Quote from fbell50:
I did tell them my quote vendor was supplying quotes which they did not address in their reply. I log every quote so I could supply a T&S log.
I didnât think it was worth the effort to pursue it. They could tell me that the exchange wasnât providing quotes to them because of some problem that affected some but not everyone. And even if I managed to win the argument that this was an IB problem, my understanding is that they still have no duty to make me whole since simulated orders are done on a best efforts basis.
Iâm still a relatively new IB customer. Do you think I have a chance for redress?
If IB does not have an obligation to give you a refund, it is still possible that they might give you one voluntarily, in order to demonstrate their fairness as a broker. A refund, however, is not the only available form of redress. Another very important form of redress, even if they don't give you a refund, is to fix the problem so it doesn't happen again to you or to other customers. If they are simulating orders on a "best efforts" basis, doesn't that mean they should make their best efforts to fix this problem?
They can't fix the problem unless you do your part. You are dealing with a customer service rep who has apparently failed to investigate a critical piece of information, which if true, disproves his explanation shifting the blame away from IB and onto a quote source. I say you need to ask this CS rep one more time to address what he previously ignored. If the result is not a satisfactory explanation, then I say you need to escalate to higher authority, who can review the CS rep's approach to see if it should be changed.
You say it is not worth the effort to pursue this. Can you afford to throw away $5,000 without spending at least a few more minutes on it? Do you intend to continue using the same order execution functionality, without making sure that the bug, if any, is fixed? Trading is a business. A businessman would pursue further explanation, make further effort for a refund, and at the very least, insist that the bug be fixed so that you can trade more successfully in the future. If you insist that the bug be fixed, you are not only benefitting yourself, you are also benefitting IB - even if the CS rep has to be dragged kicking and screaming to recognize that there was a problem with IB's execution of the order. If, on the other hand, your position is incorrect, and IB is blameless, and you waste their time on a meritless bug report, then of course you would be harming IB and your relationship with IB; so you should be very cautious to make sure you are correct and that all your ducks are in a row, and that you are open-minded and willing to consider their explanation in case it is correct, before you consume their time (they are extremely busy!)
I don't think you can solve the problem by switching to one of IB's competitors. IB's competitors really cannot compete with IB. Your best bet is to work with IB, the best broker, to help them become even better by fixing this problem. This means that you spend the time to get this matter addressed appropriately, even though doing so would be much less fun than trading. Business isn't always fun.