Surprises all the way once you pay. Review on Indiabulls Financial Services Ltd

Recently after trying Sharekhan and HDFC Securities for a while, I thought of taking Indiabulls for exactly what they said they will offer:

1. Good service

   
   




2. Fast connectivity

   
   




3. Good software

   
   




4. Low brokerage

   
   

I was bit lost on my first visit to branch because there was nobody to walk up to and ask and everybody was in some sort of rooms that reminded me of school computer labs. After waiting I finally walked up to a guy and asked to be informed about the services and tarrifs and open an account. The person was quite cordial but unfortuanly he knew nothing about the software technicaly nor could give me any concrete answers to my questions. He, however, did give me a figure for brokerage but said, it all depends on what you commit in trade volumn.

Obviously, I tried another branch. The person here was more cordial but equally lost on features or technicalities of the software. Interestingly, this guy kept running every few minutes to comupter room saying "market.market." and rings on his mobile that usally took 5 mins or more. Nonetheless, I got myself an account(basically I filled all the papers) after 2hrs of being in the branch. Few things that bowled me over:

1. There is some very murky POA that you have to sign or you are nobody in Indiabulls mind. I filled it anyway. just because I wanted to be somebody.

   
   




2. They mostly want only your signature and insist(even wrestle) to make sure you write nothing on the form. This I was told will be filled by experts in form filling that will be based on all the document I had to give them that too after "market hours"

   
   




3. The brokerage any be anything, it may even change without you having any idea of such a change. The grand advice, keep calling the RM to make sure its still what you negotiated.

   
   

It took me almost a month to get my ID and few more days to get my password. My friend who also applied same day haven't got either till today after 3 months. Just today he was "again" promised that it will be on his doorstep in 3 working days. I wonder their working days are longer than rest of us because they hardly work. And, ya, everything happens from Delhi so even if you threat to withdraw your papers, you can't do anything because the Delhi is sleeping when you are awake.

Since I was luckier to have got my ID and password, I downloaded and installed the PIB, the great gem that I was promised, at my home PC and over broadband, it finally connected and I was happy to see some streaming hot lava market info/quotes that galddend my heart. I left for office.

The tale twists here. The great gem PIB did not connect from my office! No matter what I tried, tested, screamed on my IT staff, but no. no connection. It turned out that the PIB and the web-based streamer have some serious drawbacks in connectivity side.

1. It cannot connect from behind a HTTP/HTTPS Proxy. Not even a SOCKS proxy.

   
   




2. it requires some very vulnerable ports to be opened on your outgoing firewall / proxy that your IT staff will prefer to hang but not open.

   
   




3. Web-based streamer cannot run from behind proxy either. It works on snapshot mode when you select a "Behind Proxy" option.

   
   




4. The web-based streamer cannot be resized, moved, and can take a limited number of scripts only.

   
   




5. PIB has some windows that cannot be closed even from the given menu to close it.

   
   




6. Every now and then PIB will pop open your web-browser to do one thing or another.

   
   

I was angry, lost, and cut-and-bleeding. Several calls and mails later, I was curtly told to get the ports open to connect from office or take a hike. I wonder I have to take a hike as office IT wont open the ports and I can't quit my job to trade.

It must be noted that software wise these limitations are silly and absolutly shody outcome of incompetent programmers. Every other broking company has these sorted out. You should check out the web-based streamer from Sharekhan to understand the Power Indiabull(PIB) software and its ill-gotten cousin, web-based streamer, is nothing but bullshit on your face.

Few good thing that I learnt, and you can learn for free:

1. The staff can be really sweet. They will look at your big problems and make them look small by pointing out the world hunger and global warming. So you may continue with Indiabulls even if you can't use it.

   
   




2. The charges for account is one time and you don't have to pay them everafter(probably. I have few months before I find out if there was some clause I signed on that pledges my bank account to them).

   
   




3. Be in touch with your RM, although he may leave without you ever knowing it, if you don't want to get charged anything beyound what you agreed to pay.

   
   

My two pence; take Indiabulls if you never require to talk to helpdesk or RMs and can manage thing from your home on your own. If you want a better and more comprehensive service and software, take Sharekhan. If you want hassle free and rock solid credibility but not so great software then take HDFC Sec and if you want some goons on your doorstep at midnight asking you to pay for some shares your never bought, take ICICI Direct.

Goodluck.