LPL Tech Problems

…LPL, if you want my trade blotters done today, you’d better get this system back up soon!

Up for a while and CRASH

Bad day at LPL

How often does this stuff happen there?

See the investment news article today about LPL wanting to compete in the clearing and custody arena too?  This will learn 'em!

[quote=unclesam]How often does this stuff happen there?[/quote]

Mostly, if there's maintenance, it's done on a weekend (and relatively few of those at that).  Recently, LPL's tried to move a bunch of servers to Charlotte, which caused a service disruption. and now, apparently, they're putting on some enhancements that went overtime this weekend.  I wouldn't say it happens a lot, but it's happened twice within the last month or two and that's unacceptable in my world.

I'm guessing that things will settle down and be fine by tomorrow and I'd say that LPL will be very careful about adding new "enhancements" on the tail end of this mess...

The little red guy with a pitchfork on my right shoulder tells me I should create some nasty little post referencing you indy guys and your badmouthing of Jones technology and karma.

The white guy on the other shoulder with the wings tells me to sympathize with you, reminding me of a time when the Jones satellite crashed for a while. 

Which to choose...which to choose...

Hey Spac-e-man, I've on both sides of the issue 14 years at Koolaide central and here (LPL) for 4 months--the crash of the satellite was much worst than this--for one thing our contact management system is seperate from the LPL branchnet so I can still bring up client's info and do trades without having to call Jones, wait and have them fax my contact notes.

That being said--this is not a good time to have this happen since 1/3 of the advisors were at National all last week too!

08/07/2007 another down day at LPL, so far

[quote=Roadhard]

Hey Spac-e-man, I've on both sides of the issue 14 years at Koolaide central and here (LPL) for 4 months--the crash of the satellite was much worst than this--for one thing our contact management system is seperate from the LPL branchnet so I can still bring up client's info and do trades without having to call Jones, wait and have them fax my contact notes.

That being said--this is not a good time to have this happen since 1/3 of the advisors were at National all last week too!

[/quote]

The satellite crash wasn't bad for me.  I was up and running in less than a day.  It's good to know people in the right places I guess.

Dude, it was a joke.  A little chuckle at the end of the day.  Take some pills, relax.  Have a little fun.

[quote=Greenbacks]

08/07/2007 another down day at LPL, so far

[/quote]

The tech problems started when they gave back the UIT haircuts. I guess they needed that money.

Spaceman, I understand it was a joke and still respect your posts!

That being said--this still s-u-c-k-s!

It gives new meaning to the phrase "Out of commission!"

Every technology has down days. This too shall pass.

I got up this morning at about 6am and printed out review materials for my 9am meeting...glad I did!

So, did out satellite go down?!!

You LPL guys should go out and pick up a bottle of Jack… Take a couple slugs and everything will be better…

I'll bet the tech guys would like a bottle of Jack right now...

...My biggest frustration is trying to decide if I should cancel my next appt or hope that the system is back to speed in the next 90 minutes...

I canceled all my meetings today

This is no way to run a business

Woohoo!!!  Got my reports...

I had a mortgage broker in my office and he directed me to liquidate all his AF holdings in his IRA. Thinks that armageddon is here. Two clients who are mortgage brokers with 20+ years experience said exactly the same thing. They had never seen a credit market turn so quickly upside down. 30 year paper Jumbo loans are 100 basis points higher this week killing their biz. Anyone else seeing this behavior?

Oh by the way spent time waiting to liquidate all funds on hold. Can't be fun for support staff at LPL. Hopefully all resources are being used to fix this upgrade. One insider said there is talk they may remove the new upgrade and go back to where we were on Friday. Sure makes business difficult.

[quote=Spaceman Spiff]

The little red guy with a pitchfork on my right shoulder tells me I should create some nasty little post referencing you indy guys and your badmouthing of Jones technology and karma.

The white guy on the other shoulder with the wings tells me to sympathize with you, reminding me of a time when the Jones satellite crashed for a while. 

Which to choose...which to choose...

[/quote]

Pretty good post.  How is the technology at Mutual services corporation that LPL recently bought?

[quote=footsoldier]

I had a mortgage broker in my office and he directed me to liquidate all his AF holdings in his IRA. Thinks that armageddon is here. Two clients who are mortgage brokers with 20+ years experience said exactly the same thing. They had never seen a credit market turn so quickly upside down. 30 year paper Jumbo loans are 100 basis points higher this week killing their biz. Anyone else seeing this behavior?

Oh by the way spent time waiting to liquidate all funds on hold. Can't be fun for support staff at LPL. Hopefully all resources are being used to fix this upgrade. One insider said there is talk they may remove the new upgrade and go back to where we were on Friday. Sure makes business difficult.

[/quote]

All the mortgage brokers, real estate brokers, and builders are really telling the sob story.

They are losing sooooo much money and the building market is sooooo bad.

Hey, what about the years that they did WELL.  That they made tons of money and didn't care about the mark ups they charged clients on new homes? 

I don't feel sorry for them one bit.  If they left all of their money in one asset class (real estate) and they were too stupid to listen to our advice, they are getting what they deserve.

BUT LESSON TO ALL OF US, don't keep all of your assets in one place.  Diversify.  Sock some dough away for the tough times as they will surely come to every business.

Even our most excellent business.

If anything, its a good time to throw out some feelers and let the sellers know that you are out there…

[quote=vbrainy][quote=Spaceman Spiff]

The little red guy with a pitchfork on my right shoulder tells me I should create some nasty little post referencing you indy guys and your badmouthing of Jones technology and karma.

The white guy on the other shoulder with the wings tells me to sympathize with you, reminding me of a time when the Jones satellite crashed for a while. 

Which to choose...which to choose...

[/quote]

Pretty good post.  How is the technology at Mutual services corporation that LPL recently bought?

[/quote]

Tech was one of their biggest selling points when I visited SD...

Day three and still severe tech problems. It seems the system works in the middle of the night. Maybe we need to change our office hours from 10pm to 6am.

This sucks and if it was not so difficult our office would consider moving our books.  

When LPL sold out to a private equity firm it sent up a red flag and we are just seeing the beginning of the end for LPL. When a company has to answer to share holders it is no longer indy! There is a conflict of interest. It is time to think about and prepare to move our books!

Time to go and visit the Psychologist, my daughter thinks the appointment is for her–LOL–its for my anger management today, this my friends is getting worst hour-by-hour!

Spiff-

It aint always greener.

I am balanced now that Barry did it last night. I can think straight again. And still in spite of the current technology issues facing LPL, I am much happier independent. I just have no one to talk to like I did at Jones!!!

To where Greenbacks?

[quote=Roadhard]Time to go and visit the Psychologist, my daughter thinks the appointment is for her--LOL--its for my anger management today, this my friends is getting worst hour-by-hour! [/quote]

How does one progress past worst?  Is it possible to be better than best?

[quote=footsoldier]

Spiff-

It aint always greener.

I am balanced now that Barry did it last night. I can think straight again. And still in spite of the current technology issues facing LPL, I am much happier independent. I just have no one to talk to like I did at Jones!!!

[/quote]

I don't envy you're technical situation at all.  As a Joneser I thought it was a little ironic to see a tech problem from the almighty LPL. 

Glad you're happier as an indy.  Good for  you.

[quote=Malcolm]To where Greenbacks?[/quote]

We recieved a call from RJ this morning. But I am starting to plan and move to RIA status when, I do not know! But LPL is starting look like a firm with propriatary products OMP,OAP both crap! Also they are just getting to BIG when they where small they seemed to care more about us now we seem to be just a number!

In all honesty I will wait for the IPO and then make a decision.

Interesting article about the situation.

http://www.investmentnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200 70808/REG/70808001/1035/TECHNOLOGY

I have to say at least LPL figured out that the top 500 need to be helped immediately. When Jones lost their satellite, it was who ever is closest got re-pointed. Size didn't matter!

The lack of resources is so apparent. I hope management will get that we do have choices for our clients. It won't look good if there is an exodus of advisers for the IPO which I am sure must be further off in the horizon now.

I remember when I was being recruited and how impressed I was with their robust technology.

Foot,

I've always wondered about that satellite tech. How does it work? Is it a two way system or is it a one way with a telephone uplink?

I have a buddy who showed me his setup with the gigantic mainframe in the back room, but he didn't really know how it worked.

If it is satellite download telephone upload then it can sort of be fast and you can aim it yourself.

I used to have two way satellite internet (My pocket protector side still thinks it was the coolest technology ever) but the latency issues made it useless for this business and the half second delay was tiresome (even at the speed of light, when a satellite is 22,000 miles away it's still an 88,000 trip your keystroke goes for before it shows up 6 inches away on the screen).

It’s easy to lose perspective during a frustrating time like this.  I have some open options positions and I can hardly get information about them, and if I wanted to trade them I would have to do so via phone.  I suspect if I attempted to do so I would face long wait time on the phone.

Their technology is fantastic, or at least it has been for two years.  We’ve now had these two incidents of outages of a day or longer in the last month.  I hope the top folks at LPL are taking these problems very seriously.  I’m not completely satisfied with the comments made by our tech people, and I’d like to know what they’re doing to build redundancy and safeguards into our system to prevent this from happening again.

I need a drink!  The Psychologist said my daughter is doing well but the dad needs to take up a hobby--anybody got a church key?  All this and a wholeseller just walked in--may their soul rest in peace!

I am suprised LPL did not have a back up plan.  The liability has to be huge!

LPL is hanging there neck out here and I would not be suprised if they get sued!

This e-money is no more then a profit center for them at $300 month   

Our office is so pissed! But we only manage about 140ml so we don't have much say at LPL.   

[quote=joedabrkr]It's easy to lose perspective during a frustrating time like this.  I have some open options positions and I can hardly get information about them, and if I wanted to trade them I would have to do so via phone.  I suspect if I attempted to do so I would face long wait time on the phone.

Their technology is fantastic, or at least it has been for two years.  We've now had these two incidents of outages of a day or longer in the last month.  I hope the top folks at LPL are taking these problems very seriously.  I'm not completely satisfied with the comments made by our tech people, and I'd like to know what they're doing to build redundancy and safeguards into our system to prevent this from happening again.
[/quote]

How often did that happen at PaineWebber?

Actually today was a great day to not be trying to trade.  At about 2:45 the Dow was up 100+, fifteen minutes later it was down about 30, by 4 it was up 150.

I was using limit orders and missed covering a slew of naked calls on the downswing.

Still ahead of the power curve, but not as far ahead as I was at about 3 o'clock.

I have a gas barbecue. I realized when I first set up the barbecue that with only one cannister I risked embarassment should I run out of gas at some point. I resolved the issue by purchasing another tank.

When I was with Jones they had a backup site. I guess LPL doesn't. Three days without systems is total incompetence. Heads should roll for this stupidity.

[quote=DAtoo]

[quote=joedabrkr]It’s easy to lose perspective during a frustrating time like this.  I have some open options positions and I can hardly get information about them, and if I wanted to trade them I would have to do so via phone.  I suspect if I attempted to do so I would face long wait time on the phone.

Their technology is fantastic, or at least it has been for two years.  We’ve now had these two incidents of outages of a day or longer in the last month.  I hope the top folks at LPL are taking these problems very seriously.  I’m not completely satisfied with the comments made by our tech people, and I’d like to know what they’re doing to build redundancy and safeguards into our system to prevent this from happening again.
[/quote]

How often did that happen at PaineWebber?

Actually today was a great day to not be trying to trade.  At about 2:45 the Dow was up 100+, fifteen minutes later it was down about 30, by 4 it was up 150.

I was using limit orders and missed covering a slew of naked calls on the downswing.

Still ahead of the power curve, but not as far ahead as I was at about 3 o'clock.

[quote=joedabrkr]

Actually, smart ass, it did happen.

In 2001 we were dark for an entire week because a pissed off former employee dropped a trojan horse virus into our system.

Our branch had limited functionality back after a week.  We were one of the lucky ones because larger branches were fixed first.

So while this is upsetting, it doesn't compare to the worst outing I experienced at one of your beloved wirehouses.

Welcome back Devil's Advocate.  I hope they ban you again soon.  What did you do to earn your banishment this time?

[/quote]

I'll ask Bob Benmoshe if that was even possible.  I can't imagine that PaineWebber did not have a redundant system, located in another city, ready to turn on at a moment's notice.

I think you're lying Joeboy--want to fess up before I ask Bob?

[quote=DAtoo]

[quote=joedabrkr]

Actually, smart ass, it did happen.

In 2001 we were dark for an entire week because a pissed off former employee dropped a trojan horse virus into our system.

Our branch had limited functionality back after a week.  We were one of the lucky ones because larger branches were fixed first.

So while this is upsetting, it doesn’t compare to the worst outing I experienced at one of your beloved wirehouses.

Welcome back Devil’s Advocate.  I hope they ban you again soon.  What did you do to earn your banishment this time?

[/quote]

I'll ask Bob Benmoshe if that was even possible.  I can't imagine that PaineWebber did not have a redundant system, located in another city, ready to turn on at a moment's notice.

I think you're lying Joeboy--want to fess up before I ask Bob?

[quote=Greenbacks]

This e-money is no more then a profit center for them at $300 month   

A profit center?  Have you ever signed up for emoney outside of LPL?  It costs about $1200 to set up and then $300/year PER CLIENT.  A buddy of mine was using emoney and it was costing him $42,000/year (approximately).  Financial Planning was a huge part of his practice and he used it for a ton of clients.  I'd say this one cost them money.

[/quote]

On the bright side this may slow down growth for LPL. I know I will not be giving good referals to them.

I am also disapointed in the deferred comp plan they plan they maybe  rolling out. Why just offer it to 500,000 and up? If I make $300,000 I can afford to contribute to one  What the X&*crap do they care if I contribute to one for?  

LPL is starting to look like a wirehouse it only cares for big producers 

[quote=Greenbacks]

On the bright side this may slow down growth for LPL. I know I will not be giving good referals to them.

I am also disapointed in the deferred comp plan they plan they maybe  rolling out. Why just offer it to 500,000 and up? If I make $300,000 I can afford to contribute to one  What the X&*crap do they care if I contribute to one for?  

LPL is starting to look like a wirehouse it only cares for big producers 

[/quote]

Oh no, where will Joeboy shuffle off to next?

When I was with Jones they had a backup site. I guess LPL doesn't. Three days without systems is total incompetence. Heads should roll for this stupidity.

I have been evaluating LPL as potential b/d - I see here some systems have been down over three days.

Is it fair to say that your business/access to client accounts has been down for three days? This is a serious charge.

This is something I will be asking about on the visit for sure. How have they been responding? A couple of posts seem to indicate that besides the problem, the response from LPL has not been great

As of this morning everything I have tried seems to be working.

Been a frustrating couple of days. (Just got back from the conference Tuesday.) My assistant tells me she had very little to go on Monday but the service center was helpful and accomodative. Unable to use the system for orders on Tues & Weds but was able to call them in and, of course, the usual phone order charge was waived. Calls for tech issues were handled courteously.

Client account info was largely available through Account View (while Branch Net was down) but I understand this was somewhat spotty as well.

My limited grasp of technology may render this incorrect, but I'm taking a stab at why this took so long to resolve and why no redundant system was available. LPL's system is web-based, so there are no mainframes to sign into. If the problem was in the software then no number of backup servers would solve the problem. Should they have simply restored all the servers to their settings on Friday? Perhaps, though I suspect not doing so was a tactical decision that people may be second-guessing right now.

Some of you may remember me from the last period of time I posted, which was in the range of a year ago and then some. At that time I was in a wirehouse environment after my regional firm was acquired. When the wirehouse in its infinite wisdom wanted me to move my practice an hour away from home and from my clients, I made the switch to the indy side via LPL not quite a year ago. The reason for this info and for this (admittedly lengthy) post is to highlight the difference between the response of LPL to the responses I saw over 25 years at wirehouses and various other bureaucratic environments.

In the typical corporate environment, taking responsibility is something that is quite rare. Covering one's behind, and the collective behind of the organization, is paramount. The response at LPL has been refreshingly honest. 'We know this hurts you- it's unacceptable- we are sorry- we will fix it- here's what's working, here's what isn't- these applications should run well, these will be slow- let us know where the problems are.' I don't see the usual excuses. I don't have a regional manager hacked off at me because I'm not parroting the company line to my branch.

The key difference- at the wirehouse and in other corporate environments I was an employee. My employer would never admit it screwed up and ultimately it didn't matter if I was happy or not (until I left.) At LPL, the company knows it is a vendor to me and that I am its customer. It HAS to admit it screwed up (and has done so.) And it knows it has to continually earn my business and earn back my confidence. So far they have taken the right steps to do that, and we will see what additional steps are taken and communication efforts made over the next several days.

unclesam

Our office is not a big producer about $700,000. We did send a E-mail to  Cassidy &  Dwyer   about the problems and the comments in investment news. They did respond back to us within a couple of hours. They did not say much in the E-mail but they did respond!

Today the system is up   But it is slow but still it is UP

Greenbacks,

Do you feel that LPL treats you differently based on office production? Is that something that has changed over the years, or more recent with all the growth? I am not looking for negative info just how the current LPL people feel the growth has changed the company or if they have had any change in philosphy. Recruiter will say how they are always focused on you, and they know where all their paychecks come from but people on the inside may or may not feel differently.

Glad you are back up

[quote=OldDog]

In the typical corporate environment, taking responsibility is something that is quite rare. Covering one’s behind, and the collective behind of the organization, is paramount. The response at LPL has been refreshingly honest. ‘We know this hurts you- it’s unacceptable- we are sorry- we will fix it- here’s what’s working, here’s what isn’t- these applications should run well, these will be slow- let us know where the problems are.’ I don’t see the usual excuses. I don’t have a regional manager hacked off at me because I’m not parroting the company line to my branch.

The key difference- at the wirehouse and in other corporate environments I was an employee. My employer would never admit it screwed up and ultimately it didn't matter if I was happy or not (until I left.) At LPL, the company knows it is a vendor to me and that I am its customer. It HAS to admit it screwed up (and has done so.) And it knows it has to continually earn my business and earn back my confidence. So far they have taken the right steps to do that, and we will see what additional steps are taken and communication efforts made over the next several days.

Well LPL management called our office.

We asked why they did not have a back up system in place? LPL told us they do! They did not implement it! We asked why? They said it takes 12 hours to do! What is wrong with 6pm to 6am?  So we sat for three days!

Bottom line we think it was going to be expensive for LPL to start it up so instead of them losing money the reps did! It also would not look good on the books for the IPO. Every dollar counts!

My other thought about the 500 reps they reached out to. We all have A,-D clients. But how many of us let our C & D clients know they are C& D clients like LPL told the other 9500 reps!

There was a third person on the line I cannot remember his name but our thought he was there to represent the Private equity firm. Another words an empty spot at LPL!      

Greenbacks-

They had a back up system but chose not to use it..... Wow what does that say.

Unf_________believable.

Greenbacks,

You ought to pick up your book and leave now!  You obviously don't have faith and/or trust in how LPL is being run and the direction in which they are heading so why put off the inevitable.  I don't say this to poke fun at you, it's just if you have such ill will toward them, you can't stay here.  They are suppose to be your strategic partner and if you feel as though you are insignificant, man don't hang around.  There are a lot of good firms out there that you can feel important at that will be more than happy to earn your business. 

And it is a different culture from just a couple yrs ago!

Yes it is a different culture then a couple of years ago!

While I was impressed they called our office.

 Apologies only go so far!

I am concerned about liablity also example, Client calls in and wants out of a position. I am on the phone for twenty minutes the positions trades down while  I am on hold.  Who is at fault me or LPL?    

Well, LPL just sent out another update email. They are not going to charge us the BranchNet fee for this month, $75! Woohoo!!!

It has been somewhat disappointing, especially to hear that they may have a backup system that they never brough online.  Clearly some bad decisions were made.

Having said that, I’ve found that when I needed to get something done I could get it done on the phone and it was generally answered quickly.

I think they’ve done their best and been very forthright about what was going on.  I wouldn’t give them an A+ for crisis management, but probably at least a B.

[quote=now_indy]Well, LPL just sent out another update email. They are not going to charge us the BranchNet fee for this month, $75! Woohoo!!![/quote]

...my sentiments exactly...

It's a funny read to see this thread from beginning to end.

People talk about leaving LPL midway through the thread and now everyone is back on the LPL train again.

I've been telling friends/associates for quite some time that the LPL giant is going to topple one day soon.

Amazing how many people also had the complaint about not getting personalized service like they used to. Just ANOTHER reason I am with a small Independent B/D.

Glad you LPL guys are able to work again. I'll keep watching for the NEXT thread! haha

Sampson - It took you 18 days to come out with your knock on LPL after the last thread.  Now you're saying you've been telling all of these friends/associates for "quite some time" that blah,blah,blah, blah....

Please don't bore anyone else with your hindsight predictions or, for that matter, why you ended up with a small time b/d.  Thanks for contributing nothing to this post.

Well, let's see...

It's probably taken me 18 days to "come out" with my "knock" on LPL because I haven't been on the site in quite awhile and decided to catch up on previous posts.

If you weren't so busy trying to impress everyone with your "internet tough guy" routine, you would have taken the time to check my last login before launching into your tyrade.

I have been saying this about LPL for almost 2yrs now and, as they grow, they'll keep proving I'm right. Maybe in small ways but nevertheless...

As for boring anyone else with my "predictions"...It seems that you are the only one bored with my reply as you are the only one to post in response to it.

This is an open forum and I'll speak about what I want, when I want, period.

It's tools like you who think they have to wear the "LARGE B/D SPEEDO" to attract clients. Someday you'll find

If you're a producer, clients buy into your DBA and branding not your Broker/Dealer chief, remember that.

You're Broker/Dealer is merely a servicing entity. It's how well each B/D performs that function, NOT how large or small they are.

Now try to go make some money instead of worrying about my opinion.

Thanks.