Online Stock Trading Wrong Price - My Rights?

scottcoleman

Thanks for your advice.
I may just do that.

Only thing is they have already put my account with them in a negative balance, to the amount they say I owe them. But as I had no money on the balance, I have not paid anything yet.

And unless I transfer more money in or, sell some shares (the money from that goes to the balance) then I could just leave it negative and not pay any more money in.

Only thing is, when I do sell the shares the money will go to pay off that negative balance. Other option would be to transfer the stocks out to another trading site, so they never go to the balance, and then just leave the account in a negative forever....

But would prefer they remove the negative balance, or as you say, I haggle and have the negative balance reduced.

With regards the negative balance on my trading account. Would that be classed as debt? Would I have to pay it by law? Because my dispute is it should not even be there in the first place and they are in the wrong by putting it on there. But in the mean time am I liable?

Thanks

purch

I'm currently 'locked out' of my Selftrade account, for a similar reason, i.e. a mistake by them.

A few months ago I queried the number of units in a fund I held with them, as it appeared to be more than I thought it should be.

They told me it was correct.

I sold the units.

I got a phone call last week about an Urgent problem.

When I phoned back, they told me that I had sold units that I didn't own, and told me I had to rectify it (buy them back)

I asked for a full explanation of why this had happened, before I rectified their mistake.

It wasn't forthcoming, and so I am locked out until I do what I am told (they also sent me to bed early without my tea :eek:)

It's quite handy though, cos whenever I am frustrated by something, I can ring up Selftrade and ask for my account to be unlocked, and when they say "not until you rectify the problem", I can swear at them ,and it makes me feel better.

ozzage

It's an interesting dilemma. In general, I'm not a fan of situations where somebody tries to profit from somebody else's innocent mistake, which is what seems to be the case here.

However, certainly you should not end up out of pocket due to this. At the end of the day, it was THEIR error and you could have legitimately placed this order without even checking the price and why should you be punished for that?

I have no advice, but I'm interested to see the outcome!

notbritishgas

scottcoleman wrote: »

Hi thanks for your reply.

The price they sold to me at was 0.996367 and then when I sold them later that week the price was 9.919002. The quantity for both the buy and the sell was the same.

So it looks like the price was “wrong” from their point of view because of a decimal point issue. And their argument is that because they sold to me at the “wrong price” of 0.996367 I got more shares then they wanted me to. So when I sold these shares at 9.919002 I got more money then they think I should have.

But the fact is these are the prices they sold to me at and bought from me at, they offered me these prices, I accepted, and the deals were done and I have the contact notes / invoices.

So can they come back few weeks later and say, they want the difference back?
Do they have the right?
And are they just allowed to buy stock to make up the difference and charge me for it?

Thanks

Answer this honestly!
What would you have done if the mistake was the other way round,
ie they mistakenly sold you the shares at £9.96 each instaed of £0.996 and when you came to sell them a week later you found they were only worth £0.991?

purch

However, certainly you should not end up out of pocket due to this. At the end of the day, it was THEIR error and you could have legitimately placed this order without even checking the price and why should you be punished for that?

Yes.

It appears to be a straightforward error, and should be put right without loss to the customer.

Annisele

scottcoleman wrote: »

With regards the negative balance on my trading account. Would that be classed as debt? Would I have to pay it by law? Because my dispute is it should not even be there in the first place and they are in the wrong by putting it on there. But in the mean time am I liable?

Unless they sue you for the money and win, then you don't have to pay it "by law". However, in the circumstances, I think they would win if they sued you - so if they start making legal noises you might not want to let it get that far!

It sounds as though it was their error - but it also sounds as though it would have been pretty obvious to you that a mistake had been made. If the mistake hadn't been made, what would you have done? If you'd have just kept the units, then I think the fairest resolution might be for you to give them the money back, and for them to give you the units back.

cheerfulcat

scottcoleman wrote: »

But would prefer they remove the negative balance, or as you say, I haggle and have the negative balance reduced.

With regards the negative balance on my trading account. Would that be classed as debt? Would I have to pay it by law? Because my dispute is it should not even be there in the first place and they are in the wrong by putting it on there. But in the mean time am I liable?

It is most certainly a debt. They can chase you for it ( debt collectors ), they can sue you for it and they can put it on your credit record.

If you look at your T&Cs, you'll probably find something along the lines of the Hargreaves Lansdown ones, here. Note para 5 under Classic Share Dealing:

If due to an administrative error we issue to you more than the proper amount of investments you must return all documentation to us for rectification immediately. If you do not return all documentation and/or investments to which you are not entitled then at our option we may purchase replacement investments. The purchase value and the costs of making such a replacement purchase shall become a debt due from you to us that must be paid to us immediately.

Basically it's up to you to check your contract note when it is issued to make sure that everything is correct.

You should write to the Compliance Officer of your bank in the first instance, outlining your complaint and asking them to repair the deal with minimal cost to you. You could offer to sell enough of your other holdings to buy the units in the fund under dispute, sell the units to realise the cash and then buy back your other holdings, if they will agree to waive all commission.

withnell

purch wrote: »

Yes.

It appears to be a straightforward error, and should be put right without loss to the customer.

But if it was the other way round, and the bank profited, you'd also expect the bank to reimburse?

Does the bank provide any kind of pricing graph, which would show the factor of ten jump in price?

scottcoleman

Thanks to everyone that has replied.

I have read though all your advice and think it is best I pay it all back and not draw this out into something that could end badly for me.

At present if I just pay it all back, I will not have lost anything (or gained anything). I think this is best, given the advice above. It would have been nice if I could have kept some of the money. But o’well lol

It was a pure mistake on there behalf and if it had been the other way around I would have expected them to pay it back to me.

Cheers!