I know lots of people around here seem to like hating on IB's customer service. Perhaps that was more justified many years ago, but I thought I'd share a good experience I had recently. I had a small holding in an obscure nontraded security with a deadline to exercise it or it would be worthless. Must have had it for years from some weird company reorganization, and I'd forgotten about the deadline. Anyway, I got a courtesy call one morning from an IB rep letting me know that 1. It was way in the money to exercise this thing 2. It would not be exercised automatically 3. I had about two hours to submit a ticket that day and how to do that, if I wanted. I have a pretty good impression of IB service, maybe because i trade a lot, but I've got $1k more reasons as of now. YMMV, I don't know that this level of service is something every account can expect, etc.
IB's customer service is a hit and miss. When you are really lucky and get a good one, they are really good, really detailed-oriented, patient and knowledgeable. But when you get bad ones, they are REALLY bad, clueless, apathetic, and rude. And you have to wait for a LONG time to finally get the good ones. My average waiting time to talk to IB customer service is half an hour. You first get all the noobs who have no idea about IB or anything about trading and it's NEVER the department that you need to resolve your issue so you just keep getting transferred again and again and again to finally reach the department that knows what they are doing and solve the problem for you. Each time when they transfer you, they just ditch you into the waiting queue and you just end up waiting forever. I think the problem is because IB keeps everything cheap especially labour cost so anybody as soon as they become experienced, they either leave or get promoted to other more specialized department so all you end up dealing with are noobs who not only have no clue but doesn't give a s***. I once got an idiot after waiting on the phone for 30 minutes who had no idea what I am talking about and then promptly told me I have already spent 30 minutes on the phone with IB and that's the limit of how much time IB can spend helping me and told me to hang up and call back tomorrow without knowing that that 30 min that I spent was waiting on the line and my problem was still unresolved but he didn't care; it was probably close to the end of his shift and he just wanted to go home and couldn't care less that I couldn't close my trade and I was losing money by the second literally. So I guess the old adage is true: You get what you pay for. So one day if I am really fed up with the customer service and can afford to pay more to get better customer service, I will leave IB. But the problem is nowadays even if you pay more, you are still not guaranteed that you would get better quality of service cuz nobody gives a s*** about what they do now. The word "excellence" just doesn't exist anymore. Everybody is just doing the bare minimum just to get by meanwhile probably saving enough to become a trader judging by how many posts we see here on ET from ppl seeking advice on how to transition to be trader. LOL
IB's customer service got much better once my commissions reached several thousand per/month. But I trade with several brokers, and I cannot complain much about any of them.
I am a swing trader. When I don't get a signal, I am not going to force myself to trade just to give more commissions to IB. If the quality of the customer service is really tied to how much commission you give them, that's not fair. I shouldn't be discriminated against just because of my trading style.
You have a very different idea of fair than the industry standard. Nearly every broker has a "premium service team" or "premium client designation" or something like this where you get faster access to better customer service reps. Usually this is based on assets, i.e. having at least few $100k at retail brokers, or trading a lot, or something along those lines. I wouldn't be surprised if the level of service at IB is somehow tied to your account's revenue. You know you're doing well when they give you a personal account rep .
That quote should really be "The maximum you get is what you pay for". It's true you pay little you get little, but you can always pay a lot and still get crap for it.
Me doing well doesn't mean I have to give tons of commissions to IB. It's the P/L each trade that counts NOT the number of trades. And even if I am a small account, I should still get a service rep that at least knows about IB's products and services and trading and have some basic customer service skills and not try to hang up on me because he wants to go home. LOL I am not expecting IB to bow to me every single time when I call them; I am just expecting the BASIC level of customer service that I expect from any other business. Furthermore, IB is NOT going to get more money from me by giving me crappy customer service because once my account grows bigger and once when I can afford to pay more, I will leave. I am NOT going to stay with a broker that treated me like s*** when I was just starting out.
Exactly right. Generally it's better to concentrate your assets at fewer brokers. If possible keep at least $1m at each. You'll get premium service even without high turnover in your account. Also, you can ask your brokers how much aggregate commish you're generating each month. They have the numbers available internally although they aren't published on your monthly statements. A good talking point for conversations about fee reductions or other considerations. Having said that, I have <$1m at IB. There's a complicated backstory to that I won't go into. But I like and admire the firm and will probably move more money there as I rearrange assets post- tax season. However my firm has a broader relationship with IB so I get good customer service, and have met with my coverage at their HQ in Greenwich.
Isnt it bad to keep so much money at one broker due to going over the account maximum insurance coverage?
I think some brokers try to account for it. IB, for example, on their website they say that they distribute your account cash out to different banks so that you don't hit the FDIC limit on any one bank. That does require you to interact with them and black list banks that you already have money in, however, because the only way they know to avoid it with your account is to tell them to avoid it. Not advice, or recommendation, just an observation of their website. Edit, it looks like an optional program you can join with IB called the Insured Bank Deposit Sweep Program.