The surge in customer support requests and complaints is a consequence of Robinhood’s fast development throughout a inventory rally that drew crowds of every day traders to the market. The brokerage has added tens of millions of recent clients over the previous 12 months and received the highest spot from Apple. Inc. of

app retailer on 9 totally different days in 2021, based on analysis agency Apptopia.

The backlog, mixed with dozens of consumer lawsuits and inquiries from regulators about its practices, consumes executives’ time and firm assets as Robinhood works to organize for an preliminary public providing later this 12 months. 12 months. Customer support points are notably problematic as Robinhood plans to promote a few of its shares within the IPO to its customers, based on individuals accustomed to the matter.

Robinhood opened extra new accounts final 12 months than another DIY brokerage, however scored decrease than Vanguard Group, Charles Schwab Corp. and T. Rowe Value Group Inc.

on a JD Energy investor satisfaction survey. “Robinhood’s power in digital channels and charge worth was offset by poor efficiency in belief, individuals and drawback fixing,” mentioned JD Energy.

Robinhood invests closely in customer support, mentioned Alex Mesa, the corporate’s head of buyer expertise. He greater than tripled the variety of buyer assist brokers on obligation final 12 months and plans to greater than double their quantity once more this 12 months. Final month, the corporate pledged to spend $ 11.7 million and rent practically 400 individuals for a brand new buyer assist heart in North Carolina.

Mr. Mesa added that the corporate is investing in automated instruments to generate the identical solutions to frequent buyer questions {that a} Robinhood worker would give, however a lot sooner.

“If, in a single day, you might have a 350% enhance in quantity, there simply aren’t sufficient people to deal with the issue to have the ability to present efficient assist,” Mr. . Mesa.

For Brenton Place, it took 5 weeks and over a dozen emails to unlock his Robinhood account.

Mr Place, a psychological well being therapist in Lake Orion, Mich., Was informed on February 4 that his account was frozen after weeks of back-and-forth with Robinhood over some financial institution transfers that went fallacious. Mr Place noticed his pockets plunge into worth as Robinhood repeatedly missed the one to 3 day window during which he was informed to attend for a response. He might have bought shares, however his proceeds would have been trapped at Robinhood till his account was restored.

“At this level I’ve requested for extra skilled assistance on this and I’m dropping sleep,” Place wrote to the corporate on March 3. “I’m seeking to borrow cash from my family and friends.”

He began tweeting about his dilemma utilizing the hashtag #Robinhoodhostage on March 5. A Robinhood consultant responded the subsequent day, requesting extra documentation. His account was not frozen on March 12.

Robinhood’s choice in January to limit buying and selling in GameStop and different closely traded shares sparked a wave of buyer complaints. Dozens of customers have sued and #DeleteRobinhood has been trending on social media.

Within the final week of January alone, Robinhood acquired as many buyer assist tickets because it sometimes receives in three months, Mr. Mesa mentioned. In response, the corporate reassigned numerous engineers to work on and roll out customer support enhancements, and it largely cleared its backlog of points at first of March, he added.

Robinhood wasn’t the one brokerage to expertise an inflow of customer support requests throughout this 12 months’s market mania. Schwab’s name quantity reached “really unprecedented ranges” within the first quarter, chief government Walt Bettinger informed traders final week.

In contrast to different massive brokerage corporations, Robinhood doesn’t have a common function helpline that shoppers can name to talk with a consultant. At a Congressional listening to in February, Consultant Sean Casten (D., Illinois) phoned Robinhood and requested Basic Supervisor Vlad Tenev to hearken to a brief recorded message asking customers for assist accessing his web site or its utility. Mr Tenev mentioned on the listening to that Robinhood was seeking to increase phone assist “as shortly as doable”.

Purchasers who commerce choices can communicate to an organization consultant over the telephone – a characteristic launched by Robinhood after Alex Kearns, a person who believed he had racked up massive commerce losses, dedicated suicide final 12 months. (The person’s household has alleged in a lawsuit that the corporate contributed to his demise by way of “nearly non-existent” customer support.) However most claims do not qualify.

“We had been devastated by the demise of Alex Kearns,” a spokesperson for Robinhood mentioned in an e mail from February. “We stay dedicated to creating Robinhood a spot to study and make investments responsibly.”

Amy Vickers, who was annoyed that Robinhood would stop her from promoting her shares in GameStop on January 28, started the method of transferring her shares to Constancy Investments. The subsequent day, when she realized that meant she could not contact her positions for some time, she reached out to Robinhood through e mail, her web site, Instagram, and her app retailer web page to cancel the switch. . The corporate nonetheless succeeded. A spokesperson mentioned Robinhood didn’t cease shoppers from promoting shares in late January.

Robinhood informed him the method would take 5 to seven days, however it wasn’t till February 16 that the final of his actions arrived at Constancy. By that point, his GameStop shares had misplaced a lot of their worth.

“I spent numerous days mendacity in my mattress feeling depressed,” mentioned Ms. Vickers of Austin, Texas. “Robinhood is the least skilled firm I’ve ever handled managing my cash.”

In a February 22 weblog put up, Robinhood acknowledged the delays. “Serving our clients by way of this quantity has meant it has taken us longer than common to reply, and we all know that has been irritating,” the corporate wrote. “Relaxation assured, we’re working diligently to get again to you and resolve any points as shortly as doable.”

Since then, Robinhood’s app has solely grown in recognition, gaining an extra 4.5 million downloads by way of Sunday, based on Apptopia. Mr Mesa mentioned the automated instruments deployed by Robinhood earlier this 12 months prevented January’s issues from taking place once more to the identical diploma when traders not too long ago piled into cryptocurrencies.

Some issues persist. Matt Baker despatched Robinhood a number of emails to search out out when he would obtain the tax varieties wanted to finish his 2020 return and obtain a prepayment. Robinhood first informed the coed from Batavia, Ohio to count on them on February 17.

Mr. Baker remains to be ready. Over the previous month, Robinhood workers have repeatedly apologized for the delay and informed him that his tax varieties are within the subsequent batch to be launched.

“Their primary precedence is to go public,” Mr. Baker mentioned. “They select to spend the cash on themselves however not on customer support.”

Write to Peter Rudegeair at [email protected]