Sharewatch problems/confusion

C

CGG

Guest
This is my first posting on AAM. I feel compelled to warn people about the appalling service provided by Sharewatch. On October 6 I agreed to sell my vodafone shares using the Sharewatch telephone service. This service is advertised by Sharewatch as an easy method of carrying out small trades, but it is anything but. I finally received a cheque from them on Nov 22 after numerous calls to unhelpful people in Scotland. Although it is supposed to be an Irish company according to its website, you will only get to speak to people in a scottish office. Sharewatch is frequently listed in the business section of newspapers as the cheapest sharedealing service, but I would strongly advise against using their services. I would be very interested to hear if others have had similar experiences with them.

Moderator note: Sharewatch have posted an entirely reasonable explanation below.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Re: Sharewatch- warning

Did Sharewatch give any specific reasons for the delay in issuing your cheque? Were your shares sold correctly ? ie at the correct price? Did you complete all the AML documentation completely and in a timely fashion?

If you have a problem with the service of a stockbroker in Ireland your first step is to write a letter to their Compliance officer outlining your displeasure and reason for it - if you are not satisfied with the response you can then write to the ISE who will investigate and can order the broker to compensate you if it feels it is warranted.

Actually- just looked at the website and it states that "All Sharewatch Trading deals will be executed, cleared and administered by Direct Sharedeal Limited, a Member of The London Stock Exchange and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA)."

So, Sharewatch is an Irish Multi Agency Intermediary and has an agreement for equity trading to be completed through Direct Sharedeal Ltd - hence the Scottish accents! Personally I wouldn't have a problem with the non Irishness of the company if they are providing a decent service at a competitive price. The above comment about Compliance Officers and the Stock Exchange holds for UK companies as well as Irish companies - one can also complain to the FSA about the service of a regulated entity (ie Direct Sharedeal)
 
Re: Sharewatch- warning

I'm leaving them - only have one small holding left now and will sell it in the New Year - had a number of cheque problems, they gave me a new password over the phone without a security cheque, I don't care about ISEQ shares anyway but I'll be glad when I am gone.

Use a Eurozone broker instead - it's all merging and CMcC is introducing liberated market in the next few years. I use InteractiveBrokers now - free online transfers, good security system and 0.1% commission. With interest and they lend at 1.5% above market for leveraged purchases - good for Yen transactions. Sharewatch made me uneasy, although DirectSharedeal are the agents for Vodafone small shareholder sales so can't be about to collapse.
BankOfAmerica have introduced a zero commission trading account as well.
 
Re: Sharewatch- warning

I am with sharewatch as well - how do InteractiveBrokers keep your holdings is it a Crest PMA
 
Re: Sharewatch- warning

Same experience here a while back...timely execution of the trade but delay in receiving the funds...guess if they (brokers) don't catch you one way (commission) they'll catch you another (interest on funds held)...
 
Re: Sharewatch- warning

Happy New Year to all on AAB. My name is Peter Byrne, Managing Director of Sharewatch.

The negative threads on AAB were brought to my attention. As these allegations are so serious and so far from our standard procedure I will personally investigate them.

My first suggestion is to 'CGG' - would you kindly send me all the details of your Small Trader transaction including approx time and date of phone calls to our office. You can choose to send these by Private Message, Email or on this Forum. As soon as I get these we will get the recorded tapes, listen to your conversations and reply to you.

I absolutely assure you this is not the normal time frame and our feedback has always been very positive. The normal time frame of issuing a cheque is T10 (10 days) after receiving FULLY completed documentation. Please also note that the majority of our trading team which you found unhelpful are all former market makers i.e. very experienced.

Our Small Trader service is an easy way to carry out Small Trades and is not designed for regular traders. It is designed for people who wish to trade a small amount of shares (to max €15k) generally 'once-off' either left to them, a gift, bonus from employer or from an IPO they got shares from.

It is a service provided for people who do not have a stock broking account and do not want to go through the process of opening one. Getting a certified copy of your driving licence/passport, filling out registration forms, Crest forms etc is far less inconvenient than one phone call to say 'I want to sell X amount of shares please send documents'.

Some of you will know me and know this service was set up to assist people who wanted to sell a small amount of shares. Prior to the launch of SW and the Small Trader service people found it virtually impossible to sell such amounts and ended up putting their small amount of shares back in the drawer.

Finally, if I can be of help to anybody else or if you have any suggestions please email me via Profile on this site.

Happy New Year,
peter
 
Re: Sharewatch- warning

Forgot to thank EFM for asking the all important questions. As EFM has implied we need all the correct documentation in place otherwise we cannot proceed with ANY transaction. Thanks EFM.

Another heads-up is for people selling shares (regular share account). If you want a cheque for them you need to make this clear to the Broker otherwise your account will be credited for the amount by default. Giving instructions such as "I want to sell all my shares" does not mean a cheque will be sent out to you automatically - it simply means your account will be credited for the amount of the sold shares.

If Cyberbunny and DirtyH20 would like to contact me (by email) I follow up here as well. I visited one of Cyberbunnys previous treads and believe our phone recordings can assist here. Needless to say I want to resolve everything whether we are right or wrong.

Hope to hear from you soon.
Happy New Year,
peter
 
Re: Sharewatch- warning

DirtyH2O said:
... they gave me a new password over the phone without a security check...
Click to expand...

I am impressed to see Peter Byrne of Sharewatch respond to some of the Sharewatch concerns raised here. Initially, I had some teething problems but, in the main, have had them resolved. I was disappointed to hear that they no longer trade US shares but I've accepted this.

My most serious complaint also raised above by dirtyh2o and also in this post is the practice of resetting passwords without any security checks. In today's world of financial fraud, this is grossly negligent.
 
Re: Sharewatch- warning

I have replied to the Private Message I received regarding Passwords today. Still have not received a reply from CGG. Here is an extract from the Private message I sent on passwords. Please contact me if there are any more queries.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Regarding your query, our dealers ask all clients a selection of security questions (name, address and recent transaction) with the exception of a new client who is in the set up process.

In this case when he/she are given the very first username and password they then will enter the site and get to the next page. Here they are forced immediately to reset the password (making them the only person to have it), fill in their personal details and activate the account.

As soon as this is done and if the person forgets their password the will be challenged with the security questions. Our new upgrade in software will allow people to do this online. All our clients are forced to change their password on a very frequent basis.

I hope this explains your query. Some people think the forcing of password change maybe too strict but security is a priority.

Happy New Year,
peter

p.s. regarding US trading we will have a better offering very shortly. The US Company we were dealing with were forcing a €20 per month fee onto every account if they did not trade. In addition they wanted a minimum of €5000 in each account. We would not accept this because it would be against everything we stand for. We like to think we offer good value, better security and do not force the client in anyway whether they are big or small.
 
Re: Sharewatch- warning

well all i can say is that fair play to Peter Byrne for taking up the querys,be the result to others liking or not, you wouldn't see the MD's of many other companies posting on here and trying to rectify the problems and keep people happy.....
this is a great web site and can only be made better by this community challenging what they consider is wrong and having it corrected by going to the top in the offending organisations.
if more MD's would act like this then the financial sector could be vastly improved..
as i have said in other posts i have spoken to Peter in the past and knew once he saw this that he would have a reaction
 
Re: Sharewatch- warning

I agree. This is the latest in a not so long line of official representatives of finance related companies posting useful information in response to queries and, sometimes, complaints. And something to be welcomed.
 
Re: Sharewatch- warning

Thats the way to do business and get a few new customers while you're at it.
 
Re: Sharewatch- warning

It goes to show how helpful AAM is too, in many ways it has become part of the Irish financial world. I think it is great to see banks and businesses replying to real problems and queries on the pages. Keep it up!
 
Re: Sharewatch- warning

May I add to Clubman's note above - 'This is the latest in a not so long line of official representatives of finance related companies posting useful information in response to queries and, sometimes, complaints.'

I am very happy to post information and be of help with any queries but could I just make a point about complaints and message boards.

This thread 'Sharewatch - warning' was brought to my attention and the person suggested I contact AAB and get it removed because of the damage it could/was doing. If I were on the other side of the fence I certainly would have had second thoughts about SW.

As of this morning there have been 1840 views of 'Sharewatch -warning' and we will never know how many people shied away from us. The reason I did not contact Brendan and ask him to remove it because I was certain there was a lot more to the allegations. I emailed, sent private messages and public postings to CGG and have not had a reply. I now have the info which I will gladly share with everybody in another post.

Clubman, we are very happy to assist this board with answers to queries giving people the full picture about our financial products. I hope other companies will do the same. I would like to suggest that if a person has a complaint (about any company) and would like to share it with the board they should give their personal and exact details of the complaint. If this is not done you will find people getting a temporary email address, joining the board and knocking other Companies which will not be helpful for this board.

Finally, if any members of this board are in Glasgow and would like to visit our offices we will be glad to show them the full process from start to finish.

Have a good weekend,
peter
 
Re: Sharewatch- warning

As promised here are the details of what happened. It was very important that we replied to the post which included the following allegations - 'appalling service', 'unhelpful people in Scotland' and finishing with 'I would strongly advise against using their services'.
  • Vodafone shares were sold
  • The person tore the Share Cert and sent in the wrong part
  • The person was contacted and made aware of this on the 16/17 by phone/letter and again on the 25th.
  • On the 25th of October we contacted the person and explained we had no option but to close the transaction
  • The transaction was closed and debt recovery would follow
  • On the 14th of November all the correct information for the same transaction arrived
  • A new transaction started on the 14th - cheque sent after settlement period
  • The person received their cheque on the 22nd and SW got €50
 
Re: Sharewatch- warning

sharewatch said:
Regarding your query, our dealers ask all clients a selection of security questions (name, address and recent transaction)

All our clients are forced to change their password on a very frequent basis.
Click to expand...


Sharewatch customer since mid 2005 -

Have never been asked more than my name in terms of security, NEVER asked my address, NEVER asked about a recent transaction and have NEVER been forced to change my password. I use the same password since the day my account was set-up.

This is obviously not good and contrary to what Sharewatch has posted.

I find the service adequate, my guess is that their IT is not the very best out there but there seem to have been some back office changes lately (screens still look the same). I have had to ring two or three times to get an enquiry actioned e.g. move money between accounts which is frustrating and finally it was dissapointing that they stopped US trading.

BUT !! overall I'm happy, it is a low cost provider and I can normally get access to my account easily even when travelling etc.
 
Re: Sharewatch- warning

Last February I opened an account with Sharewatch and bought some US stock. Some months later I was informed not by Sharewatch but by this forum that SW would no longer trade in US stocks. I was dissappointed that it was more problamatic and more expensive to then sell those shares but more so that Sharewatch did not contact me directly. Rang the SW help line and was told that Sharewatch contacted their customers directly in writing. I am still waiting. May be it's just a communication thing but it would help to keep customers confident that this web based company is customer foccussed even if what they offer is a basic dealing service.
 
Re: Sharewatch- warning

Lakeview,

I think there maybe a few crossed wires here and you could be referring to another platform outside the subject in this thread. We were referring to UK/Irish online trading platform. I suspect you have a US Online Trading one.

Regarding the extracts
1. Passwords - we were talking about the UK & Irish online trading system. I absolutely assure people are asked to change their password on a frequent basis. I hope others can verify same.

2. Security questions - we were referring to what happens if you forget your password for UK/Irish trading. Prior to Xmas people had to phone for a new password. As you said you have never changed your password (US online trading changes made online?) you are not on that system and so you would never have been asked those questions.

Peter
 
Re: Sharewatch- warning

I have a UK/ Irish account !!! and have never changed my user name or password for online access.

I am asked only my user name code and my own name and address when phoning your dealers !

From my irish account I previously bought occasional US shares but of course can no longer hold or trade US any more.
 
Re: Sharewatch- warning

Good Afternoon. My name is Paul Hulatt, Head of IT for Sharewatch.

Peter has asked me to come on here and see if I can answer anyones technical queries regarding the online services we offer and any problems you may be experiencing.

I know one area where queries have been raised is that of passwords. Firstly, I'd like to assure everyone that it is a standard requirement of the online system for passwords to be changed every 3 months, if this is not happening for whatever reason please let me know by PM. When you are prompted to change passwords you need to specify both your current password and your new password in duplicate. The new password cannot be the same as the current password.

If in the event you forget your password we provide the facility to reset it without having to call the support desk. For this to be possible you need to have setup your security details and email address in your profile which is accessed by clicking on "Help & Support" --> "Change Profile". Once these are setup, simply click the "Forgot Password" link on the login screen and you will be guided through the process.
NB. It is possible that, if you are running Popup Blocking software on your PC, the password reset window will not appear and you will need to allow popups for the directsharedeal.com domain.

Hopefully this answers the queries that have been raised so far.

I'd like to also add that if anyone has any suggestions for improvements or additions to the online system, please do get in touch with me, either on this thread or by PM.

Kind Regards


Paul
 
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