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Your Online Broker: Are You Getting the Service You Deserve? |
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…fast email response times, live chat that works well, the ability to execute trades in ways other than online, and extended customer service hours.
TradeKing earned high marks in customer service from a recent Smart Money survey of online brokers. TradeKing CEO Don Montanaro advises investors to test-drive a broker’s customer service before opening up an account.
Send an email, and see how long it takes to get a response. Call. Try out the live chat feature. Pay close attention to how quickly the representative responds, as well as how satisfied you are with the response.
TradeKing offers customer service by phone and email from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time, on weekdays, plus email support on nights and weekends. Fidelity goes one step further: The firm has telephone customer service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Does Your Online Broker Have a Community?
But it may be more than speed of response, availability of customer service reps or number of branch offices that sets one online broker apart from another.
In this era of social networking, online discount brokers are increasingly adding features like blogs, online communities and forums, where investors can ask questions of each other, share trading advice and even make their own trades and results public.
Although these features aren’t typically thought of as customer service in the traditional sense, they play a role.
If you can get your questions answered in minutes at an online forum, or even get advice or investing ideas—something customer service reps can’t offer—there’s no need to call the company.
TradeKing is a leader in offering these vibrant, social networking features. But the firm is well aware that having that kind of transparency among customers can be a double-edged sword.
If customers aren’t happy, they complain instantaneously and publicly. And if those complaints aren’t addressed, there may be a backlash.
For investors, that’s good news. Even if you never use the blogs or forums, just knowing a broker has that kind of functionality can reassure you they’ll be on top of customer service.
More Than One Way to Execute Trades
Finally, make sure your online broker has a way to execute trades other than just online. Web sites go down. Technical difficulties are a fact of life.
When something happens, you should be able to contact your online broker and get the issue addressed or the trade executed, even if the typical online means aren’t currently available.
Most online brokers also offer automated touch-tone telephone trading and/or broker-assisted trading. The commission structure might be different for these trades, though, so ask before you act.
For more great information on choosing an online broker that’s best for you, check out these articles:
- Can Your Online Broker Do This?
- How to Check Out Your Broker Before You Invest
- How to Know If It's Time to Leave Your Broker
