Terrible (ex) customer service at IB.

[Laissez Faire]

I was a customer with IB well over 10 years ago by now and want to retrieve my annual statements for those years. Just being able to locate the correct contact page was a job. When I finally received an answer, it was a generic reply saying I have to log on to my old account and request the statements there, but that there’s a cost associated with generating those statements and that I would have to send them a physical check in the mail.

It’s no wonder so many in the US are positive to cryptocurrencies seeing that you guys still use checks and even send them by mail. Unbelievable.

I replied back that I have long forgotten my user credentials and requested assistance to retrieve those in order to be able to log back on.

The reply I received in return?

“According to our system this was already answered in the previous mail. Kindly refer to that ticket.”

I’m going to call them today if they can understand my Norwegian accent and see if I get any better help by phone. If I seriously have to mail them a physical check just to retrieve some statements they probably can quickly re-produce electronically, I doubt I will do it. I’m not even sure a check can be issued here in Norway. And for sure I will have no interest in a future customer relationship with such a firm.

No question here. Just venting.

 

[TheDawn]

You need to escalate this to a manager and request a manager to review your ticket and/or call you to resolve this issue. This issue would not be able to be resolved by first-tier customer service who just barely has the skill to resolve and answer some rudimentary questions and issues.

 

[blueraincap]

I am so sorry about your poor experience with us.
Please accept out sincere apologies.
We try our very best to serve and provide the most competitive offerings to our global customers.
However, due to compliance and business reasons, there are times we cannot fully satisfy some customers and we wouldn't mind seeing you cock sucker leave us.

 

[M.W.]

The only lesson I see from this story is to keep annual statements and to not forget login credentials of important services. A password manager can greatly help with that. I don't see any fault on IB's side, whatsoever.

I was a customer with IB well over 10 years ago by now and want to retrieve my annual statements for those years. Just being able to locate the correct contact page was a job. When I finally received an answer, it was a generic reply saying I have to log on to my old account and request the statements there, but that there’s a cost associated with generating those statements and that I would have to send them a physical check in the mail.

It’s no wonder so many in the US are positive to cryptocurrencies seeing that you guys still use checks and even send them by mail. Unbelievable.

I replied back that I have long forgotten my user credentials and requested assistance to retrieve those in order to be able to log back on.

The reply I received in return?

“According to our system this was already answered in the previous mail. Kindly refer to that ticket.”

I’m going to call them today if they can understand my Norwegian accent and see if I get any better help by phone. If I seriously have to mail them a physical check just to retrieve some statements they probably can quickly re-produce electronically, I doubt I will do it. I’m not even sure a check can be issued here in Norway. And for sure I will have no interest in a future customer relationship with such a firm.

No question here. Just venting.

 

[Laissez Faire]

The only lesson I see from this story is to keep annual statements and to not forget login credentials of important services. A password manager can greatly help with that. I don't see any fault on IB's side, whatsoever.

Why would I keep login credentials of an account I closed down and haven't thought about in over 10 years?

I haven't received the final word on this, but if I actually have to send a physical check in mail from Norway to the US and pay to retrieve my past annual statements (2 or 3 electronic documents which will be sent to my mail or downloaded from IB's portal), that's crazy to me in 2023.

Feel free to have a different opinion. It's a free world.

But to me, that's no way to treat a past (and from their perspective it could be a potential new) customer.

 

[M.W.]

Exactly for the reason you need them now. I keep old bank records of long closed accounts. Sometimes we need them. And we need to maintain records 10 years back anyway for possible audit purposes.

I bet that other than the woke new kid on the block type brokerages, not many of the established firms accept credit cards or cryptos. They are simply not setup to accept credit card payments.

Why would I keep login credentials of an account I closed down and haven't thought about in over 10 years?

I haven't received the final word on this, but if I actually have to send a physical check in mail from Norway to the US and pay to retrieve my past annual statements (2 or 3 electronic documents which will be sent to my mail or downloaded from IB's portal), that's crazy to me in 2023.

Feel free to have a different opinion. It's a free world.

But to me, that's no way to treat a past (and from their perspective it could be a potential new) customer.

 

[Laissez Faire]

Exactly for the reason you need them now. I keep old bank records of long closed accounts. Sometimes we need them. And we need to maintain records 10 years back anyway for possible audit purposes.

Good for you, but that's off-topic, though. I had mine in an old email account which is no longer active.

As for keeping credentials from closed accounts, my belief was that a closed account was actually closed.

I bet that other than the woke new kid on the block type brokerages, not many of the established firms accept credit cards or cryptos. They are simply not setup to accept credit card payments.

Who said anything about credit cards or even crypto?

I wire money efficiently in and out (often arrives within the same business day) from my US broker by wire through my local bank.

I still find it hard to believe that people use physical checks these days.

 

[murray t turtle]

The only lesson I see from this story is to keep annual statements and to not forget login credentials of important services. A password manager can greatly help with that. I don't see any fault on IB's side, whatsoever.

%%
PLUS there is a security issues+ danger until he proves he is who he says he is.
Or keep monthly statements.
Too much risk to broker + customers to easily give out account info easy, especially since some security info is= what's in your account.
Most people dont want to wire the power co or WMT.I used bank wires more when free.

 

[klattermusen]

IB is the worst. I've been doing this over 25 years. Hands down awful.

 

[ETJ]

FINRA has retention rules - they are also tested on the 7. It was something like 2 or 3 years on-site. Long were degrees of off-site. Anyone who studied for the 7 recently may know.

https://www.finra.org/compliance-tools/books-and-records-checklist