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Hello everyone,
There's been a growing issue in the reviews. Like most issues, it started small. One or two brokers got a few reviews of this type, so there wasn't any need to make a decision. The number of brokers and reviews involved keeps growing.
Some Examples
There have been a number of reviews like this...
My Account Manager Jack Howard is awesome. I've been with 4 other brokers and talked to their AM but John is the only one who really guided me on which direction to take,
Customer support service of this broker is very professional. I would like to mention of Alvin Corman for his patience, excellent service.
Jack Howard is my account Manager & he guide me throughout the journey! He is doing a great job in respond my questions & email.. I m glad to have him!
The chat service was excellent, providing clear and concise answers. I will be opening an account later today.
Why I think the FPA should reject these reviews
To make my point, I'm going to make a small change to these reviews. Imagine of these "great account managers" were instead "great waiters". Now the reviews would say...
My waiter Jack Howard is awesome. I've been to 4 other restaurants and talked to their waiters but John is the only one who really guided me on which food to order.
Customer support service of this restaurant is very professional. I would like to mention of Alvin Corman for his patience, excellent service.
Jack Howard is my waiter & he guide me throughout the journey! He is doing a great job in respond my questions & email.. I m glad to have him!
The chat service was excellent, providing clear and concise answers. I will be ordering some food later today.
A restaurant is primarily about the food, A terrible waiter might be enough reason to not eat at a restaurant, but a great waiter does not insure good food at good prices. A great waiter doesn't prevent the cashier from trying to overcharge you or make extra transactions on your credit card.
If the reviews also included some information on the product (broker services or food), then I would have no problem approving them. Instead, they don't even give enough information to know if the customer has ever placed a single trade or eaten a single bite of food.
Would you trust 5 star restaurant reviews which don't mention the food? Would you trust 5 star broker reviews which say nothing about trading?
What some of the brokers are saying
From one broker representative I recently corresponded with...
Thanks for the analogy. On the contrary, if I went to a restaurant and was treated with a professional, informed and proactive waiter/waitress it would be a breath of fresh air and tell me instantly many things about the restaurant:
1. The company cares about its diners and therefore provides them with exceptional service
2. The company cares about its staff and provides them with training and encourages self progression
3. Since the company does these things, it automatically suggests that they care about every aspect of their business, including the quality of the products they offer
And from another about a one star review mentioning an inactivity fee...
Does It mean that because a client isn’t happy with the inactivity fee that the whole company deserves 1 star? Your logic must apply to both ends of the spectrum.
Why I think these brokers are wrong
In my opinion, "Wow, my account manager is good at providing advice" or even "Their live chat is great!" does not really help anyone in deciding if they should join a broker. A new client may get a different account manager or chat agent. Until a client actually tests at least some broker functions, the helpfulness of the account manager really does not provide any useful advice about whether a broker has good executions or will steal from a client. Some scam brokers have had very friendly account managers, who did all they could to get the clients to deposit. When the time came to withdraw, those account managers stopped being helpful.
If the FPA continues to allow the ability of an account manager or chat agent to answer questions to be the sole information for a 5 star review, I have some simple questions for any broker with reviews like this...
If the great account manager moves to one of your competitors, will you mind if I move that account manager's reviews over to the competitor's review page?
If the account manager quits, will you inform me immediately so that I can remove those reviews from your review page?
Regarding the 1 star over an inactivity fee, my view is very simple. Imagine a restaurant with a great waiter and great food, but you believe the cashier deliberately short changed you. Are you going to give them a mixed review and send people there, or are you going to warn others about what you believe is a scam. This applies double to brokers, since they are financial institutions. If a client believes there is some sort of unfair removal of money from an account, any good points of the company no longer matter. In some cases, the client may be incorrect about whether a company's actions were unfair. In this example, the fee is disclosed on the website, but the client felt misinformed. I can say that I had such a fee charged to one of my accounts at a different broker and I was give multiple warnings before it happened. I do not know how hard this broker worked to warn the client. I do know that reviews are opinions and this client's pinion is that he was ripped off. Allowing companies to append comments to reviews to try to help fix misunderstandings is the FPA's approach to dealing with disagreements like this.
If our company has excellent account managers that work hard and give clients great service then that’s the impression clients have of the company as a whole. They are the face of the company.
Many clients who signed up with brokers had good initial impressions of their account managers, only to find that trading conditions were not so great and withdrawals were hard to get. Many clients who signed up with scam brokers did so because of friendly account managers who talked them into depositing money that could never be withdrawn.
Since I took over the FPA's reviews in 2008, I've been working to increase the usefulness and quality of the reviews. I believe these "Great Waiter" type reviews are generally of low quality and provide little or no useful information to anyone considering whether or not they should open an account with a broker. These rate up there with a 5 star review which came in based solely on the broker having a nice website from someone who had not opened an account yet.
What's your opinion?
I believe the FPA should stop accepting reviews like this, but some brokers disagree. The reviewers who write these "Great Waiter" reviews also disagree.
Maybe I'm wrong and most FPA readers would love to see one person who can answer questions of new clients be able to increase a broker's ratings, even if many of those clients haven't traded yet.
I want to hear what FPA members think. I'm inviting everyone with a forums account, including company reps, to vote on this issue and to give their opinion.
There's been a growing issue in the reviews. Like most issues, it started small. One or two brokers got a few reviews of this type, so there wasn't any need to make a decision. The number of brokers and reviews involved keeps growing.
Some Examples
There have been a number of reviews like this...
My Account Manager Jack Howard is awesome. I've been with 4 other brokers and talked to their AM but John is the only one who really guided me on which direction to take,
Customer support service of this broker is very professional. I would like to mention of Alvin Corman for his patience, excellent service.
Jack Howard is my account Manager & he guide me throughout the journey! He is doing a great job in respond my questions & email.. I m glad to have him!
The chat service was excellent, providing clear and concise answers. I will be opening an account later today.
Great waiters, but how's the food?
Why I think the FPA should reject these reviews
To make my point, I'm going to make a small change to these reviews. Imagine of these "great account managers" were instead "great waiters". Now the reviews would say...
My waiter Jack Howard is awesome. I've been to 4 other restaurants and talked to their waiters but John is the only one who really guided me on which food to order.
Customer support service of this restaurant is very professional. I would like to mention of Alvin Corman for his patience, excellent service.
Jack Howard is my waiter & he guide me throughout the journey! He is doing a great job in respond my questions & email.. I m glad to have him!
The chat service was excellent, providing clear and concise answers. I will be ordering some food later today.
A restaurant is primarily about the food, A terrible waiter might be enough reason to not eat at a restaurant, but a great waiter does not insure good food at good prices. A great waiter doesn't prevent the cashier from trying to overcharge you or make extra transactions on your credit card.
If the reviews also included some information on the product (broker services or food), then I would have no problem approving them. Instead, they don't even give enough information to know if the customer has ever placed a single trade or eaten a single bite of food.
Would you trust 5 star restaurant reviews which don't mention the food? Would you trust 5 star broker reviews which say nothing about trading?
I left a 5 star review and then my great waiter brought the salad.
What some of the brokers are saying
From one broker representative I recently corresponded with...
Thanks for the analogy. On the contrary, if I went to a restaurant and was treated with a professional, informed and proactive waiter/waitress it would be a breath of fresh air and tell me instantly many things about the restaurant:
1. The company cares about its diners and therefore provides them with exceptional service
2. The company cares about its staff and provides them with training and encourages self progression
3. Since the company does these things, it automatically suggests that they care about every aspect of their business, including the quality of the products they offer
And from another about a one star review mentioning an inactivity fee...
Does It mean that because a client isn’t happy with the inactivity fee that the whole company deserves 1 star? Your logic must apply to both ends of the spectrum.
Why I think these brokers are wrong
In my opinion, "Wow, my account manager is good at providing advice" or even "Their live chat is great!" does not really help anyone in deciding if they should join a broker. A new client may get a different account manager or chat agent. Until a client actually tests at least some broker functions, the helpfulness of the account manager really does not provide any useful advice about whether a broker has good executions or will steal from a client. Some scam brokers have had very friendly account managers, who did all they could to get the clients to deposit. When the time came to withdraw, those account managers stopped being helpful.
If the FPA continues to allow the ability of an account manager or chat agent to answer questions to be the sole information for a 5 star review, I have some simple questions for any broker with reviews like this...
If the great account manager moves to one of your competitors, will you mind if I move that account manager's reviews over to the competitor's review page?
If the account manager quits, will you inform me immediately so that I can remove those reviews from your review page?
Regarding the 1 star over an inactivity fee, my view is very simple. Imagine a restaurant with a great waiter and great food, but you believe the cashier deliberately short changed you. Are you going to give them a mixed review and send people there, or are you going to warn others about what you believe is a scam. This applies double to brokers, since they are financial institutions. If a client believes there is some sort of unfair removal of money from an account, any good points of the company no longer matter. In some cases, the client may be incorrect about whether a company's actions were unfair. In this example, the fee is disclosed on the website, but the client felt misinformed. I can say that I had such a fee charged to one of my accounts at a different broker and I was give multiple warnings before it happened. I do not know how hard this broker worked to warn the client. I do know that reviews are opinions and this client's pinion is that he was ripped off. Allowing companies to append comments to reviews to try to help fix misunderstandings is the FPA's approach to dealing with disagreements like this.
If our company has excellent account managers that work hard and give clients great service then that’s the impression clients have of the company as a whole. They are the face of the company.
Many clients who signed up with brokers had good initial impressions of their account managers, only to find that trading conditions were not so great and withdrawals were hard to get. Many clients who signed up with scam brokers did so because of friendly account managers who talked them into depositing money that could never be withdrawn.
I thought he was a great waiter, but why did he serve me rotted food?
Since I took over the FPA's reviews in 2008, I've been working to increase the usefulness and quality of the reviews. I believe these "Great Waiter" type reviews are generally of low quality and provide little or no useful information to anyone considering whether or not they should open an account with a broker. These rate up there with a 5 star review which came in based solely on the broker having a nice website from someone who had not opened an account yet.
What's your opinion?
I believe the FPA should stop accepting reviews like this, but some brokers disagree. The reviewers who write these "Great Waiter" reviews also disagree.
Maybe I'm wrong and most FPA readers would love to see one person who can answer questions of new clients be able to increase a broker's ratings, even if many of those clients haven't traded yet.
I want to hear what FPA members think. I'm inviting everyone with a forums account, including company reps, to vote on this issue and to give their opinion.