I opened an account with Sigma in early March, and (due to various difficulties with the deposit being credited properly and other setup issues) did not make any actual trades on the account.
My account with them is denominated in USD, and the initial deposit was in the form of a wire transfer from my bank in the amount of EUR 4,000, and dated March 16th. This was credited as USD 5,400 in my Sigma account (after the initial minor issues I mentioned), and showed up properly in my MetaTrader 4 platform.
In the first week of April, I had to go away for a couple weeks on family business, and the account was not ready to be traded yet. By the time I returned in early May, my personal circumstances had changed and I had need to use the funds I had put in my trading account for other purposes.
I first initiated a partial withdrawal on Thursday, May 7th, in the amount of USD 2,000. I filled out a "Withdrawal Request" in my "web account" on Sigma's website. I filled out the form correctly, asking the funds to be wired to my "primary bank account", which referenced the banking information I had already provided in a different place in the same "web account". I uploaded my signature card file, as it requested, and I submitted the request. It was assigned a transaction "ID" number of "205".
Because the website says to allow up to 5 business days to process a withdrawal, I waited until the following week to contact them. I really needed to know when to expect the money, so I "chatted" with their customer service on the following Thursday, May 14th, to ask for an estimated date. (I still at that point did not know whether "5 business days" included the wire itself, or if it took them that long just to send it, but MetaTrader still showed the balance in my Sigma Account.) During this chat (which I copied to Notepad and saved), I was informed that simply filling out the form online was not enough to start the process. Instead I had to send in a manual email to backoffice@sigmaforex.com formally requesting the withdrawal and giving all of the bank details. What, I asked, was the point of the online form, then? "That's to make sure from it sir", was the reply.
So anyway, since I was now a week into the process with no result; and since I had in the meantime decided I was going to need all of the money back and not just part of it; and since I was beginning to get irritated at Sigma's customer service hurdles; I decided to send that email and request it all. First, I went back to the "web account" and filed another online request for the remaining balance of USD 3,400. I followed the same procedure as before (except that this time I noted in the memo field to please close the account), and my request was assigned a transaction "ID" number of "207". Then I sent the email referencing both requests, giving all the info they asked me for, and asking them to close my account and process the withdrawal transfers accordingly. This was all on that same date - Thursday, May 14th.
On Monday (18th), I chatted again, (I don't remember if it was once or twice that day) and they first acted like they didn't know anything. I gave them the ID numbers and dates, told them about the email, etc. They asked me to resend the email. They put me on hold for a few minutes and came back and said they were processing my request to close the account. (Interestingly, I had not mentioned anything about "closing" up to this point in the chat, so they must have read the email.) They said they were sending a close letter by email, and that I would have to print it out, sign it, scan it back in, and email it back to them. I couldn't understand why it should possibly be necessary to give them the same information a THIRD time, but if that's what it takes . . .
After some technical difficulties on my end figuring out how to print and scan the document as requested, I finally got it done and sent it back to them late in the evening on Wednesday the 20th (3 weeks ago today, as I write this). I had been told that they would confirm by email, but no confirmation came. I have continued to chat every few days, asking if it has been sent yet. I was eventually told that the confirmation email I was supposed to get would be the notice that their bank had sent the funds, and that if I had not yet received the email, then that meant it wasn't done yet.
Early last week, I chatted and complained about the time, as well as the fact that I am waiting for a USD transfer into my EUR bank account. In the time I have been waiting, I have watched the value of the Dollar fall against the Euro, and at the time last week I was chatting, their delays had already caused me to lose over 200 Euro in value! (Fortunately, it has pulled back a little now.) I complained about all of this, and was told it would be done in a matter of days. Days??!!! When I asked how many, I was told "before the weekend, sir". So I waited as the weekend came and went with no email. I chatted again this past Monday (June 8th), and was told sorry for the inconvenience, but that it would be "soon".
I'm not sure why I had not thought to do this before, but yesterday, as I was
about to chat again, I suddenly had the idea to google Sigma's name, and that's how I found this website, because apparently I'm not the only person this has happened to. Maybe I'm naive, but before I read FPA's site, it really had never occurred to me that they were dishonest. I just assumed it was rotten customer service, but that they would eventually get it done if I just kept being the proverbial "squeaky wheel". I had already decided I wouldn't be using them again, but that was it.
After reading your site yesterday (Tuesday), I decided not to chat that day, but to file this scam alert and see what advice FPA would give me about how to proceed. Please help me know what I should do next. Thank you.
My account with them is denominated in USD, and the initial deposit was in the form of a wire transfer from my bank in the amount of EUR 4,000, and dated March 16th. This was credited as USD 5,400 in my Sigma account (after the initial minor issues I mentioned), and showed up properly in my MetaTrader 4 platform.
In the first week of April, I had to go away for a couple weeks on family business, and the account was not ready to be traded yet. By the time I returned in early May, my personal circumstances had changed and I had need to use the funds I had put in my trading account for other purposes.
I first initiated a partial withdrawal on Thursday, May 7th, in the amount of USD 2,000. I filled out a "Withdrawal Request" in my "web account" on Sigma's website. I filled out the form correctly, asking the funds to be wired to my "primary bank account", which referenced the banking information I had already provided in a different place in the same "web account". I uploaded my signature card file, as it requested, and I submitted the request. It was assigned a transaction "ID" number of "205".
Because the website says to allow up to 5 business days to process a withdrawal, I waited until the following week to contact them. I really needed to know when to expect the money, so I "chatted" with their customer service on the following Thursday, May 14th, to ask for an estimated date. (I still at that point did not know whether "5 business days" included the wire itself, or if it took them that long just to send it, but MetaTrader still showed the balance in my Sigma Account.) During this chat (which I copied to Notepad and saved), I was informed that simply filling out the form online was not enough to start the process. Instead I had to send in a manual email to backoffice@sigmaforex.com formally requesting the withdrawal and giving all of the bank details. What, I asked, was the point of the online form, then? "That's to make sure from it sir", was the reply.
So anyway, since I was now a week into the process with no result; and since I had in the meantime decided I was going to need all of the money back and not just part of it; and since I was beginning to get irritated at Sigma's customer service hurdles; I decided to send that email and request it all. First, I went back to the "web account" and filed another online request for the remaining balance of USD 3,400. I followed the same procedure as before (except that this time I noted in the memo field to please close the account), and my request was assigned a transaction "ID" number of "207". Then I sent the email referencing both requests, giving all the info they asked me for, and asking them to close my account and process the withdrawal transfers accordingly. This was all on that same date - Thursday, May 14th.
On Monday (18th), I chatted again, (I don't remember if it was once or twice that day) and they first acted like they didn't know anything. I gave them the ID numbers and dates, told them about the email, etc. They asked me to resend the email. They put me on hold for a few minutes and came back and said they were processing my request to close the account. (Interestingly, I had not mentioned anything about "closing" up to this point in the chat, so they must have read the email.) They said they were sending a close letter by email, and that I would have to print it out, sign it, scan it back in, and email it back to them. I couldn't understand why it should possibly be necessary to give them the same information a THIRD time, but if that's what it takes . . .
After some technical difficulties on my end figuring out how to print and scan the document as requested, I finally got it done and sent it back to them late in the evening on Wednesday the 20th (3 weeks ago today, as I write this). I had been told that they would confirm by email, but no confirmation came. I have continued to chat every few days, asking if it has been sent yet. I was eventually told that the confirmation email I was supposed to get would be the notice that their bank had sent the funds, and that if I had not yet received the email, then that meant it wasn't done yet.
Early last week, I chatted and complained about the time, as well as the fact that I am waiting for a USD transfer into my EUR bank account. In the time I have been waiting, I have watched the value of the Dollar fall against the Euro, and at the time last week I was chatting, their delays had already caused me to lose over 200 Euro in value! (Fortunately, it has pulled back a little now.) I complained about all of this, and was told it would be done in a matter of days. Days??!!! When I asked how many, I was told "before the weekend, sir". So I waited as the weekend came and went with no email. I chatted again this past Monday (June 8th), and was told sorry for the inconvenience, but that it would be "soon".
I'm not sure why I had not thought to do this before, but yesterday, as I was
about to chat again, I suddenly had the idea to google Sigma's name, and that's how I found this website, because apparently I'm not the only person this has happened to. Maybe I'm naive, but before I read FPA's site, it really had never occurred to me that they were dishonest. I just assumed it was rotten customer service, but that they would eventually get it done if I just kept being the proverbial "squeaky wheel". I had already decided I wouldn't be using them again, but that was it.
After reading your site yesterday (Tuesday), I decided not to chat that day, but to file this scam alert and see what advice FPA would give me about how to proceed. Please help me know what I should do next. Thank you.