Investing

STAY AWAY from Questrade!!!!!!!!

  • Last Updated:
  • Nov 1st, 2019 6:02 pm
Deal Addict
Nov 3, 2009
1912 posts
1188 upvotes
Calgary
OK. Now it's been another week since this post. I've sent 2 emails, made 2 calls. But still nothing changed (I expected that... ). I don't understand how it's gonna be difficult for them to fix it.

I'm gonna send an email to their CEO edward.kholodenko@questrade.com see if this works...

Now I really hate them esp as the market like this week and I couldn't trade my stocks...
Deal Fanatic
Sep 4, 2009
6575 posts
726 upvotes
tennis_ballz wrote: I have bad experience with Questrade too.

Tried to sell some stocks today and it keeps saying "rejected by broker"... then later the day it automatically says "rejected due to request more than share in the current position".

This is absolutely BS I am sure nothing is wrong. The sell order just wouldnt go thru and this makes me miss a lot of great selling opportunities.

FXXX Questrade, stay away from it.

Check your open orders. You very very likely have duplicate orders. If you bothered to call to ask, they will check it for you and say the same thing.
Newbie
Feb 21, 2011
76 posts
12 upvotes
Toronto
I had hesitated between Qtrade and TDWH. Qtrade has been on the top for many years in Globe and Mail. I have most of my banking and mortgage in TD. Finally I chose TDWH.

After open the account, I made many calls for the fund transfer, password, ... The electronic broker desk is easy to reach. If your call needs to be redirected to other desks, waiting is anticipated. Most time I was not so patient to hold long. Is it time depondent (different time during the day?). service is good except the waiting time some time. I am a tolerent person, I hope I will be ok from now.

The TD fee schedule seems complicated for me. My tradings will be funds and/or ETF exclusively. It is a RRSP account. I may contribute 4 times to a fund and then one lump sum to a ETF a year. What the fee will be aaplicabe to my case? Fund trade will be no charges.
Jr. Member
Apr 26, 2010
129 posts
10 upvotes
Burnaby
I've been with Qtrade (not questtrade) for few years.
Never had a technical issue. Website is easy to navitage. Plenty of research material (they partner with with morning-star) available.
Newbie
Nov 26, 2010
68 posts
4 upvotes
sutton,on
im glad i saw this, i almost opened an account with them TODAY thinking i could save a few bucks
Newbie
Oct 10, 2007
27 posts
9 upvotes
I was having issue with Questrade since I switch to their new IQ platform. I have a TFSA and RRSP account with them and I am wondering if there is a good alternative then I will transfer my funds to them.
Newbie
Jul 13, 2010
18 posts
6 upvotes
Montreal
I signed up with them and got some pretty poor service. In my case I signed up for a TFSA with a promo code for free trades, I completed all the paper work, my account was created, but then I didn't fund it it for over 6 months because I didn't end up having enough money. When I got my tax return back I finally did fund my account and made a few trades, I noticed they weren't free. I contact customer service and was told since I didn't fund my account within 6 months, as per the terms of the promo (which I don't remember seeing anywhere) I couldn't get the free trades. I told the rep that I understood that those were the terms but then I explained I could sign up today with another promo code and get $50 worth of free trades so why not just offer me that promo instead since I am a new client (just recently funded my account and made trades). Was told it was only for new clients.

Based on this, and the experiences of others, I assume that they spend pretty much all their customer service efforts on signing up new clients and getting client to fund their accounts. Once they have your money forget about getting any good service or help because you are basically trapped; they will charge you $125 to transfer out or you will need to spend $5/trade to sell all your positions, move your money back into your chequing or bank account and then go through the whole accounting opening process and purchasing (another $5/trade) process with a new broker. In my case since I don't have a lot of money to move around it really hurts my bottom line.

The point: Once your money is in their hands you are on your own which is pretty much what you should expect with the low trading fees.
Jr. Member
User avatar
Mar 14, 2012
134 posts
12 upvotes
Vancouver
I use Questrade. My trading is infrequent. 2 times a year.
Fortunately, I have not seen any problems.
Newbie
Nov 21, 2010
3 posts
Canada
I requested a transfer of my funds over a month ago (yes I completed the necessary forms).
Questrade has delayed and delayed offering one excuse after another.
I've lost thousands of dollars while Questrade fumbles this request.
I've filed a complaint with the Alberta Securities Commission and now I've started a law suit.

I'm beginning to wonder if this company is liquid enough to re-pay my funds or to satisfy a judgment after I win in court!!!!!!!!!!!!
Member
Jun 17, 2009
491 posts
34 upvotes
Vancouver
I personally haven't had much troubles with them. There was once a transfer that took longer than usual, but I got that straightened out by chatting with them online.

I'm transferring some RRSP funds from ING Direct to Questrade... it says two weeks for the transfer to take place. Still pending... Hopefully, all will be well in two weeks time which is April 30th.
Personal Finance Blog
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Member
User avatar
Jul 18, 2011
366 posts
13 upvotes
TORONTO
pchi wrote: I personally haven't had much troubles with them. There was once a transfer that took longer than usual, but I got that straightened out by chatting with them online.

I'm transferring some RRSP funds from ING Direct to Questrade... it says two weeks for the transfer to take place. Still pending... Hopefully, all will be well in two weeks time which is April 30th.

good luck with the transfer, I requested a transfer of my TFSA from ING in early march, last week, my transfer on my questrade account got cancelled, questrade ask me to call ING to cancel the transfer because questrade didn't receive the money

ok, then
I call ING, they said they sent the draft on mid march, they'll investigate for me
today I call ING back, they said my money has already been cashed !!! nothing ING can do !!! I'll call questrade tomorrow try to find out where my money went, and I'll LEAVE this sh**ty broker,
I'll just need to sent all my TFSA cash in to my margin, then sent all my money from my margin to ING, no need to pay transfer fee

I should have STAY AWAY from questrade :facepalm:
Jr. Member
Nov 26, 2006
103 posts
10 upvotes
I usually don't post about companies but this was was such a bad experience I have to agree with the OP.

I was originally with Itrade but when they decided to merge with Scotia I started shopping around for another trading platform. I went through the initial processing of application with Questrade and did a test of transferring money in. All worked fine to that point and then I wanted to start trading - the screens are not easy to navigate and there are so many documents that they say are continuously outstanding. I then went to start an application with RBC direct investing - done within 48 hours and was able to trade right away. If you are just trading for a hobby then probably Questrade is OK but if this is more than $10K then better go somewhere bigger with more reliable customer service. Now I have the issue of trying to get my money back out of Questrade! You cannot close the account online - need to keep a minimum $250 balance. I will need to call customer service to close the account and they will send a cheque minus $10 service charge.
Member
Feb 20, 2011
460 posts
92 upvotes
kamanda wrote: I usually don't post about companies but this was was such a bad experience I have to agree with the OP.

I was originally with Itrade but when they decided to merge with Scotia I started shopping around for another trading platform. I went through the initial processing of application with Questrade and did a test of transferring money in. All worked fine to that point and then I wanted to start trading - the screens are not easy to navigate and there are so many documents that they say are continuously outstanding. I then went to start an application with RBC direct investing - done within 48 hours and was able to trade right away. If you are just trading for a hobby then probably Questrade is OK but if this is more than $10K then better go somewhere bigger with more reliable customer service. Now I have the issue of trying to get my money back out of Questrade! You cannot close the account online - need to keep a minimum $250 balance. I will need to call customer service to close the account and they will send a cheque minus $10 service charge.
Login and under requests choose withdraw funds and you can EFT to your chequing account for free.
Newbie
Oct 20, 2011
2 posts
MISSISSAUGA
louchuck wrote: I signed up with them and got some pretty poor service. In my case I signed up for a TFSA with a promo code for free trades, I completed all the paper work, my account was created, but then I didn't fund it it for over 6 months because I didn't end up having enough money. When I got my tax return back I finally did fund my account and made a few trades, I noticed they weren't free. I contact customer service and was told since I didn't fund my account within 6 months, as per the terms of the promo (which I don't remember seeing anywhere) I couldn't get the free trades. I told the rep that I understood that those were the terms but then I explained I could sign up today with another promo code and get $50 worth of free trades so why not just offer me that promo instead since I am a new client (just recently funded my account and made trades). Was told it was only for new clients.

Based on this, and the experiences of others, I assume that they spend pretty much all their customer service efforts on signing up new clients and getting client to fund their accounts. Once they have your money forget about getting any good service or help because you are basically trapped; they will charge you $125 to transfer out or you will need to spend $5/trade to sell all your positions, move your money back into your chequing or bank account and then go through the whole accounting opening process and purchasing (another $5/trade) process with a new broker. In my case since I don't have a lot of money to move around it really hurts my bottom line.

The point: Once your money in their hands you are on your own which is pretty much what you should expect with the low trading fees.
I used my friend's refral like to open my new account, somehow for some unknown reason, the promotion code wasn't show up in my account(usually the promotion code should automatically populated in my account when I was opening my account. However I guess that system didn't work properly at that moment). And I didn't realize this until today I called them as I traded more than 10 times within a month. But I didn't receive any credit. They also told me since there is no promotion code,
I can't get the free trade. Also the representative sucks, he even told me that I have to manually key in promotion code in order to get the free trades. That is ridiculous, how can a person manually key in 15 digit long promotion code.

Today I tried my friend's referal link again to see how promotion code was generated. I saw that promotion code is a 15 digit long random number generated by the system. That means when I was opening my account, the system didn't perform well, it didn't generate the promotion code for me!!! I have sacrifice my free trade credit due to this stupid system error !!!

Today I contacted them, they refused to credit me back. I am trying to argue, but I don't expect too much with experience like you guys. I would close my account if they would not credit me back. I even would not transfer my accounts to other brokers as in that way they would get another $125 from other brokerage.

Stupid guys, $50 won't grow them business, on the contrary, they are losing customers!!!

Any idea, after I close my account with questrade, how to get my money out? are they charge me? Thanks!
Deal Addict
User avatar
Aug 21, 2008
1719 posts
1082 upvotes
Hamilton
Agree, stay away from Questrade!
Just found out they charge interest on US stocks if you do not convert your existing Canadian dollar to US dollar before you buy a US stocks :( Although you have funds as $CAN, they consider buying a US stocks is like borrowing money from Questrade and they charge interest of 6% ( may be lower if you have certain amount of borrowing, e.g. over 100K or so).
They NEVER tell this MOMNEY STEALING business practice and they just say sorry , you should CALL THEM if you do not understand the contract or business practice. For other reasons I called them and it takes an average 30+ minutes or longer to hold of a CR. Email reply takes DAYS!
I think they advertise the commission fee but they make more money by this unfair business practice and EXPLOIT their clients especially the novice investors.
I think they do this intentionally and a friend of mine lost thousands dollars of interest without knowing he was paying interest to so called borrowed money that he did not borrow and while he have more funds in his account than US stocks he purchased. Even if you do not buy any stocks, options and do not use their so called borrowed money, they charge you interest since they started this borrowing process at the beginning.
This is to me simply exploiting your clients and really easy money. Hope OSC, consumer affairs or some legal or adminitradive body will take action agains them or any brokerage company that use this sneaky mal practice.
Deal Fanatic
Jun 3, 2009
5735 posts
1582 upvotes
Montreal
HamsiBrain wrote: Agree, stay away from Questrade!
Just found out they charge interest on US stocks if you do not convert your existing Canadian dollar to US dollar before you buy a US stocks :( Although you have funds as $CAN, they consider buying a US stocks is like borrowing money from Questrade and they charge interest of 6% ( may be lower if you have certain amount of borrowing, e.g. over 100K or so).
They NEVER tell this MOMNEY STEALING business practice and they just say sorry , you should CALL THEM if you do not understand the contract or business practice. For other reasons I called them and it takes an average 30+ minutes or longer to hold of a CR. Email reply takes DAYS!
I think they advertise the commission fee but they make more money by this unfair business practice and EXPLOIT their clients especially the novice investors.
I think they do this intentionally and a friend of mine lost thousands dollars of interest without knowing he was paying interest to so called borrowed money that he did not borrow and while he have more funds in his account than US stocks he purchased. Even if you do not buy any stocks, options and do not use their so called borrowed money, they charge you interest since they started this borrowing process at the beginning.
This is to me simply exploiting your clients and really easy money. Hope OSC, consumer affairs or some legal or adminitradive body will take action agains them or any brokerage company that use this sneaky mal practice.
Don't other brokerage houses do this as well? How can you buy US listed stocks with Canadian dollars without going through the conversion?
Newbie
Feb 3, 2013
1 posts
Red Deer
I've opened an account with Questrade and I'm nervous as hell sending money to them. I called to ask some questions and their answering service told me to leave a message and they would call back the next day. I thought are you fricken kidding me?!! What if something serious was going on?
Member
Jun 15, 2010
255 posts
51 upvotes
RedFlagDeals
I opened a TFSA account with them in January of this year and funded my account by doing an online transfer. It took about 3-5 days to show up in my account. Had no issues.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jan 28, 2012
1785 posts
693 upvotes
After giving QT another chance the last few weeks, I got sick of their crappy platform and have closed my account. Lets just hope my fund withdrawal doesn't cause any problems...
Deal Addict
Jul 20, 2005
1293 posts
63 upvotes
cn_habs wrote: Don't other brokerage houses do this as well? How can you buy US listed stocks with Canadian dollars without going through the conversion?
This got me worried so I checked my RBC Direct Investing account, and the answer for them is no, they don't. I just went ahead and bought US stocks with CDN funds, and they did the conversion automatically. I might have been charged a bad rate (didn't check) but I was never charged interest.

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