JAKARTA - Robinhood Markets Inc said on Tuesday, October 5, that it had introduced 24-hour customer telephone support, seven days a week, in response to criticism over an app-based retail brokerage communication that was also implicated in a client's suicide.
The fast-growing broker rose to prominence earlier this year during the stock trading frenzy of "memes" with an easy-to-use interface that made it a hit among young investors. However, users have been complaining for a long time about the lack of response to questions.
Robinhood says expanding its customer support will help its users feel confident, informed and secure about investing, especially when starting trading assets like cryptocurrencies.
“We need to help everyone feel ready to be an investor, theirs, and that they will have the support they need when they need it most,” Christine Brown, chief operating officer of Robinhood Crypto, said in an interview.
Robinhood came under heavy criticism in June 2020 after a 20-year-old investor named Alex Kearns died by suicide after he received a notification from a broker that he said meant he had lost $730,000 on options trading, and was subsequently unable to contact anyone. within the company to clarify the matter.
The Kearns are suing Robinhood over "misleading communications" from a broker that caused their son to panic over what he believes to be a huge market loss. The case was settled earlier this year, Robinhood said in a June regulatory filing.
Prior to the launch of 24/7 phone support, which has rolled out in recent weeks and is a first for a major cryptocurrency trading platform, Robinhood's 21.3 million active users primarily had to correspond with the company via email, Brown said.
Now users can request a call through the app and hear back from a trained rep, with the average wait time in recent weeks at Robinhood Crypto being around 30 minutes, Brown said.
"This is a human, alive, speaking to you any time of the day or night for any problems you might have in Robinhood," he said.
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