Member Info for MrMath

Not surprised it's back up today. Loved the irrational drop yesterday. Completely the wrong time of year to be selling this stock. But I'm not complaining when the market makes it so easy.

Now we are in the run-up to Christmas and with today's small dip it seems like a great time to buy.

A lot of Barclays' big money clients will transfer out their investments over time and will not be going through the normal transfer process, which is plagued with problems. So Barclays will continue to be affected for some years to come. Their current management has taken incompetence to a new level. The recent problems with Dumb Investor is just one indication of Barclays ineptitude. Feel sorry for those unaware of what has been going on and buy in at these levels. Would not be surprised to see the share price around the 60p mark in two years time.

Barclays lost a huge amount of business (14bn ?) when they moved their broking services over to their new "Smart Investor" system. This board was awash with unhappy customs a few weeks back.

Barclays are now 11 days late with my BP dividend. They were often a day or two late before the move to "Smart Investor" but now they are really taking the p*ss. I am moving my investments gradually over to Hargreaves Lansdown. "Smart Investor" - a great way to damage the business. Good luck shareholders, you're going to need a lot of it!

Barclays are already 8 days overdue with my HSBC dividend and 6 days overdue with my BP dividend. Keep a close eye on them!

I could not even get a quote on any share for the first week. Smart Investor has way too many problems and Barclays have shown no sign that they are willing to address them. It is not a system for the serious investor. Sure it's a pain, but join the mass exodus and change broker if you are serious about making money. You will be better off in the long run (and Barclays will be worse off). Would not like to hold Barclays shares at the moment.

That's unlucky. Quote and Deal is working for the first time for me this morning. Smart Investor still needs a lot of work and this first positive sign that I have had has come too late

Phoebus, interesting to know that you have got "Quote and Deal" to work. It's not worked even once for me despite numerous attempts. As you say, this is the most important part of the entire stockbroking service and it is the main reason I am forced to move. Could get round all their misinformation with a few spreadsheets of my own.

Trading on a Quote and Deal basis is one of the things you cannot do on the new Smart Investor site. The functionality appears to be there but it is highly unreliable and rarely works no matter what share one wants to trade. Spotted another crazy aspect of the new site: the column giving last price is often not the closing price and yet the value of the holding is correctly calculated using the closing price although it does not appear on the portfolio screen. For example they are showing 29.05p for SXX as last price in my portfolio today but calculate with the correct price of 27p. Why not show the closing prices? Madness!

Agree that the new site has finished Barclays as a stockbroker. But I do not think they are interested in being a stockbroker any more. Wish they had just been up front and honest and declared that they were closing down this side of the business (giving people time to get out) instead of dumping them into a pile of cr*p and watching them flee from this utter abuse!

That article has downplayed the severity of the problems with Smart Investor, the biggest of which for me is not being able to deal! Well, at least by my preferred method of "Quote and Deal". Not managed to get this to work even once despite numerous attempts with a wide range of shares. Took me only 20 minutes to knock up another spreadsheet which displays all the data I require in a format similar to the old system, so it's possible to get around a lot of problems. But why should one have to do this? But not being able to deal, well, ... Perhaps they are not interested in being a broker any more.

Your are right, this is such a monumental disaster that it will force many who normally would not act into moving their accounts. A lot of people will do this the way I intend to do it: move your cash out gradually over time as and when you want to sell. For me it may take a year or so to move everything out. Started the process today. Who knows, upping my trading frequency (sell at Barclays, buy back with new broker) might make me some money!

Emailed the editor at Daily Mail's "This is Money" to make sure they get word of this disaster at Barclays. Suggest you do the same. Here's the email address: editor@thisismoney.co.uk A bit more publicity might help Barclays focus their minds.

Their reputation as a broker is going down the toilet at the moment. They have far too many problems to sort out in a short timescale. It's not just the random logging people out, it's also being able to trade when you are logged in. Their "Quote and Deal" service has yet to work for me, even once. The portfolio layout looks like it's been designed by someone who has never had anything to do with share dealing in their life. So shocked by their appalling system. Will transfer out gradually by selling shares (at a point when I would have done so anyway) and transferring the cash to a new provider. This gives them some chance to redeem themselves, although at the moment I feel they do not deserve it. Time will tell whether I end up with two brokers or just the new one.

KCOM shareholders do not forget to register your vote in favour of the resolutions at the coming AGM to be held in Hull on 21st July. Resolution 2 is your 4p dividend. Contact your broker (Barclays, Hargreaves Lansdown, etc to register your vote if they hold the shares on your behalf.

Sounds like you just bought some more? Hope you got in on this morning's dip. Definitely worth holding for a few weeks. Can see it touching 700 mid July.

Goes Ex-dividend on 20 July, which usually adds a bit of interest. So could be good for a few weeks.

Managed to buy at 608p this morning to add to my collection of "boring" shares, which seem to be doing rather well lately.

Best to be out of this one over the weekend :-)