Interactive Investor Research

ivormonee

Can I just ask if anyone else has any problems when, after logging in to Interactive Investor, selecting ETFs from the "Research" drop down menu? I am getting "error connecting to server" type messages. (I get the same error with shares from the drop down menu but investment trusts works fine).

cloud_dog

II, errors...mmmm, very unusual.

ivormonee

I'm not sure my opening post was all that clear. This is a screenshot that might be better by way of indicating the problem:

Heedtheadvice

Is this not associated with the dire implementation of the web site 'upgrade'?
I have many probkems with the Research portfolio -as it woukd seem virtually all users. Do have a look on their new improved discussion board:mad:


Perhaps someone can recommend a good virtual portfolio system that might rival what the II one USED to be like.


It was great and free (I would have paid a reasonable amount for the service but it is offered free...).


I had previously though of using II for a trading account/ISA but was put off by a few horror stories but after II's latest treatment of it's users I would nos have zero trust in them.

bowlhead99

Heedtheadvice wrote: »

Perhaps someone can recommend a good virtual portfolio system that might rival what the II one USED to be like.


It was great and free (I would have paid a reasonable amount for the service but it is offered free...).

General consensus is that there isn't really anything free that does everything people want - they all have some flaws. Google Finance stripped back their service in the last year as well.

Trustnet is not too bad to give you a snapshot of what you have, but you won't get your proper performance history as it doesn't let you book sales, only edit your purchases to pretend you'd never bought what you've just got rid of. Also doesn't handle foreign stocks or let you record income very well other than by increasing your cash balance. ADVFN doesn't do very well with funds. The FT didn't do something very well (I forget what) so I gave up. Morningstar is functional but not great in some areas.

Really the best approach may be to just track your portfolio info yourself on a spreadsheet, downloading your portfolio or cash activity from your banks or platform/ broker every so often. Then you can track and monitor whatever you want. If you use Google Docs as your spreadsheet software you can get a price feed for each asset (or currency rate) which can be refreshed on demand. You may still find it doesn't cover everything. Some people like MS Money rather than building their own spreadsheets.

I had previously though of using II for a trading account/ISA but was put off by a few horror stories but after II's latest treatment of it's users I would nos have zero trust in them.

Plenty of disgruntled users on the research site. Still, it's a bit like every time they make a functionality or layout change at Facebook - millions are up in arms for weeks, then they just get used to it. Though at a glance, the discussion boards there seem a mess. Though I never really liked the company-specific boards the anyway.

I noticed you said treatment of its users rather than treatment of its customers... Remember if you're not paying for it, you're not really the customer of the service - you're the product, being offered by the website, to advertisers.

ivormonee

My OP was specific. I was merely asking other people who have an account with Interactive Investor whether selecting ETFs from the drop down menu option entitled "Research" provided them with a list of ETFs or whether it provided a "cannot connect to server" error message, as per my screenshot.



The reason for the question was an attempt to identify whether the "server error" was just me or whether other people experience the same, which would then point to an error with Interactive Investor rather than my computer or internet connection.



As there are many users of this forum that appear to have an account with Interactive Investor I felt such an exercise, to simply log in and check, would be relatively quick and simple!

masonic

ivormonee wrote: »

As there are many users of this forum that appear to have an account with Interactive Investor I felt such an exercise, to simply log in and check, would be relatively quick and simple!

No error for me, seems to work just fine.

ivormonee

masonic wrote: »

No error for me, seems to work just fine.

Ah, thanks for checking and letting me know.

I assume it works for you on a desktop/ laptop rather than a mobile?

In which case, I wonder why it's not working for me (and I have tried different computers/ browsers/ clearing cache & cookies etc.!) ...

LHW99

Just a thought - your image says https://www.3.iii.co.uk


I think they were supposed to be dropping one of the 'i's - is that the issue?

ivormonee

LHW99 wrote: »

Just a thought - your image says www.3.iii.co.uk


I think they were supposed to be dropping one of the 'i's - is that the issue?

Thanks, yes, I had noticed that but I'm not sure there's anything that I can do about it. After I log in, go to "research", select "ETFs", I get the page as per the screenshot. However, the address of that page is actually

https://secure.ii.co.uk/webbroker2/select-list/etfs.sp
so it's not clear to me why the error message states something else.


Oddly, the previous poster reported that it worked for them (although if that was through a mobile that would not necessarily count), so the whole affair remains quite a mystery.

Heedtheadvice

Good point lhw https://www.ii.co.uk/
is current.


I did take your original point Ivor but theverrors people are reporting seem to vary from person to person....and also from time to time! Several of the entries in my portfolio have missing data, funds and ITs both and some that were there yesterday are not today and vica-versa. The error being reported are so wide ranging that it could well be II's fault rather than your system.


Bowlhead, you are spot on about free systems. They all have drawbacks but II had one that many customers and users (or both) found very good. I do not like the advertising but was prepared to accept it in this case for what for me was excellent functionality with a short delay on live data.
The new site was supposed to be a seamless 'improvement' and I was quite prepared for a new look and changed interface/functionality but at present it is a non working system and some of the essential aspects just do not work. I am with the majority of users who (like me have lots of professional IT experience) believe the 'upgrade' should not have been released in it's present state. It is currently not fit for purpose irrespective of whether one is a user or paying customer! II do not seem to be considering the need of either. Similar comments apply to the trading portfolio. It is not a simple case of having changed user interface controls and name changes it is things like errors, missing data and the inability to show cash held in one's ISA (that is in II customer accounts! ).....plus LOTS more!