IB Suggestions & Improvements

[kowboy]

I sent an email to support over a week ago and no reply. The problem is that in order to shut down TWS you must terminate it with ctl>alt>delete. The file>exit on TWS does not shut down TWS.

Also sometimes TWS remembers the charts and setiings and other times it does not, even though it's saved prior to shutdown.

No major problem. TWS seems to be really reliable these days and great commissions.

 

[Atlantic]

Quote from jpatet:

Trouble with IB’s Trouble Tickets

I asked a straightforward question using an IB Trouble Ticket and received a reply a day later that clearly shows IB rep “johnw” didn’t even read the question. There needs to be a way to forward a Trouble Ticket question and answer to an IB supervisor when it is handled that way---perhaps an “Escalate” button on the ticket itself. This might get me an answer to my question, something I still don’t have, as well as giving feedback to the powers that be at IB.

Thank you,
JP

yeah - this whole tt-thing is mess altogether - as far as i can say.

don't see why they even started it.

 

[sprstpd]

Quote from gerry875:

yeah - this whole tt-thing is mess altogether - as far as i can say.

don't see why they even started it.

It has been my experience that trouble tickets are superior to e-mail service. All of my tickets have been answered much more quickly than any e-mail I sent.

 

[GTC]

Quote from jpatet:
Trouble with IB’s Trouble Tickets

I asked a straightforward question using an IB Trouble Ticket and received a reply a day later that clearly shows IB rep “johnw” didn’t even read the question. There needs to be a way to forward a Trouble Ticket question and answer to an IB supervisor when it is handled that way---perhaps an “Escalate” button on the ticket itself. This might get me an answer to my question, something I still don’t have, as well as giving feedback to the powers that be at IB.

Thank you,
JP

There is a pattern of negligence in some cases by certain IB CSRs;-- johnw, rickv are not the only ones. I also think IB's Trouble Ticket should have some kind of "Escalate" button to involve an IB supervisor. However, to prevent too many calls to a supervisor, IB may consider charging a small fee for it from the second such trouble ticket (that required user initiated escalation) per account per month. [It is just like the first withdrawal being free at IB.] I have seen certain CSRs suddenly closing yet unresolved tickets without any comments or notifications, ignoring valid requests repeatedly, not updating the tickets in a time manner, etc. Just having the option for the escalate button should motivate certain IB CSRs to reply more professionally. (Regular IB CSRs should not be allowed to see if the client has already used that one free escalation option in the account.) On the other hand, charging a small fee from the 2nd such tickets (with escalation) should make the regular complainers to think twice before burdening IB unnecessarily.

 

[Bitstream]

whaaaaat?
a fee now to sort problems that with all probability are not due to our fault???
and yes, it is a month I sent a ticket to IB and am still waitin' for a reply...wouldn't pay a dime nevertheless.

 

[JackR]

I think another approach to the Trouble Ticket problem might be as follows:

a) Some supervisor or manager gets a simple report stating there were X new trouble reports created today, Y cleared today, W reopened by clients after closing today, and a grand total of Z reports currently open.

Anyone reviewing such a report, which would show previous daily totals going back two weeks or so, would see any up or down trends developing and could investigate and act as/if required.

b) An additional report would be generated showing tickets uncleared after X days and also include reopened tickets. Statistics such as number cleared by a specific person versus the number reopened could also be shown. This would help spot the bad reps.

c) Another report showing unassigned tickets or time to respond time would be useful.

The report would also go to other affected managers (simple email) who would use it to note an upsurge in tickets. This could be useful in getting early indications of problems associated with a new TWS release, implementation of a new feature such as pit trading, or just a whole bunch of new clients generating tickets and a need to augment the customer service staff.


We may be suffering from IB's steady growth. There comes a time when a firm transitions from small to medium to large when the folks who have made the firm grow must transfer some of their responsibility and authority to others. This often means spending money on new personnel or promoting from within and replacing the promotee. One problem with rewarding technically superb people with supervisory or managerial positions is that they are not trained for such jobs, do not have the skills required, or find that working with people rather than "things" is not to their liking. IB may be experiencing these problems and we are suffering along with them. They appear to be trying to correct them.


Jack

 

[ozzy]

Any chance we'll be getting access to South American Markets? In particular Index Futures?

 

[GTC]

JackR, your suggested approaches are good in general but simply do not prevent certain CSRs from suddenly closing the tickets without notifying the customer (or without leaving any comments) after initially deceivingly asking for more time. If somehow 7 days go by after a ticket has been closed surreptitiously, it cannot be re-opened by the customer. If the ticket remains unresolved or only partially resolved, or suddenly closed by a CSR according to the client, the client needs to be able to re-open within 15/30 days . (Sometimes, it is hard for a customer to check back if a dormant Trouble Ticket has been closed surreptitiously by certain CSRs within 7 days.) The report generated by your approaches should be enhanced to include if a ticket is closed/re-opened by the customer or not, and with the customer's satisfaction or not. Certain trouble tickets could be more important to the customer than the others. Therefore, the customer need to be able to escalate a particular unresolved/suddenly_closed ticket if necessary. IB's customer service is preventing IB to have more success.

 

[originalskunk]

If you're not satisfied with your customer service experience then perhaps an email to ibmgmt@interactivebrokers.com would be in order

 

[JackR]

Quote from GTC:

JackR, your suggested approaches are good in general but simply do not prevent certain CSRs from suddenly closing the tickets without notifying the customer.....<snip>

GTC:

The simple approach to your suggestion is to have the system send an email to the client automatically on closure of a ticket. No control by the CSR. Any closure, the system sends an email. For that matter, any change in ticket status would send an email. If the customer was not satisfied he or she would have ample time to reopen the ticket.

My suggestions were not meant to be "the" answer. I used to make a lot of money studying problems and suggesting solutions. Obviously I haven't a clue as to IB's real intent in regard to the trouble ticket system. IB is now advertising, it is privately held, the principal is almost as old as I am and might want to take the firm public, get a great deal of money and equity (stock) out and change his life style. Then again, he might just might have become bored, wanted to grow the firm so as to give himself a new challenge, has done so, and the trouble ticket system is a result of the growth. But without real knowledge of IB's needs it is not possible to do anything but generalize.

Jack