1. IB software appears to have a problem with double charging for partial fills where the remaining fill happens a few days later. This has happened to me twice. The first was resolved and I just emailed (help) today about the second instance. 2. It seems you are not able to purchase (sell) an option contract if there is no open interest. I attempted to sell (to open) an option contract that had just been rolled out today. There was an active bid/ask but the TWS rejected the order saying: "Rejected: This contract cannot be valued at this time". I called and the rep went over it with me and said he would refer it to programming. I played with some other contracts, entering outside orders and it was consistent, no open interest and the order rejects. Relatively minor stuff overall and the system continues to sing right along. I keep referring people over to IB all the time...and they're opening accounts and are all happy. I hope IB can keep up.
Can you buy bullets? This allows you to sell on a downtick. If you can't the you have a disadvantage. Does anyone know whether you can or not???????
I would like to have a hot key that changes your order from a LIMIT to a MARKET and vice versa. Right now we have hotkeys to change price and size, but sometimes when i really want to exit a position, i just go for a market order, which takes a few seconds to change using the mouse.
This morning I had a premarket problem with my account balances and I called IB to report the problem. In the past when you had such a problem, you were automatically patched through to the Swiss office and they would take care of it (or would let you know that it was at least being worked on). I was appalled to find that the policy has apparently changed. No longer does IB patch you directly through, but you instead are directed to dial the international number yourself. I realize and appreciate that IB tries to keep expenses down to benefit its customers through its low commissions, but this change is a HUGE STEP BACK in service. As long as the markets are open, and that includes premarket, IB has the obligation to provide customer support. THIS CHANGE IS A HUGE STEP BACK IN CUSTOMER SERVICE WHICH I DID NOT THINK COULD GET ANY WORSE. (I was wrong....it just did) Please reinstate the old system! 99
I agree 100%. If you are live and accepting orders, there should be some warm bodies around to answer the phone. Shouldn't have to call 10,000 miles away for that. Why not shift a few (1 or 2 ?) CS people to the 7AM slot and let them go home early.
Reply to agent99: I am trying to fill in between the lines on your post about the phone number given to you to call the Swiss IB Office to correct IB's accounting problem or errors in your account information. Was the phone number given to you a toll free number or was IB telling you we have to pay for a call to Switzerland to try and correct an IB Problem? Catoosa
calls outside of regular US hours to foreign help desks are not toll free. overlapping hours of the respective help desks are being considered. In the meantime, if you do not want to call int'l (which is not that expensive these days given the right phone service), try a chat. The rep could call back if the issue requires more detail.
Unfortunately Def, I have found 'chat' to be a huge waste of time. Every time that I've used it (and I do mean EVERY) I have come away more frustrated than before, because the person at the other end of the chat didn't seem to have the training to answer even basic questions, nor the curiousity to get the right response from someone in a better position to know. They seem more interested in giving you preprogrammed pat answers that don't go to the heart of your question, and if you try to probe further they try to get rid of you. This issue has been discussed on other threads here with comments similar to mine. IB needs to focus on training the support people better because as it stands currently, IMO it's a huge waste and a very weak link. And as for our having to foot the bill for an international call to support during trading hours (and that includes premarket), that's just ridiculous. 99
I understand your frustration. I can only speak for the guys in the HK office where they are trained to dig deeper (ofcourse things are quieter after US hours and they have more time to work with people). I'll forward your post to the heads of the European and US desks in an effort to improve things. As for the calls, that's out of my control. I think the change stemmed from a majority of calls coming in after hours were related to new business or basic enquiry and thus it was not cost effective to route them around the world when an urgent reply wasn't due. I'll mention your concerns as well but I won't promise anything here.