Interactive Brokers worst customer service

[murray t turtle]

This is the first time that I have dealt with IB. My experience so for is that it is the worst customer service I have ever experienced in my life. Not just with a broker but with any company.

Is this typical?

%%
NO; but they do send thier ad calenders US mail/LOL.
Most ETFs use FEDX, or UPS or email; actually i prefer US mail or FEDx ,UPS to email.
But i've noticed by the time they answer the phone /problems tend to be fixed

 

[destriero]

I joined IB in Dec last year only three months ago. It has been an unmitigated disaster. I was assured they would accept all fifteen of the securities in my portfolio which they confirmed were registered in their database. When it came to settlement they rejected three securities. It is impossible to speak to a human being at IB. Their support team appears to be in India and the country home support phone number just never answers!



I finally decided last month to close the account. It took over a month to move my securities to an alternative broker in Europe and their Treasury dept tell me that IB flatly refused to provide any contact names, email addresses or phone numbers to enable settlement to take place. Everything is electronic at IB. They are the most arrogant unprofessional company I’ve ever had to deal with. There is zero human customer support.



I still have cash balances at IB. Two weeks ago I tried to transfer them to my new broker in Europe. The funds arrived at the receiving bank within two days but there was a minor detail that required clarification. The receiving bank sent three messages via SWIFT requesting confirmation from IB. All three messages were totally ignored by IB. Two weeks later IB cancelled the payment and then lied by sending me a notification stating it was the receiving bank that had rejected the payment. The funds are back in my account now at IB MINUS fees of course! I have numerous tickets open including a formal complaint which no one ever bothers to answer. I have lodged a formal complaint with the external regulator and am considering litigation in the courts.



As a retired CPA I have never encountered anything like this in the fifty years of my working life. I've lived and worked in many countries throughout the world. IB have driven me to the edge of reason over the last three months.



If I ever do manage to move my cash (GBP 6,000) and close the account I never want anything to do with this appalling organisation again!

They've lost it. I am not blowing myself here, but as an AI who had held an IB as late as Q1 2020, I wired 1.6MM into IB a couple months ago to a new account. It took them two weeks to approve vol-trading. I had been wired out a week by the time I was approved.

This is a firm that routinely charges above cash-req on verticals. Nobody does that. They are garbage.

I was sued by the OCC in 2002 for RAES crossed-market arbitrage and IB's lawyers handled the case on my behalf--so I've naturally been loyal to the firm for years, but they are simply overwhelmed and inept.

 

[Sig]

They've lost it. I am not blowing myself here, but as an AI who had held an IB as late as Q1 2020, I wired 1.6MM into IB a couple months ago to a new account. It took them two weeks to approve vol-trading. I had been wired out a week by the time I was approved.

This is a firm that routinely charges above cash-req on verticals. Nobody does that. They are garbage.

I was sued by the OCC in 2002 for RAES crossed-market arbitrage and IB's lawyers handled the case on my behalf--so I've naturally been loyal to the firm for years, but they are simply overwhelmed and inept.

To be fair a few of us have been complaining about their above cash requirement on verticals for years here

I'm familiar with the RAES opportunity but wasn't aware people were sued for it. What was they were suing you for, out of curiosity?

 

[destriero]

To be fair a few of us have been complaining about their above cash requirement on verticals for years here

I'm familiar with the RAES opportunity but wasn't aware people were sued for it. What was they were suing you for, out of curiosity?

Disgorgement of gains related to the crossed market in multi-venue COMS options. And yeah, I read about the req on verticals here. I wasn't affected.

 

[Sig]

Disgorgement of gains related to the crossed market in multi-venue COMS options. And yeah, I read about the req on verticals here. I wasn't affected.

So they were considering the fact that pricing was different on one market from another as a crossed market as if they were both the same market? That's a novel interpretation.

 

[destriero]

COMS ATM call was 3.50 bid on PSE and 3.00 offered on PHLX. You could lift the PHLX offer and hit the PSE bid for up to 20. I automated it the second week. About a month in the crossed markets were locked. About two weeks later I got a summons and a D&I subpoena. I don't recall the language in the suit but it was dismissed on day one.