Reporting IB's TWS bugs

J

J.P.

Shortly after IB released TWS v. 903 I reported a bug by filling out a ticket that contained all the information needed for replication. Two days later I was unnecessarily asked for step-by-step instructions. The rep had not tried to duplicate it at all. I sent highly detailed steps. The rep then wrote back that I had to call, with only a general statement that he was unable to duplicate. When I called, someone else was able to immediately duplicate the issue with far less information than I had been previously sending and it was finally officially acknowledged as a bug. A day later I get a ticket reply that it was actually not a bug but a change in functionality that the programmer made, in what was then the latest release of TWS, that he not only did not document in the notes but also did not inform anyone else about! With no delays on my part this whole process took 11 days.

Up comes v. 904. It has a different bug. This time I tried to save time by calling in. The rep first said I had to fill out a ticket. When I explained that the last time I did that I was asked to call in he reluctantly agreed to try to replicate it on the spot. As I was walking him through the few simple steps I heard a lot of typing. Then when I asked what he saw on his screen he couldn't answer. Apparently he wasn't trying to duplicate it at all. I thanked him for his efforts and told him I would fill out a ticket. Six days later someone finally reads it and asks for, that's right, step-by-step instructions--again without making any attempt whatsoever to duplicate the problem. In addition, he wanted an error-report log, something else that is completely unnecessary in this case. Anyway, I sent both. And this is now the seventh day without anyone even attempting to replicate this bug.

Both bugs could have been duplicated in seconds by anyone reading the initial tickets as both were straightforward, simple and clearly described.

There needs to be an expedited system for reporting bugs. And the guy who posted awhile back on this board that TWS bugs would be fixed as an IB priority needs to reconsider those words.
 
You should consider yourself lucky as at least you received a response to your ticket.
I am waiting for a response to 2 tickets which are almost 60 days old.

One has to consider if IB creates these bugs to assist Timber not to mention the fact every time you need assistance with the trade desk etc it cost you money.
 
please, if you wait 60 days with no response that is your problem not IB's. I'm sure we can also do with a little less conspiracy theories too. Timber Hill couldn't give a flip about your positions. The rest of the market is good enough at that and IB doesn't make money jacking up random 1-lots anyway... Buy bid Sell Ask!! much better business plan (and more profitable) than trying to rip off customers


I've never had a problem getting an issue resolved with them. Sometimes you just need to follow up and stay on them!
 
Quote from brocklanders:

please, if you wait 60 days with no response that is your problem not IB's. I'm sure we can also do with a little less conspiracy theories too. Timber Hill couldn't give a flip about your positions. The rest of the market is good enough at that and IB doesn't make money jacking up random 1-lots anyway... Buy bid Sell Ask!! much better business plan (and more profitable) than trying to rip off customers


I've never had a problem getting an issue resolved with them. Sometimes you just need to follow up and stay on them!
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Listen, you obviously can't read. I said I have had NO RESPONSE NOT THAT I DID NOT DO FOLLOW UPS.
I have amended the tickets 4 times with NO response.

And please tell me why it is the trader fault if the broker will not respond? Then why don't you move? duh (standard answer) and please tell me how you know IB does not make money, every heard of fees?

Don't tell me IB or any broker doesn't care about what positions a trader takes. Pennies make dollars ie MacDonald and brokers.

Well I'm happy you've never had an issue that does not mean I or others don't.

Re-TimberHill all brokers care about what positions traders make. How else do they play the market let alone having to have stock to allow shorts.
 
I have only one short CL May contract now. Since around 11 a.m. my CL position has flashed a profit of over 44 thousand dollars several times.

This has been one of my issue and I have sent IB Print screens in the past, now I just collect them.

I do not use stops for this reason.

maggie
 
Quote from mgmaggie:


Well I'm happy you've never had an issue that does not mean I or others don't.

Re-TimberHill all brokers care about what positions traders make. How else do they play the market let alone having to have stock to allow shorts.
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I didn't say I've never had an issue. I said that I've never had a problem getting an issue resolved. I've had plenty including compensation issues when TWS exited me from a trade erroneously awhile back. It took about 3 weeks but they gave me a full credit. I'm not saying that IB is the best customer service out there, they are not. I'm not with IB because of their great customer service either...
 
Quote from brocklanders:

I didn't say I've never had an issue. I said that I've never had a problem getting an issue resolved. I've had plenty including compensation issues when TWS exited me from a trade erroneously awhile back. It took about 3 weeks but they gave me a full credit. I'm not saying that IB is the best customer service out there, they are not. I'm not with IB because of their great customer service either...
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I apoligize for my statement as you did say you had issues.
I just find it so frustrating that they take so long to reply, like you said 3 wks.
You are the first person I know who received a full credit back from IB. My friends and I over the years have not been so lucky and in fact the opposite. That is why I now limit my trades with IB as I got tired of being raped. I will also admit that on several occassions I should have taken more time to know all the new features even though I believe them to be useless having to click a button to allow me to trade after hours cost me thousands of dollars on a upgrade on the day a stock reported and I could not exit. After more than 20 mins support told me I have to NOW check off the right to trade after hours. This was also several years ago but a very expensive lesson.

good luck with your trading
maggie
 
it wasn't easy getting fully compensated but I guess they never make it as such... believe me I know how frustrating dealing with them can be sometimes! good luck..
 
I've been with IB for 3.5 years and they have been notoriously bad at dealing with bug reports. I've sent *screencasts* and they asked me to send screenshots. I've reported bugs which they claimed they could not reproduce, then 6 months later I reported them again and they told me to submit them as "ideas" on their Suggestions page.

Said Suggestions page is so badly monitored that you can often find the same suggestion submitted 2 or 3 times. Suggestions that have been implemented already, are sometimes marked as new.

But I did get compensated by IB one time when due to a glitch in TWS my trade did not get sent to the market first thing in the morning and as a result I lost about $1000. Took a few weeks, if I remember correctly. I had to send them my Audit Trail.

If anyone is interested, I can dig the details.
 
Quote from samovar:

I've been with IB for 3.5 years and they have been notoriously bad at dealing with bug reports. I've sent *screencasts* and they asked me to send screenshots. I've reported bugs which they claimed they could not reproduce, then 6 months later I reported them again and they told me to submit them as "ideas" on their Suggestions page.

Said Suggestions page is so badly monitored that you can often find the same suggestion submitted 2 or 3 times. Suggestions that have been implemented already, are sometimes marked as new.
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I couldn't agree more.

Years ago (I believe it should be about 4-5 years ago) it was reported that a message dialog didn't have "[ ] Do not show this again" and asked IB to fix it. An IB staff who was in a fairly high position asked him to post it on the features poll, as if it were a "feature request" not a "bug". :confused:

Years later this "feature request" hasn't been "implemented". I wonder what makes it so hard to fix this small bug, or rather "feature" in IB way.

IB is only good as a backup broker for non-US traders (who trade in non-US markets).
1. Commission isn't really competitive when it compares to regional/local brokers. Some offer far cheaper.
2. They even waive tools fee and market data fee when you trade over a particular volume. IB doesn't have such a waiver at all.
3. [For futures trader] IB is as stubborn as a mule in margin policy. Most futures products are set at 100%, quite a few being moderately to fairly liquid.

Its margin policy is out of the line with the mainstream. Many brokers who are still moderately prudent can offer 33-50% margin for most products. They stay firm even after the global financial crisis. What justifies IB to make such an extremely conservative margin policy? Does IB think other mainstream are playing with fire? Only it is safe when the next crisis comes?

But I did get compensated by IB one time when due to a glitch in TWS my trade did not get sent to the market first thing in the morning and as a result I lost about $1000. Took a few weeks, if I remember correctly. I had to send them my Audit Trail.

If anyone is interested, I can dig the details.
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Go ahead! :cool:
 
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