Why I left Questrade as a Platinum client, and why you should too.

tl;dr: Their customer service is now terrible. We’re talking me having to initiate contact over a dozen times to process a simple transfer, them nearly costing me 5 figures of tax liability, and them transferring 6 figures of stock to the wrong account and then ignoring me forever.I’ve been a Questrade client since 2009. I’ve advocated for them, and am a “Platinum” client (>$250k, entitles you to “priority” support). No more.My ex-wife and I recently signed a separation agreement, and the terms included 1) Me rolling over some of my RRSP to her and 2) Us equally dividing a joint unregistered account between us. Simple, right? Apparently not for Questrade.I first called the Platinum line October 7 and waited 20 minutes (standard wait time, as I’d learn). I was told to sign some transfer forms, email them in, and they’d process things. I suggest I need a T2220 (Spousal RRSP rollover form), I’m told no need. Cool, that sounds easy enough. I sent them in within the hour.2 days later, no response, I followed up. 3 days later, no response, I followed up. 4 days later, no response, I called in again, and was told I had to “upload” the documents rather than emailing them. This pattern of me having to check in on them would prove to be the standard.Then I was told I’d need to upload the separation agreement. I did so.Cue no response, and me following up on Oct 10, Oct 12, Oct 13, all emails disappearing into the Questrade support black hole.Oct 14 I call again and talk to a rep who gives me his personal extension, which I’d come to memorize over the following weeks! He says I need to upload the transfer forms again, so I do.Oct 15 I’m summarily informed by email form letter than all my transfer requests have been cancelled because my ex’s account is “in the wrong status”. I call my guy, who tells me to tell my ex to call Questrade support. Fine.For brevity I’ll spare you some minutiae here of me initiating contact three more times, going back and forth over “corrupted” documents and misunderstandings about what I’m asking for.Finally Oct 22 the transfers complete! Alas, I notice they have processed the RRSP rollover as a WITHDRAWAL AND DEREGISTRATION, which will attribute 6 figures of income to me and permanently lose me that much RRSP room. Shaken, I call my guy again and demand this be fixed immediately.Four days go by with no communication, so of course I follow up again and am told they do in fact need the T2220 form to process the RRSP rollover, like I suggested in my initial contact. Unfortunately they don’t know how to fill out the form properly. I fill it out, send it in, wait 2 days, call in, am told I filled it out wrong and to do this part differently. Then I repeat that process for a third time.Finally they fix it, and I immediately transfer all my assets to another broker. Phew! Unfortunately this story isn’t over.Two months later my ex calls me and asks what’s taking so long for transfer #2 (splitting the joint account). I go through my statements in detail and notice that THEY TRANSFERRED BOTH HALVES OF THE JOINT ACCOUNT TO MY PERSONAL ACCOUNT, despite signed transfer forms to the contrary. Of course simply reversing this isn’t possible since I’ve since moved the assets away from Questrade.I’m now working with my new broker to create an account there for my ex so I can transfer her what she’s owed. There are obviously tax implications here that I am working with a tax lawyer to solve.I emailed Questrade Platinum support about this last fuckup on Dec 18 and Dec 30, warning them that I would detail this story publicly, but they have summarily ignored me both times, probably because I’m no longer a client and so they couldn’t care less.Let me be very clear about that last part. They transferred 6 figures of stock to the wrong account, and then when informed of their error multiple times they ignored me for a month and counting.I guess the moral of the story is you get what you pay for. via /r/PersonalFinanceCanada https://ift.tt/2K86rCc