Does anyone use ADVFN?

rfowler

Does anyone use ADVFN?

Is it worth paying for the membership?

Mikeyorks

I just use their free service to get daily Emails at market close time. And find the reasons for market shifts to be useful. But they issue too much overhyped rubbish on the financial world collapsing next week for me to volunter to pay for it.

Totton

I'm registered as a free user but the website itself puts me off doing anything else with it, far too much of a mess for my liking.

Reaper

I have seen posts elsewhere or the Internet saying it is easy to subscribe and easy to upgrade online but can be very difficult to cancel (must in writing by post, with 30 days notice, and even then a number of people saying ADVFN claim they never received it).

Seems foolishly self defeating to me as it would put me off signing up in the first place.

rgm_2

I would absolutely not recommend ADVFN. When you join they put you on a rolling contract and give you no reminder whatsoever that they are taking your subscription out of your account when 12 months has elapsed and your subscription is due again. You are meant to write in to them, not e-mail or telephone but write a letter within 30 days of your renewal otherwise tough luck they take your money and won't refund any part of it citing their terms and conditions. To me that is sharp practice and their response when I asked for a refund fell on deaf ears. They are just money grabbers and unless you keep a sharp eye on when your renewal is due you will suffer the same fate if you want to leave.

coastline

I've been a free member for a good number of years...mostly to use the forums... company and charting service...
I dont need any minute by minute action...so the Level 2 which they try to offer me isn't any good to me...I would imagine its for day trading...and how many are any good at that...
Theres enough free services on the internet for longer term investors...the only people I pay a fee to is a stockbroker...

Linton

I use it for detailed company information - this is available for the free registration. The paid-for facilities seem more appropriate for serious frequent traders rather than long term investors.

IronWolf

I mainly use Morningstar for RNS alerts forwarded to my email.

But I usually use free ADVFN in conjunction with Morningstar as I find it a bit more reliable for things like historical earnings and Market Cap.

bestmate2008

rgm wrote: »

I would absolutely not recommend ADVFN. When you join they put you on a rolling contract and give you no reminder whatsoever that they are taking your subscription out of your account when 12 months has elapsed and your subscription is due again. You are meant to write in to them, not e-mail or telephone but write a letter within 30 days of your renewal otherwise tough luck they take your money and won't refund any part of it citing their terms and conditions. To me that is sharp practice and their response when I asked for a refund fell on deaf ears. They are just money grabbers and unless you keep a sharp eye on when your renewal is due you will suffer the same fate if you want to leave.

I second this - stay away from paying ADVFN any money - I'm surprised that the OFT actually allows rogue companies to insist that cancellation be done in writing by snail mail! Isn't there something in any consumer protection act in the UK to stop companies from doing this? Seems a rather unfair contract term. However as I found out doing some searing on the web, credit card companies and banks have to cancel continuous payment authorities if asked to do so. You may wish to do a search for guardian money 2012 feb/24/continuous-payments-authority-know-your-rights

bowlhead99

Linton wrote: »

I use it for detailed company information - this is available for the free registration. The paid-for facilities seem more appropriate for serious frequent traders rather than long term investors.

IronWolf wrote: »

I mainly use Morningstar for RNS alerts forwarded to my email.

But I usually use free ADVFN in conjunction with Morningstar as I find it a bit more reliable for things like historical earnings and Market Cap.

I use ADVFN for those reasons too, it's handy to monitor a (mostly equities-based) portfolio and click into each stock's 'home page' for the financial info and charts, history of trades, RNS releases etc. The weekly FX market summary is not too bad though some of their spam offers to upgrade can be a little annoying. And the message boards can be kind of fun and a good source of info/analysis on some stocks, although you should take anything said on them with a pinch of salt and presume everyone has their own agenda.

I stepped up to the most basic paid service for a few months so I could download historic data. When my card expired, they told me I would have to update it or I would lose the premium service. I didn't update it, and I reverted to normal free subscription. So cancellation was a non issue.

I didn't bother with the more expensive services for uncontended live prices for UK or US markets, or Level 2 stuff as I don't need them. It would be handy to have paid and not get kicked out of a chart or live trade screen during working hours sometimes, but I generally don't have time for it during the day so this is not an issue and not something I value as much as the money they'd charge.

Blackdog

I only use the free service which I have used for a number of years. Having read some of the comments above I would not sign up for the paid service