Hargreaves Lansdown may compensate investors who struggled to sell Royal Mail shares if they complain

By Lee Boyce

PUBLISHED: 11:36 EST, 15 October 2013 | UPDATED: 11:53 EST, 15 October 2013

DIY investing giant Hargreaves Lansdown will consider compensation claims from investors who were blocked from trading their Royal Mail shares last week.

The broker confirmed to This is Money that it may be willing to deliver payments after readers contacted us to say they had been offered £25.

The broker blamed an 'immense' flood of business for the problems, much of it from newly-recruited investors as people struggled to access accounts last Friday.

Hargreaves Lansdown: Is offering compensation to those who couldn't trade their Royal Mail shares on a case-by-case basis

Hargreaves Lansdown: Is offering compensation to those who couldn't trade their Royal Mail shares on a case-by-case basis

Boss Ian Gorham said a 'minority of clients' experienced a reduction in service 'primarily because of the sheer demand to participate through Hargreaves Lansdown.

Those that have held onto their Royal Mail shares could have turned an even bigger profit if they held on until today. Shares closed the day at 489p.

But it appears that the firm will consider compensation claims for the IT struggles. This is Money was contacted by a reader today who said: 'I have just had a message on my account offering me £25.'

Hargreaves Lansdown confirmed it is considering compensation claims on a ‘case-by-case basis for any financial loss’ that occurred while the website buckled under the volume of traffic.

 

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While Royal Mail was not officially listed on the stock market until today, private investors who bought through some brokers were able to take advantage of ‘conditional dealing’ on Friday.

With Royal Mail shares rising as high as 459p in early trading on that first day, investors could have turned a quick £290 profit on the 227 share allotments that cost them £749.10 in the float.

 

But many Hargreaves Lansdown customers who attempted to log-in to dealing accounts to do that found themselves locked out of selling.

By 12.30pm the Royal Mail share price had slipped back to 433p, costing investors a fifth of their potential maximum profit. However, the shares recovered to close at 455p at the end of the trading day.

Ian Gorham added: 'We consider there are no notable financial implications, but we do not underestimate the inconvenience caused to some clients, and have apologised to clients who experienced delays. We will consider any lessons to be learned for the future.'

Hargreaves' own shares were 29.5p higher at 1,038.5p this afternoon, after it reported improving investor confidence and rising markets had helped drive its assets under management to a record level in the three months to September 30.

Hargreaves will report the number of extra clients it gained from the hugely popular Royal Mail float - which has seen investors cash in on a 50 per cent share jump from a launch price of 330p - in its next financial quarter.

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żżżżżżżżż up to I saw the check which was of $4101, I be certain that...my... father in law was like they say actually erning money part time online.. there best friend has been doing this less than 10 months and by now took care of the dept on their apartment and purchased a great new Renault 5. check this...... x.co/2aCws

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I complained via email to Hargreaves Lansdown last Friday as I was incredibly frustrated about not being able to access my account to sell my Royal Mail shares nor could I make contact via telephone and whilst I could access my account yesterday I was still unable to sell my shares and made a further complaint by telephone as I was even more frustrated. However, their IT issues have actually worked to my advantage as I have been able to sell my shares today at a far higher price than I anticipated plus I had a detailed letter of apology from the company along with £25 compensation added to my account for the inconvenience. Whilst they were in serious danger of losing my custom I have to say that I will now be sticking with them as they have behaved admirably when it comes to customer service.

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I complained via email to Hargreaves Lansdown after being unable to access my account at all last Friday nor being able to reach anyone by telephone. The matter was still not resolved yesterday and although I could access my account I still couldn't sell my shares but was able to get through on the telephone and lodged another complaint. As it turned out it ended up working to my advantage as I was able to sell my Royal Mail shares today at a much higher price than if I had sold them on Friday. I also received a detailed letter of apology today from Hargreaves Lansdown apologizing for the inconvenience and that I had been compensated £25. I have to say that I am very impressed with their response and that I have been compensated along with selling my shares at a much better price than I initially anticipated!! Last Friday they were looking at losing my custom but they have really shown some good customer service which means I will be sticking with them.

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