Avoid Fidelity At All Cost
Written: Dec 12 '99 (Updated Jan 16 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Wide range of services, good customer service
Cons: Many web site problems, poor executions, very conservative margin rules
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| cdanuloff's Full Review: Fidelity Investments |
Fidelity has a lot going for it for non-active traders, including a wide range of services, generally good customer service, nice statements, etc. But as an increasingly active trader (sometimes 12 trades per day, sometimes 5 per week) I have grown to hate them and am now in the process of moving to CyberBroker. Here's why:
1) There web site is poorly programmed. It causes IE5 to display frequent error messages (mixed security, etc.). They automatically log you out every 60 minutes EVEN IF YOU ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A TRADE (between preview-trade and confirm-trade screens). They (finally) added intraday account updates, but not to buying power and balances.
Their POWERSTREET active trader site is a mess, frequently doesn't work, and opens DOZENS of little windows on your screen. It gives real-time updates only when you manually click 'update' and does the same for LEVEL-II! What good is LEVEL-II if it doesn't continuously update - not at all. (I use esignal, so don't care, but this is basically false advertising to say they have it and then deliver it in an non-functional form.)
2) Executions on limit orders are frequently very good, executions on market orders are terrible in terms of speed and price. You can count on getting the worst possible price on market orders (often costing 1/2 point or more). I actually believe (but cannot prove) that they take the spread on these orders.
3) Not only do they have very high margin requirements (80+% for many internet stocks) but they will change margin requirements on individual stocks in your portfolio, impacting your buying power and margin calls, on any given day and without notifying you. They will go so far as to set individual securities at 100% margin requirement. (meaning you cannot borrow against them at all.) Competitive brokers will give you 50% margin at all times.
So you get a poor web site, bad trades, and bad margin policies, but a good overally corporate infrastructure and services. Switching brokers is a pain, which is why it took me this long, but I've had it. I am currently a Spartan customer, gold circle active trader pricing, meaning I'm in all their 'top' groups and still feel the way I've described.
If you plan to invest and hold, Fidelity is OK. If you plan to trade, go elsewhere.
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Addendum: Since I wrote the above about a month ago, things got worse. First, the web site problems have intensified, and I have had both tech support and product development CONFIRM that their web site has incompatibilities with IE5, and their load-balancing techniquest don't work. (TIP: If you cannot get a response from their server, to into the URL and change the server number (it is 100, 200, 300 or 400) to a different one of those numbers and hit GO to try that server)). They have also CONFIRMED extensive problems due to their use of Frames and SHTML (you will get frames on the page that don't respond and fill with error messages while other frames work correctly) and that these problems are plauging many customers, but they are doing nothing about it except 'planning to fix it sometime in the future'. I have heard this for over 9 months now. From a technical basis, I would say their site is essentialy in 'beta test' and not ready for actual investors.
Worse, has been their customer service. I basically demanded to talk to someone who could do something about the above problems. I called the office of VP Tracy Cruvey (or Curvey) and was told the VP would not talk to me or return my calls. Carol Maglio, a useless assistant, was willing to talk to me, but I had no interest in re-voicing my problems to anyone without the power to correct the issues. Any company that refuses to let customers 'talk to the manager' does not deserve any business. This is a summarized version of my experiences, but trust me, if anything is wrong at Fidelity and you want to complain to anyone above the regular customer service flacks, they will refuse no matter how hard you push. I would warn any investor against putting any money into their custody.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
cdanuloff
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Member: Craig Danuloff
Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 3 members
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