eSignal FAIL

[footrade]

This morning eSignal caused me two problems, the second of which cost me significant money:

Of two logins I have with eSignal, one could not login this morning because of a problem with the credit card. The card issue was an oversight on my part, but eSignal could have done something to alert me, rather than just cut off the data. When I called eSignal, I got a completely useless person on the phone, whom I apparently woke up, and was told that they sent an email about it. False. The only email I received said that I had a statement available online. This is useless, as it conveys no meaningful information. The rest of the conversation was equally vapid.

Nonetheless, I got logged in using my second login, only to have eSignal disconnect itself several minutes before the open. It could not be restarted in time to completely re-populate data in my execution platform, causing me to miss the open and lose money on trades. Tech support was unable to explain when I called.

This set of circumstances is not only a terrible way to treat a customer, but highlights significant weaknesses in eSignal as a data product. Every time I call customer service I am disappointed at their lack of knowledge, level of service, and lack of follow through. Today was simply another example of this. That the service itself failed immediately after customer service failed is the final straw. I will be moving away from eSignal as quickly as I can, as it clearly cannot support my needs.

[eSignal_AveryH]

Footrade,

First off let me apologize for the inconvenience you experienced this morning when calling in. An email is automatically generated if a credit card decline occurs with a grace period to allow for the billing issue to be straightened out before the account is placed on temporary suspension. Regarding the disconnect with your second login, our records show that an existing connection with that login was already in place on another PC. Subsequently, this affected your login attempts as simultaneous logins with the same username aren’t permitted.



We will review your billing status and look into the credit card decline email to confirm the details (date, correct email address) along with a log of your connection attempts from this morning. These results will be sent to you via PM. Once again we apologize for any inconvenience.


AveryH
eSignal Support

[footrade]

Avery,

We logged out of eSignal on the first PC by using the login on the second PC. The second PC then logged in with no problem and we closed eSignal on the first PC. At this point the login was being used on only one machine, the second PC, and was functioning correctly with time to spare before the open.

It was a few minutes later, still prior to the open, that eSignal logged itself off on the second PC. When this happened the login was then not being used on any machine - it was simply logged out. We were then able to log back in on the second PC with the same login, still leaving the first PC logged out. The second PC logged back in without problem, except that we were now out of time to repopulate data in the trading platform.

The only email eSignal sent was the one about having a statement online. No problem with payment was brought to my attention. I went over this with somebody who called back from your support department, and he confirmed that prior to today, there was no grace period in place. A grace period is nice, but the real problem is being disconnected.

[ScottJ]

Hi footrade,

We've sent you an email to your address on file so please take a look when you get a chance. If you have any further questions, please reply to that email.

Thank you.

[footrade]

Scott,

I got the email, thank you. It's worth pointing out that Avery blames multiple logins, and you blame "mysterious disconnects". Neither happened.

Over the last year that we have used eSignal, there have been no "mysterious disconnects", so it's curious that one happened today, right before the open. The internet feed and network that this problem occurred on are highly stable, and experienced no problems today, or at any time we've used it. Not only is it highly stable, but it is continuously monitored by a staff of 12 who confirm that nothing happened on it this morning. If that network had experienced any hiccups, there would be many others in my position with similar complaints, and there are none. This simply didn't happen on our end.

Sorry to bust your chops, but it's also interesting to note that you reference a log entry showing a disconnection 2 minutes before the open, and nobody else at eSignal saw that during several phone calls today. I appreciate that you guys are addressing this, but the cause of the problem seems not to have been identified yet.

[ScottJ]

My follow-up email should clear any confusion.

Thanks.