I hope that helps.
hepex1: I think getting good customer support is a problem with most brokerage firms in this time of manpower cut backs, or for that matter it is a problem most times. I sympathize with your frustrations and hope I can get IB's help when I need it. With all the good things about IB, I am sure you will not be moving your account. So, hang in there and post more often. Your start of the PRIMEX thread was a good one. Catoosa
hpex1, I'm sorry if I sounded harsh but when you start a thread like this one, I assumed you were just trying to bash IB for fun. Many people have already mentioned in numerous threads that they need to improve their customer support. It is the one main con that we are willing to overlook considering all the other things they offer.