Anyone else have trouble with Sharewatch online platform?

bloody hell...i am with sharewath for almost 2 years now...i dont buy that often but when i do things have gone ok...ish.
they have made serious enough mistakes though.
...trade renconciliation mistakes..very worrying...
...looking for money when i paid from my cash account.....their back office doesnt seem to know what their front office was doing on a number of occassions.

you really have to study quite closely what happens after all buys/sells you make...just so they dont balls it up.
 
It seems that the phone is the only way to go with these guys. Is anyone else getting a security cert problem when logging in over the past 2 weeks or so? I have sent them three mails about it over the last 2 weeks, with no response.
 
Yea, cant get any prices up on stock either, just phone them say whats happening and they will do the trades at internet prices though...

One too many problems with this broker for my liking to be honest at this stage...

SO SHAREWATCH...IF YOU ARE AS ACTIVE IN CUSTOMER CARE AS YOU SAY YOU ARE...TAKE A LEAF OUT OF RABODIRECTS BOOK AND LISTEN TO WHAT YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE SAYING HERE AND SORT IT OUT!!
 
shnaek said:
It seems that the phone is the only way to go with these guys. Is anyone else getting a security cert problem when logging in over the past 2 weeks or so? I have sent them three mails about it over the last 2 weeks, with no response.
Click to expand...
Noticed that myself.
 
This is why i went with AIB Goodboys online.

It is slightly more expensive but if you take the buy and hold strategy then it doesn't really matter.

Trades are done on the same platform as your AIB on-line account and the monies is taken from your current account. It is a neat way to trade and I have had zero problems with it. The trade is effective immediately. (give or take 5 minutes)

If i want to add a stock that they do not quote , i email the same contact who always responds quickly. I , so far, never had had to chase up anything.

I had looked at sharewatch but the platform ( java or something ) is horrid. I never could understand why they couldn't just spend some money and make it much tighter and user-friendly.
 
I have been a sharewatch client for about 5 years. Based on my experience they are a complete and utter disaster. Totally non professional and whats worse....they dont seem to care and its difficult to establish who is in charge. They always have an excuse, like 'we are currently updating our systems', but I have been hearing that for the best part of the 5 years and nothing has improved. Actually, I think things have got a lot worse. I have had to make so many complaints to them over the years, I am sorry that I didnt cut my losses and just get away from them. I am currently waiting for 4 weeks for a reply to an email, which concerned issues about their trading platform and other issues.
Like many of you here, I have put in orders to dicover later that they werent in the system for various reasons. Then they offer to put them through the dealer and charge you online rates but when you get your contract notes they have charge you the phone rates.
Its one continuous saga after another and my advice to anyone considering opening an account with them, is to stay well away if you are looking for a professional service.
 
i wanted to buy US shares recently, only to find out they could only perform a 'sale' transaction at that time..and the US share deal service was out of action due to an upgrade of their computer systems....again.....

i also think im beginning to lose my patience with them

it really is one saga after another...

they really are very incompetent...
 
I've noticed you can never make big trades online with them.

Also, I made a deposit to my account months ago which still hasn't shown up online.

They tell me on the phone it's there but no sign of it on the web.
 
Hi everyone,

Peter from Sharewatch here. It has been a while since I was on the board but glad to see it is as busy as ever. One of the contributors below gave me a gentle reminder to pay a visit so here I am. I have taken note of the various issues below and will try and contact each and every person via private message (pm). Also readers are more than welcome to contact me any time if they have any questions or queries.

In the mean time let me tell you of big changes planned for Sept/Oct. The reason I am announcing this is because it will address many of the queries/issues below.

Sharewatch is delighted to announce new partnerships with Bank of New York Mellon’s Pershing http://www.pershing.com/index.html and Echelon Wealth Management. Bank of New York Mellon’s Pershing is one of the World's largest clearing firms while Bank of New York Mellon http://www.bnymellon.com oversees $23 trillion of customers’ wealth.

Pershing will replace Direct Sharedeal and execute, clear and hold all Sharewatch client equity trades. Clients will enjoy new online trading and back-office software, the ability to trade 45 markets worldwide, the ability to execute higher value online trades while also keeping our low charges.

Echelon Wealth Management will replace Direct Sharedeal for admin and telephone trading for Equities, CFD's and Spread Betting. As a result of this partnership Sharewatch will be able to provide a CFD & Spread Betting platform via the world largest execution provider. It will include web and mobile platforms.

We are in the final stages of the project and will be writing to existing clients very shortly offering them the choice of moving to Bank of New York Mellon’s Pershing or staying with the existing provider. We will also advise clients on the date of change etc.

I hope this gives you a quick overview of our plans and we look forward to launching the new services. Askaboutmoney readers are the very first set of readers to hear our very exciting news.

Best Wishes,
peter
 
Dear Peter,

Nice bit of PR speak there.

In relation to your proposed move to Pershings and Echelon - will your charging structure stay the same across the board or will there be additonal dealing, account, or other service costs added?

Also, how will Pershing be paid - via an agreed fee from Sharewatch or will they take an additional fee via the spreads on trading?

Will the Pershing and Echelon portfolio positions and trade entry be amalgamted to give a consolidated view from day one?

What comfort can you give existing customers that the service levels will improve after the move?

What structures are you putting in place to ensure the levels of service provided by the companies you outsource to don't drop to an unacceptable level again?

What other retail white label offerings do Pershing support in the UK / Irish market so that Sharewatch customers could investigate any service issues?

Regards

efm
 
New Member Firm for the Irish Stock Exchange
January 20th, 2004: The Irish Stock Exchange has admitted Pershing Securities International Ltd as a new member firm of the Irish Stock Exchange. Pershing Securities International Ltd is a newly set up Irish based company whose ultimate parent company is The Bank of New York.
It will provide financial services outsourcing, including clearing, settlement, custody and other administrative services on a Model A and Model B basis to Irish stockbroking firms and other firms located outside the UK.
Under a Model A arrangement Pershing Securities International Ltd provides a " back-office for hire" service. Under a Model B arrangement Pershing Securities International Ltd will become the legal counterparty for trades and will adopt the settlement risk associated with those trades and as a result has a contractual obligation with the underlying client.
Pershing Securities International Ltd's immediate parent Pershing Ltd and its sister company Pershing Securities Ltd provide Model A and Model B services in the UK respectively to over 100 correspondent firms and have done so for over 10 years.
Pershing Securities International Ltd's membership of the Exchange will be restricted to providing settlement and clearing services on a Model A and Model B basis only. It is also authorised to provide nominee holding, custody and safekeeping facilities.
The firm's contact details are:
Pershing Securities International Ltd
4th Floor
Embassy House
Herbert Park Road
Ballsbridge
Dublin 4.
Ph: + 353 1 436 3000
Fax: + 353 1 436 3001
 
Some more Information:
"In the United States and the United Kingdom, Pershing is the leading “clearing
broker” namely a firm to which the back-office securities functions of
financial intermediaries are outsourced. At present Pershing counts
approximately 600 financial institutions amongst its clients, through which
more than three million investors are serviced. Pershing provides services to
leading banks, broker dealers, credit unions and other financial services
providers. Pershing processes approximately 10% of the daily trading activity
on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) and 10% of the daily trading
volume on the London Stock Exchange plc, has offices in key commercial
centres in the United States and has maintained a presence in London since
1987."
 
And more:

Since becoming a member of the Irish Stock Exchange at the start of this year, Pershing International Securities Limited has already signed up its first two clients, Goodbody Stockbrokers and Bloxham Stockbrokers. Pershing will provide a fully outsourced clearing and settlement service to Goodbody. Through its ‘Model A’ clearing services, Pershing will settle all of Goodbody’s client trades and issue contract notes in the firm’s name.

Bloxham Stockbrokers will outsource its trading, clearing and settlement to Pershing under its ‘Model B’ approach.

Under a Model A arrangement Pershing provides a ‘back-office for hire’ service, which involves the mechanics of the clearing process being outsourced to Pershing but nothing else. The correspondent continues to use its own name and balance sheet to support transactions and has responsibility for best execution, client suitability and other related issues. Under a Model B arrangement, Pershing Securities International Ltd will become the legal counterparty for trades and will adopt the settlement risk associated with those trades and as a result has a contractual obligation with the underlying client.

This means that Pershing assumes full legal liability for the trade and responsibility for settlement and the transfer of stock from seller to buyer, managing the link with CREST.

Pershing is a global provider of clearing and financial services outsourcing solutions to nearly 1,100 institutional and retail financial organizations and investment advisors who collectively represent more than 5 million individual investors. It is a subsidiary of The Bank of New York.
 
Just a separate point about trading via the phone - I've noticed any time I've had to place a trade the only information that has been requested of me is my username - I find that a little scary because anyone who may see my username can buy and sell as they like.

Am I right in believing that?
 
Made a trade within the past 30 minutes after giving my Username
I was asked by C what my actual name was
Previously they would state my actual name after I gave the Username
and about 10 days ago they stated the name of a different person
 
peter..thanks for replying....

i would also like an answer particularly to one of efm's questions

What comfort can you give existing customers that the service levels will improve after the move?

many thanks
 
Please understand that I cannot answer all the questions above without turning this into a very long advert/sales pitch but happy to try and address some in general.
The key point is that we will soon be providing a more expansive and better service with better internal and external software and keeping our low cost pricing strategy.
Our new trading software will offer clients the ability to buys shares in 45 different markets and see the transactions on one client platform - at present the existing client back office only displays the Irish & UK transactions (US trades are not recorded here and this often cause confusion with clients). With many new systems available internally certain manual procedures will now become automated. Pricing structure for Irish and UK trades (although not completely finalised for ‘additional services’) will remain more or less the same.
It is not for me to Disclose what other brokers are using the same system but RedDevil’s post above maybe helpful – cannot confirm the two he mentioned but know one of the other big Irish brokers (not mentioned) use exactly the same system.
I hope this goes some way towards answering a few of the questions above. As always if anybody has any queries you can contact me privately (PM) via this board and I will do my best to assist. peter
 
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