# account setup problems with questrade



## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

Is there anyone here with experience setting up questrade brokerage accounts? I have already done and read lots of google search results on the topic and am not looking for more links. I would like to have a discussion with anyone here who has experience with this. Did it take a long time to setup? Were they responsive to you? Did you find the customer service people understood and were good at resolving problems?


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## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

I have had my Individual Margin Account with Questrade for a year.

The customer service (only used it twice) was great in my experience.

When I set up my account, I did everything via internet and their website. It was quick and easy. My bank account, drivers license, initial deposit etc was all verified in about a little more than a week's time (maybe 7 business days).

I have heard a lot of negative feedback about their customer support, but I heard this was years ago. I have never had a problem with their online help, or over the phone.

Edit:

Actually, I do have a complaint, and it is a small one. For some ridiculous reason, the bank account you use to deposit your funds is not automatically set up as the withdrawal account. You have to make special arrangements (probably for security purposes) to "re-verify" that bank account as your withdrawal account.

Kind of ticked me off. I went to withdraw money one day and couldn't.


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## clovis8 (Dec 7, 2010)

Last week they had a major overhaul including all computer systems and all account holders got new account numbers. Turn around times (new accounts, support) is much slower than normal right now.


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## plen (Nov 18, 2010)

Had no problems setting up a TFSA and RRSP via the web interface. Have yet the need to speak with any customer service reps. Was trading 6 days after I set up the account.

Just fyi trm, a newsletter from Questrade sent out a few hours ago highlighted some difficulties they've been having as they did some upgrades recently.



> Client services
> I recognize that many of you would like to speak directly with a client services representative, and that it is not always possible for you to contact us during the week. For this reason, I’ve opened our client services department for the weekend to respond to live help queries. To open a chat with a representative, please click on the button on the side of the email or go to www.Questrade.com/livehelp.
> 
> Extended hours of operation:
> ...


Not sure if you got that email but it does touch on some of your issues.


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

KaeJS said:


> [ ... ]
> 
> Edit:
> 
> ...


While I can understand the irritation when trying to withdraw, if it's a once or year or less thing, I like it. Way too many things happen auto-magically without notice which an identity theft can take advantage of.

They should have given a heads up though ...


Cheers


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

Been with them on and off since 08. Customer service has been good, I find them polite and helpful. Sometimes waits are a little long, but I understand this is expected and I don't let it bother me. 

Royal you need to phone them directly and ask them why your account has not been activated. There are a lot of steps to be completed, when opening an account. Nobody on the internet can tell you otherwise. 

The last time I opened a joint margin account, I had to contact them a few times to get my trading login. What happen was they emailed them to my wife, and my wife never told me.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

I've set up 2 accts with them and it was smooth and painless. The only hassle was getting ID accredited and mailed in. Questrade was my first brokerage and the only part that stumped me was the currency handling (you have to log into myQuestrade to exchange currencies and currency settlement rules) This was explained quickly in chat

I just opened an acct with IB and it didn't even require ID.  I did the entire application online. While I mostly figured out how to use Questrade even as a newb, IB had me scratching my head for hours just to make an order


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## Argonaut (Dec 7, 2010)

I am looking to transfer my account from RBC to Questrade within the next few weeks. Has anyone done the transfer process in this way? Does it go smoothly? I am worried about ex-dividends that are not yet paid. The other option is to sell everything and re-buy on Questrade, but that is obviously not very practical. Also, any fees to close my Direct Investing account? I know if I let it sit idle they'll ding me if I have a zero balance.


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

Thanks for all the feedback and comments everyone. I did reach someone by phone last night and they answered my questions. As suggested above, this is a very busy time for them so I guess I just have to continue to be patient.


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## lewin (Jan 10, 2011)

the-royal-mail said:


> Thanks for all the feedback and comments everyone. I did reach someone by phone last night and they answered my questions. As suggested above, this is a very busy time for them so I guess I just have to continue to be patient.


Clients got an email today saying that their customer service centre would be open through the weekend to deal with the heavy upgrade-related call volume.


I have a margin, RRSP, and TFSA account through Questrade. All were completed quickly and without hassle. I electronically "signed" my documents and when I emailed photos of my ID, etc. they were verified within 48 hours. When I funded the account it took three or four days for the money to post -- I don't know if that's typical for a bank bill pay transfer.


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## avrex (Nov 14, 2010)

lewin said:


> All were completed quickly and without hassle. I electronically "signed" my documents and when I emailed photos of my ID, etc. they were verified within 48 hours. When I funded the account it took three or four days for the money to post -- I don't know if that's typical for a bank bill pay transfer.


In Dec 2010, I set up Questrade TFSA accounts for myself and my wife.
As mentioned above, for the most part the setting up of the account was painless. We funded the accounts by transferring money from TD bank to Questrade. 

However, we have had an issue. 

For my wife's TFSA, the first deposit of $5,000 went smoothly. The amount appeared within 48 hours in her Questrade account. However, on Jan 27, she transferred another $10,000 from TD to her Questrade account.

It's been 10+ business days, and the money still has not appeared in the Questrade account. On Fri Jan 11, the phone wait time was ridiculous. Instead, I've sent an email to [email protected]. They are supposed to respond with 2 business days.

I'll let you know how this turns out.


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

Everyone just got new account numbers and Questrade instructed customers to change their account number when sending them payment via online bill payment. 

This was the first thing I did, so I would not forget when transferring money.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

Argonaut said:


> I am looking to transfer my account from RBC to Questrade within the next few weeks. Has anyone done the transfer process in this way? Does it go smoothly? I am worried about ex-dividends that are not yet paid. The other option is to sell everything and re-buy on Questrade, but that is obviously not very practical. Also, any fees to close my Direct Investing account? I know if I let it sit idle they'll ding me if I have a zero balance.


I have. No problems at all. Do the transfer in-kind. Talk to Questrade about covering your transfer fee. 

I've set up 8 accounts at Questrade (because I did a quick RBC sabbatical) and never had a problem.

The only problems were on RBC side, because they didn't seem to know the status of incoming transfers. But, they all went through just fine.


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## Argonaut (Dec 7, 2010)

Four Pillars said:


> I have. No problems at all. Do the transfer in-kind. Talk to Questrade about covering your transfer fee.
> 
> I've set up 8 accounts at Questrade (because I did a quick RBC sabbatical) and never had a problem.
> 
> The only problems were on RBC side, because they didn't seem to know the status of incoming transfers. But, they all went through just fine.


Thanks Four Pillars, I'll make the move next week!

Currently have an offer code for $50 in free trades, is there a better one or should I stick with that?


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

Argonaut said:


> Currently have an offer code for $50 in free trades, is there a better one or should I stick with that?


Check their website for the current offers and decide which is the better deal. When I signed up last fall I put in that same $50 one you mention, but when I attempted to finalize the account setup recently they had an offer for a free 1-year newspaper subscription, National Post IIRC. I tried to change it but it wasn't that easy so I just stuck with the original promo code.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

Argonaut said:


> Thanks Four Pillars, I'll make the move next week!
> 
> Currently have an offer code for $50 in free trades, is there a better one or should I stick with that?


Your transfer-out fee from RBC will probably be about $135 - if you can get Q to cover that, obviously that's better then $50.

You might be able to do both. Give them a call about covering the transfer fee. Just use the offer code when setting up the account.


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## davext (Apr 11, 2010)

Generally i've had good experiences too. I have 3 accounts with them. Sometimes I see random crap in my portfolio, for example last week during the system upgrades I saw this share of something that I owned that was 100% loss, -$900 and then I asked about what the heck it was and it disappeared the next day. 

I also received an email about foreign exchange transactions but I never do forex with them. I later received an email from them saying that some people may have received emails regarding the wrong account.


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## avrex (Nov 14, 2010)

davext said:


> I later received an email from them saying that some people may have received emails regarding the wrong account.


That's worrisome.



avrex said:


> However, on Jan 27, she transferred another $10,000 from TD to her Questrade account. It's been 10+ business days, and the money still has not appeared in the Questrade account


Just an update on my situtation. We finally received a response from Questrade. 

They flagged the transaction as being from my account only and not my wife's account. Strange that they flagged this transaction, when they had already allowed two previous transactions of $1,000 and $4,000 from this TDaccount. Both of our Questrade accounts were opened with two different TD bank accounts (that are in both of our joint names). All of this was clearly stated in our online applications. My deposits were accepted. My wife's last deposit wasn't. Weird.

The suggested remedy from Questrade is to send them a void cheque to prove that my wife's name is on the account. She is emailing that right now. At that rate Questrade, why didn't you just ask for the void cheque in the online application?


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

I give up trying to deal with them. I sat on the phone for 60 minutes today, having to listen to their endless loop about going to their website for this or that, telling me that it's faster to log on or contact them via email etc etc. Making me listen to the endless admonishment about logging on to the website or sending them an email instead was enough, but then the core problem just solidified it for me. I am not stupid. If I am calling them by phone it's because logging on to the website didn't help me. Dealing with them has been a painful experience. I feel like I'm dealing with robots here, not actual thinking human beings. Now I have to fight to get my $1000 back that I had sent them to establish the account. I cannot recommend this company. Questrade if you're reading this, it shouldn't take several weeks to resolve very simple account setup issues and your phone PSA loop sucks!


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## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

Royal,

I really think you just caught them at a bad time due to all of their maintenance.

They were giving all clients new ID numbers, etc.
I know its frustrating, but I really feel if you are (more) patient than you have been, you would be pleased with questrade.

What exactly is your issue?


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

I've been waiting for nearly a month! I've been plenty patient and sitting on hold for 60 minutes today was the last straw. I'm not asking them to cure cancer!


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

But they did even better, they cured currency exchange rates 

You joined at a bad time, they've removed 1 of 3 sites that everyone complained about


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## avrex (Nov 14, 2010)

the-royal-mail said:


> If I am calling them by phone it's because logging on to the website didn't help me.
> 
> Questrade if you're reading this, it shouldn't take several weeks to resolve very simple account setup issues and your phone PSA loop sucks!


+1 Totally agree.

I have decided to carry on with the Questrade for the year 2011.

However, at the end of 2011, if I experience any more 'pain', I'll be moving to my reliable TDW, who I have my RRSP with. 
At that time, I will perform the TFSA December Shuffle that Canadian Capitalist has written about.


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## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

I still dont understand.

When I signed up with questrade, I could check the "myQuestrade" and see what was missing in order for my account to be verified. ie. bank deposit, bank statement, photo id.

What are you waiting for? Have you done all of those things? What does it say when you log into myQuestrade?


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## avrex (Nov 14, 2010)

KaeJS said:


> I could check the "myQuestrade" and see what was missing in order for my account to be verified. ie. bank deposit, bank statement, photo id.
> Have you done all of those things?


After depositing the first $1000 and submitting all the necessary electronic details, my account was 'verified' and active for use. Another $4000 fund transfer was made. no problem. A third fund transfer of $10,000 didn't appear in the account. They didn't even attempt to contact me. 10+ business days later, I had to contact them by email (since the wait time on the phone was ridiculous) in order for them to investigate what went wrong. Poor service.


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

I can't log in to that website. There is nothing there, it just sits and hangs and 20 mins later tells me my account is incomplete. They got my $1000 nearly a month ago and I don't know where it is but I can't do anything with it. I've jumped through all of their other hoops, sending ID and other info and they just go silent. I attempted to contact them several times to resolve this and just end up sitting in call center he-l. 90 minutes was wasted by me one day trying to get through and I had to give up when I was told there are still 5 or more callers in the queue ahead of me. I've called their direct extensions and it's just voice mail. I'll be launching a fraud complaint and at this point I just want my money back. Stay well enough away.


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## slacker (Mar 8, 2010)

TRM have legitimate gripes. Is the 50% discount on trading fee compare to the standard banks worth it? That's up to the individual. For some, the amount of hassle may not be worth it. I have decided to give Questrade a shot for my non-registered account and TFSA as well this year.

So far I find their website to be slower and slightly clunkier than TDWH, research is not as sophisticated as TDWH. Generally, it's an inferior experience. It may just require some getting used to.

My trading overhead in 2010 was 0.34% of my portfolio size. If I could reduce that by half, I have to consider it.


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

the-royal-mail said:


> I can't log in to that website. There is nothing there, it just sits and hangs and 20 mins later tells me my account is incomplete. They got my $1000 nearly a month ago and I don't know where it is but I can't do anything with it. I've jumped through all of their other hoops, sending ID and other info and they just go silent. I attempted to contact them several times to resolve this and just end up sitting in call center he-l. 90 minutes was wasted by me one day trying to get through and I had to give up when I was told there are still 5 or more callers in the queue ahead of me. I've called their direct extensions and it's just voice mail. I'll be launching a fraud complaint and at this point I just want my money back. Stay well enough away.


Try the online chat?
Also I have emailed them questions before and they got back to me the next day. Saves you from waiting on the phone.

I do admit they have seem to be quite busy lately. I waited over 70 min on online chat today to ask if I could DRIP all our shares.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

Jungle said:


> Try the online chat?
> Also I have emailed them questions before and they got back to me the next day. Saves you from waiting on the phone.
> 
> I do admit they have seem to be quite busy lately. I waited over 70 min on online chat today to ask if I could DRIP all our shares.


+1

I prefer chat or email for everything nowadays, and Questrade has been great on chat for me. I hate waiting on the phone and I hate phone tag, as I can't be at my office or talk to a million people at once myself


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

Guys, I tried SEVERAL emails.


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

the-royal-mail said:


> I can't log in to that website. There is nothing there, it just sits and hangs and 20 mins later tells me my account is incomplete. They got my $1000 nearly a month ago and I don't know where it is but I can't do anything with it. I've jumped through all of their other hoops, sending ID and other info and they just go silent. I attempted to contact them several times to resolve this and just end up sitting in call center he-l. 90 minutes was wasted by me one day trying to get through and I had to give up when I was told there are still 5 or more callers in the queue ahead of me. I've called their direct extensions and it's just voice mail. I'll be launching a fraud complaint and at this point I just want my money back. Stay well enough away.


Sorry to hear about your frustrating experience TRM. It reminds me of my own experience with them -- it was one thing after another. I finally gave up and consolidated all accounts with a big bank broker.

Your best bet here is to contact someone higher up at Questrade. Unfortunately, I don't have any contacts with them but others might. Anyone willing to pass along co-ordinates of someone higher up at Questrade to TRM?


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## Argonaut (Dec 7, 2010)

Sorry to hear about the troubles of other users. In my case, it took only 3 business days from the time I filled out the forms until the time I made my first trade. The platform is certainly less intuitive than RBC, but I'm enjoying the $4.95 trades!

Anyone know how to set your stocks status to DRIP?


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## larry81 (Nov 22, 2010)

I dont understand why anyone would want to deal with Questrade ?

USD in RRSP ? 5.99$ instead of 9.99$ for trade ?

I am wondering if its really worth the trouble most people are experiencing...


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## plen (Nov 18, 2010)

larry81 said:


> I dont understand why anyone would want to deal with Questrade ?
> 
> USD in RRSP ? 5.99$ instead of 9.99$ for trade ?
> 
> I am wondering if its really worth the trouble most people are experiencing...


Who offers $9.99 a trade without restrictions?


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

larry81 said:


> I dont understand why anyone would want to deal with Questrade ?
> 
> USD in RRSP ? 5.99$ instead of 9.99$ for trade ?
> 
> I am wondering if its really worth the trouble most people are experiencing...


$4.95 vs $9.99 plus 1.5% forced currency fees

The majority have a good experience, but like anywhere some people have problems, the difference seems to be how Questrade handles those issues or lack of


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## newfoundlander61 (Feb 6, 2011)

I am having the same issue with CIBC Investors Edge but am beginning to thing it may be a backlog due to the RRSP season?


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## Homerhomer (Oct 18, 2010)

larry81 said:


> I dont understand why anyone would want to deal with Questrade ?
> 
> USD in RRSP ? 5.99$ instead of 9.99$ for trade ?
> 
> I am wondering if its really worth the trouble most people are experiencing...


Not most people, few people.

You rarely hear anyone saying I dealt with so and so and everything went smooth as usual, but you will hear people bitching if they are not happy with what they got.

I am yet to experience any problems with Questrade, everyting is fine as usual.


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## larry81 (Nov 22, 2010)

plen said:


> Who offers $9.99 a trade without restrictions?


A passive investor concerned about a 5$ difference in trade commission would probably be better served purchasing TD E-Series instead of ETF anyway.

For the active trader, IB offer even lower commission and FOREX fee's and a superior trading platform.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

larry81 said:


> For the active trader, IB offer even lower commission and FOREX fee's and a superior trading platform.


I recently opened an IB acct, I wish they did RRSPs and TFSAs..


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

CanadianCapitalist said:


> Sorry to hear about your frustrating experience TRM. It reminds me of my own experience with them -- it was one thing after another. I finally gave up and consolidated all accounts with a big bank broker.
> 
> Your best bet here is to contact someone higher up at Questrade. Unfortunately, I don't have any contacts with them but others might. Anyone willing to pass along co-ordinates of someone higher up at Questrade to TRM?


I don't think it will do much good. It appears that their recent "upgrade" is still causing problems. 

Just have to be patient at this point.


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

Homerhomer said:


> I am yet to experience any problems with Questrade, everyting is fine as usual.


Really? Call them.


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

You have not been able to resolve your login issues, because you can't get a hold of someone in a reasonable time. 

Since you have to call (or on-line chat) them anyway to close your account as you want now, you might as well just get your login issues fixed and see how everything turns out.

As far as I know, there are two logins; one for myquestrader and one for questraderweb. 

I bet you can't log in because everyone just got a new 12 digit account number when they changed the system over. 

Honestly I have never seen them this busy, but with the RRSP deadline coming and the system upgrade, I bet that has a lot to do with it.


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## Homerhomer (Oct 18, 2010)

the-royal-mail said:


> Really? Call them.


I have no reason to call them.

When I do have a reason to contact them I will, and if I am not happy I will hop on the bitching bandwagon.

Since I joinded them over a year ago all trasfers were done correctly, all trades were done correctly, all accounts were set up correctly..... emails answered within one business day.

Don't have any experience with calls or live chat though.


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## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

the-royal-mail said:


> I can't log in to that website. There is nothing there, it just sits and hangs and 20 mins later tells me my account is incomplete. They got my $1000 nearly a month ago and I don't know where it is but I can't do anything with it. I've jumped through all of their other hoops, sending ID and other info and they just go silent. I attempted to contact them several times to resolve this and just end up sitting in call center he-l. 90 minutes was wasted by me one day trying to get through and I had to give up when I was told there are still 5 or more callers in the queue ahead of me. I've called their direct extensions and it's just voice mail. I'll be launching a fraud complaint and at this point I just want my money back. Stay well enough away.


I used the online chat the other day to inquire about trading options and verifying another bank account. It took about 30 seconds to get an online representative.

And, not to be rude, but why would you send them $1,000 if your login doesn't work?

What is the Account information that you have?

All you need to log into myQuestrade is your Email Address and the Password that they assign to you. Do you have this email they should have sent you with your password?


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

Homerhomer said:


> I have no reason to call them.
> 
> When I do have a reason to contact them I will, and if I am not happy I will hop on the bitching bandwagon.
> 
> Since I joinded them over a year ago all trasfers were done correctly, all trades were done correctly, all accounts were set up correctly..... emails answered within one business day.


Same


Also they've sent out lots of warnings that the acct numbers would change and that bill payments had to be updated with the new acct

Sounds like TRMs problem could be due to these upgrades, and I'm sure they are having extra problems to deal with after making changes

It's also easy to confuse logins and passwords. They are different for myQuestrade and web trader


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## Argonaut (Dec 7, 2010)

I'm starting to run into a few of the little glitches and quirks with Questrade. You certainly get what you pay for with $4.95 trades. I recently made a bunch of purchases with the cash I contributed to my TFSA, and during the process Questrade had an accounting error with the buying power number, saying I had enough to buy a certain amount of shares and leave me with $12.07 in the account (shown on QuestradeWEB). In reality I now have a cash balance of -7.04 as shown on MyQuestrade. I cannot contribute any more cash to my TFSA. Is it alright if I cover the amount with future dividends, or will they start liquidating to get their little bit of money?


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## kid5022 (Nov 14, 2010)

hmmm i am new, i think i would open a tfsa with questrade
since i havent open any account yet i have no problems with them
but reading all the replies does give me second thoughts

i wonder if anyone know about moving tfsa money from another tfsa to questrade? questions regarding fees, time, paperwork etc? it seems the customer service isnt that good, i wonder if it would take over months...


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

The questrade saga continues. Wow. The blog was started in 2007 and people are still complaining. Lots of recent stuff being posted.

http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/giving-up-on-questrade/


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

Yea it's all over RFD too. Some bugs are being worked out in the interface. 

But how did your situation pan out Royal, have you spoken with anyone yet?


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## liquidfinance (Jan 28, 2011)

So far so good with Questrade here.

Only use them for the odd trade here and there and it's been plain sailing.

Rapid execution. Cheap fees. If the holding were substantial then I would probably consider TD but as it is Questrade are Number 1.


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

No resolution. I'm a little hesitant to get into personal details here that might identify me, but suffice it to say their response has been terrible. I want my money back and they refuse to do it. 

This company has BIG problems. The blog above appears first in a google search and the site seems to be down. It looks like everyone is having the same problems as me and are googling to see if they are alone. Now I see some people in the above blog were talking class action lawsuit. Wow.

An upgrade is no excuse for this. You don't upgrade production servers like that until you have tested in DEV and TEST environments and you DON'T IGNORE your customers for weeks on end while you "work through" your upgrade issues. We also do not need to be told to call their call center only to be on hold for an hour or more and we don't need to be told to go to their website. We tried that and failed. Stop telling us to go to your website!


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

I understand as I keep reading more and more problem threads about them lately. It appears this has gone worse after the upgrade. You can get your money out, you just have to close your account and they will refund your money. I've closed an account with them before. 

Might I suggest a TFSA with TD waterhouse? With the level you are investing, you can buy TD e-series mutual funds with no commission costs. The MERs are dirt cheap.


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## larry81 (Nov 22, 2010)

All this hassle for 5$ saving per trade.. gosh !


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

I know I know. *bangs head* Why oh why didn't I heed the advice of others and follow my gut?? It's so out of character for me. Trust me when I say I'm quite embarassed that I didn't do the right thing. 

Anyway, the TD thing is good. My parents have good service with TD so we'll see about that in the future. For right now I need to get this problem sorted away and then I want to take a long break from this and stick with my RBC funds. This whole thing has been a terrible, terrible inconvenience and hassle.


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## larry81 (Nov 22, 2010)

i came across this today, this qualify as the ultimate questrade nightmare:



> STOP using Questrade!!! Be aware!!!!
> 
> Here's my story. I bought some stocks in TSX. But their stupid system just changed them to the pink sheets. (Those stocks are MOL, NTA and MGA).
> 
> ...


Source: http://forums.redflagdeals.com/stay-away-questrade-1011761/


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

Yea they obviously screwed something up with the upgrade. Lots of complaints since. I've still had no issues

Here's a recent email



> Dear Questrade Client,
> 
> In the past month, many of you may have noticed changes to our services and our secure client website myQuestrade. These were the result of a software upgrade we implemented at the beginning of February to better support all our clients.
> 
> ...


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## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

TRM,

Just wondering if you've been able to get anything cleared up.

Have you still been trying to fix this issue with them?

I would hope when all is said and done that you will have a valid account in working order and decide to use Questrade. I know your experience has been horrible, but I think you really just landed on bad timing.


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## janbjarne (Jun 7, 2009)

In my opinion it it worthwhile cutting Questrade some slack. Yes, the upgrade has caused a lot of headaches, but I find that they are trying very hard to get everything shipshape again, and I have no doubt that they will succeed. Their trading platform was never affected and I have had no problems trading. 

A lot better than TD that seems unable to fix the most basic problems in Webbroker (try to buy a convertible debenture!) and charge you $43 for an option assignment.


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

It took a month of me going back and forth with them and my bank and an escalation to management. Much of that time was spent sitting around waiting for replies and even then it was very stressful. I am happy to have my money back but because of how things happened, I have lost all growth and contribution room for the money this year. Whoever thinks we should cut them some slack obviously hasn't tried to contact them and work out any sort of a problem. Read all the horror stories online. This is not a new problem. Their soap opera goes back to *2007* on CC's blog. How many of you who still be employed if you had 4 years of working like that? I can't slack for two days at my job without someone raising a flag and demanding better, much less 4 years.

Again, I'm through with them, got my money but still cannot recommend this service. The true litmus test is in how they deal with problems, not in how things go during good times.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

I look at the dates and a lot of the complaints where from the 2007 era, and now they have sprung up again from the upgrade

Most of the complaints are from new traders and they have little importance imo. The internet has a way of repeating complaints out of proportion very quickly

Beyond that money is not something you want to have any issues with. I'll stick with them for now and reassess in a few years. I hope they sort themselves out, and everyone should as they have forced the big brokerages to compete!


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

*No bad news*

I just wanted to report that I initiated an RRSP transfer with Questrade (moving money to Questrade from another institution) on Feb 24, and the money showed up at Questrade on March 21, without any problem.


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

4P, are your posts objective? I have noticed that you frequently refer back to a dated blog post of yours (with tons of ads btw) about how good your questrade experiences are. In this and other threads, when the sky is falling and everyone is having problems, you continually run to their defence and report that you've had no problems. It almost seems as though you are on their payroll or similar. You never say anything bad about them and don't even seem to read or react to any of the horror stories being posted. You seem to go out of your way to contradict what so many others are saying. I'm not saying you are the only one doing this, just that I sense your posts are not objective.


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## ArmchairHero (Apr 4, 2011)

I just openned a couple accounts with them and transferred some funds... this has me worried.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

the-royal-mail said:


> 4P, are your posts objective? I have noticed that you frequently refer back to a dated blog post of yours (with tons of ads btw) about how good your questrade experiences are. In this and other threads, when the sky is falling and everyone is having problems, you continually run to their defence and report that you've had no problems. It almost seems as though you are on their payroll or similar. You never say anything bad about them and don't even seem to read or react to any of the horror stories being posted. You seem to go out of your way to contradict what so many others are saying. I'm not saying you are the only one doing this, just that I sense your posts are not objective.


Royal, I am a huge fan of Questrade and have been for several years. They have been groundbreakers in terms of trading fees, account fees and currency exchange fees. If you end up at TD or whever and only pay $10 for a commission - you can thank Questrade for that. If you go to RBC or Qtrade and set up a US$ RRSP - you can thank Questrade for that as well.

As for why I did this post? I get tired of people who have some problem with a company and make a huge deal deal of it. In your case, you just went on and on about how bad Questrade is and how their service sucks. 

If you want great service, don't shop at the dollar store.

Questrade is by far and away the best discount brokerage for small investors who can't qualify for cheap trades elsewhere. I don't think it's fair to someone who is considering them, to get turned off by threads like yours without showing them that not every transaction goes bad.

I'm not suggesting that your complaint wasn't valid - I'm sure it was. But, I don't see anything wrong with presenting the other side as well.

BTW - If you don't like the ads on my site, don't go there. 

I wrote a post about online opinions and how useless they are, a while ago - everyone (including Royal) is welcome to check it out.

http://www.moneysmartsblog.com/my-online-opinion-on-online-opinions/


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

the $10 commish that are now so standard in the online industry were pioneered by e-trade, many years before it became scotia itrade. These commish have nothing whatsoever to do w questrade.

as matter of fact, other than a stimulus to USD in registered plans, i cannot think of any direct influence questrade has had on the industry as a whole. Even USD reg'd plans were in the air, in the works, long before questrade existed.

it's worth repeating that parties buying more than 1000 sh at brokers such as questrade & IB can end up paying more than the 9.95 or 9.99 at the big banks ...


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

humble_pie said:


> the $10 commish that are now so standard in the online industry were pioneered by e-trade, many years before it became scotia itrade. These commish have nothing whatsoever to do w questrade.


You might be right - however, if I'm not mistaken (and I might be), their $10 trade was only available if you had $50k in assets? So you could make a good argument that they are the reason for the bank's lowered prices. 

I'll give you the point on this one. 



humble_pie said:


> as matter of fact, other than a stimulus to USD in registered plans, i cannot think of any direct influence questrade has had on the industry as a whole. Even USD reg'd plans were in the air, in the works, long before questrade existed.



The USD in registered plans is a pretty big deal if you buy US$ listed securities. As for "plans in the air" - that means nothing. I think most brokerages have "plans" for USD RRSP, but most still don't offer it.



humble_pie said:


> it's worth repeating that parties buying more than 1000 sh at brokers such as questrade & IB can end up paying more than the 9.95 or 9.99 at the big banks ...


Excellent point. It's very important for all investors to make sure they chose the right brokerage for their needs/trading patterns.


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