The IB people in Quebec are actually very civilized... And try to be helpful as possible... But have all kinds of limitations... Like being a small branch office. The absolute worst people are in New York City... They are complete fucking animals... Treating people sadistically is normal for them... I'd shoot myself... Before I do business again with an NYC firm.
Guys - what do you expect ? IB is the McDonalds of retailing. Your options are limited as are your needs for support and service. Take your burger and go home....that''s it. Problems with execution ?: YOU'RE SCREWED. Problems with their API ?: YOU'RE SCREWED.
Most of my experience with IB chat support have been excellent until recently where I tried their chat support during Asia market hour for the first time. I was being treated like shit. The staff was arrogant, impatient, and give you a sense of "you're wasting my time" kind of attitude. A sharp contrast of the kind of service I got from IB chat during US market hours. I'm not sure which office handles the Asia market hour chat but IB really need to make it up to the standard of the US market hour chat. I suspect many of the IB support being rude complaints comes from the experience people have during the Asia support hours.
This really puzzles me......Its a very competetive brokerage market out there, and these guys are acting like dicks. Wouldn't you think they would get more business if they were a little respectful. I know one thing for sure...two of my buddies decided against opening an account with them because of their customer service. These two guys are not small potatoes either.
I am curious, what do you guys need IB customer support for? I've been an IB customer for about 5 years now, and never had the need to call them.
I called them once to break a trade because my (local) internet had died. Before that I called once when the HK server wasn't serving historical data. Thats it. Personally, if people are calling there CS's more than once a year I hope they fcuk off and find another broker. IB provide technically good, multimarket, fast cheap service for those who need minimal customer support - like Brown used to - so I don't want them wasting my money warming the CS up for newbies. So, OP, go and find another broker, and take anyone making more than a couple of calls to ib a year with you.
Kiwki I think that's a bit extreme. I've been with IB for 6 years and I've been paying 5 figures commission monthly for the last 3 or 4 years. I demand my service and when I don't get it (only occassionaly) I have the right to have an opinion. I love IB as well and I admire it deep from my heart. But if everyone who asks for customer service more than twice a year have to fuck off I don't think IB would be left with many customers.
Some of the hostile responses are pretty funny. If you never call IB customer service you must use a very limited set of their products and/or features. No considerate customer deserves to be treated rudely by a customer service rep in any business. The fact that some of you think it is okay indicates your lack of business savvy. To be perfectly honest, I do believe that the IB customer service is greatly improved over the past couple of years, and rudeness is not the norm as of late. Most of the representatives I have spoken to over the past year or two have been professional and helpful. The reason IB has a bad reputation regarding customer service is because they earned it over a number of years and have only made significant improvements recently. There are some reps that really know their stuff and are pleasant on top of that, but there are still a few that absolutely don't belong in customer service. And, BTW, from the accent I do believe I was speaking to a NYC rep and it was option #5. I was quite considerate and never said anything to the rep about his attitude, but another person who overheard the conversation was just as appalled as I was.
Hey gang, what about this "new kid on the block" ?? : http://www.zumo.com They seem to be an IB lookalike.....but: Alas, they're missing an API.