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Jun 18, 2008 9:20 pm
I've been talking with various wires and b/d's including a ML, RJ, and LPL. Most of what is said about LPL on this board is positive or neutral...and then I ran across these posts.   It's been about 9 months since this thread was going strong. Any change in service, etc. since? I understand they have made some changes (i.e. new brand, additional leadership) and I'm wondering if the service has been affected, either positively or negatively by these changes. Basically - are they on the way up or the way down?   I've also heard their system has been down???    
Jun 19, 2008 4:53 pm

From my personal experiences about service at Jones, I give them at 9 from the early 90’s then slowly dropping to a 6 by the late 90’s.  Just got tired to speaking w/ LP’s & GP’s in the home office who treats me like a peeon in the field.

  It was refreshing after the move over to LPL, the service was vastly superior since all home office personnel knows that they're all overhead & we're their true customers. I give them a 10 back then.  Today, since I use the Chairman's club dedicated lines, I'll still give them a 9 for service.   Less than 1% of my business is stocks, so the 2 - 3 times that I've noticed that the system was down over the past few yrs have not affected me.  I just went out to lunch, or see clients or back to the phones for a few hrs, so it had virtually no impact for me.  My DSL line has never been down.    I don't use ICA cash account for most of my clients, I send them directly to the fund companies for much higher yields, or use the Scudder Cash Account, CXPXX, which yields 2.3% as of last wk (but there's the stupid $5 buy & $20 sell charge).   Overall, I'm still very happy w/ the service area at LPL. What worries me now is the massive growth of LPL, not really affecting the service, but moreso of the Culture of the firm.  I'm looking around now, so as soon as LPL starts acting like a big wirehouse (or like Jones), lose their focus on the customer (meaning FA's), & start trying to run my office from 2000 miles away, I'm outa here...
Jun 19, 2008 4:55 pm

Thanks West. I appreciate your thoughts. Tough choices. Good not to go in blind.

Jun 30, 2008 5:56 pm

I recently resigned from LPL due to the inept service I received time and time again.  While I believe the people at LPL are truly very nice and they try, however, just trying doesn't get the job done. Time and time again, I would either fax or send things in to be done for clients, only to have the client call me a week later to ask why it wasn't done. I'd call LPL and get 5 different "nice" people with 5 different "not-so-nice" excuses.  Bottom line, this is a broker/dealer that unless you are Ron Carson or at a production level to warrant your "own little department" there at LPL, you will have things dropped and stubbled upon. They always have Branchnet issues and you will be down quite alot.  In my opinion, go with another BD.

Jun 30, 2008 6:53 pm

As I look back at the last 18 months at LPL, I find that most issues were caused by "MY OFFICE" and not the back office.  A signature missing or wrong form or just me not understanding how the process works.  I'm no Ron Carson, but I find the service to be great.  Again, this is just my little world.  However, this is the great thing about being Indy, if you want to leave..head on brother and take your clients with you.  Good luck...

Jun 30, 2008 7:37 pm

[quote=WestH]

What worries me now is the massive growth of LPL, not really affecting the service, but moreso of the Culture of the firm.  I'm looking around now, so as soon as LPL starts acting like a big wirehouse (or like Jones), lose their focus on the customer (meaning FA's), & start trying to run my office from 2000 miles away, I'm outa here...[/quote]   West,   I think almost without fail, all broker/dealers right now should be concerned about the effects of growth.  Whether they are trying to grow organically (i.e. Jones), or through acquisition and/or going public (i.e. LPL, Wachovia, etc.), nearly all major firms are trying to grow like crazy.  So I don't think it would be better anywhere else (all things considered).  I have the same concerns at Jones.  After a few years of pulling back off the reigns a bit (due to their not-so-heroic efforts at growth in the 90's), it seems that growth is back at center stage.  Though I think they have really thought through their strategy for growth this time, I just wonder how it will affect the firm overall.  
Jul 1, 2008 11:13 pm

I’m the one who started this thread and as although I’ve only been w/ LPL since December of 07, I must say that I’m quite happy with the service. Have we run into problems/mistakes? Yes. Have I been annoyed/pissed? Yes. BUT we have been able to fix every mistake. I have also been told that LPL management is aware of the slip in quality of service and they are making changes to correct them. I was told we should see significant improvements w/i the next 3 months. Coming from a wirehouse it’s still a ton better than what we had. Could you find a smaller BD who has more time to spend w/ their brokers and therefore provide better service and experience? No doubt. But w/ the competitive landscape for BD’s I’d rather be w/ one of the largest ones around to leverage their economies of scale and strenght. Every time I read about a small BD going under it makes me realize I made the right choice. Large BD backing us up yet Independent!

Jul 2, 2008 5:41 am

I’ve been with LPL for just over a year now.  In the last month I’ve seen a real turn-around from back office.  Sure they still have some education to catch up on regarding forms/complicated questions, but they’ve been really good at calling me back within 5-10 minutes if they learned they gave me bad information, or as part of a follow up.  I’d give them 8/10. 

Technology wise, I’m 7/10 happy.  It IS getting better, but as with everything, there are growing pains.  I just made the WealthVision conversion inside of BranchNet, and after the initial prep time (which was just silly), things are much nicer! 

Jul 2, 2008 4:13 pm

gvf

  It may be to soon to ask you but how do like Wealthvsion?   Pros/Cons?
Jul 6, 2008 4:04 am

Greenbacks,

I’ve been using WealthVision for over a year with my entire book of clients (I got the full subscription); I use it as a value-added service.  I was previously using financeware (which is still a nice aggregation center), but after learning WV, it’s so handy to have all my client’s info in there; it’s incredibly easy to get a sense of the client’s balance sheet, estate issues, and future income flows.  And the custom presentations that you can generate for estate issues, insurance, etc., are very client-friendly. 

I use WV during all meetings and presentations, and it really shines for those out of state clients who can get on the computer during a phone call (the client can be simultaneously logged in, and view any changes I make to it). 

If you have more questions on it (such as the internal branchnet conversion) please feel free to message me!