Indignant clients display up at Robinhood’s headquarters in the wake of GameStop chaos
3 min readSome Robinhood traders who are not able to get in touch with shopper provider are making an attempt one more tactic: displaying up at its entrance door.
A handful of Robinhood’s customers have driven to the begin-up’s headquarters in California, demanding to converse to a representative and in some instances, vandalizing the home, according to law enforcement reviews.
A overall of ten reports from January 28 to February 9 acquired by CNBC element disappointment with the trading commence-up. Some clients attempted to demonstrate account issues to stability guards outdoors the one particular-story, nondescript setting up in the Bay Area suburb, and were being presented a paper type to fill out. There were no Robinhood-associated law enforcement experiences prior to that date this calendar year, the section said.
A Menlo Park law enforcement spokesperson said the incidents incorporate as a lot of as 15 individuals protesting outside of the office environment, and a male suspect throwing a t-shirt at a security guard. An additional suspect sawed into a sculpture on Robinhood’s home. A third gentleman threw animal feces at the front doorway, in accordance to law enforcement.
Robinhood arrived below fire from buyers and lawmakers for limiting the obtain-side of some trades in late January. Some accused Robinhood of guarding hedge money that experienced shorted stocks this sort of as GameStop. Robinhood claimed it did not make all those selections based on the desire of market makers or hedge funds, and desired to limit trades to enhanced capital specifications.
Robinhood declined to comment on the law enforcement reports and purchaser assistance grievances.
2,400 miles to Robinhood
Forty-a few-year previous Rayz Rayl claimed he had been employing the free-investing app for 7 yrs, and advised Robinhood to mates just before late January. The specialist poker player explained to CNBC that he dropped $50,000 investing Nokia — a person of numerous stocks that had been restricted on the platform thanks to volatility.
Immediately after failed makes an attempt to contact Robinhood’s consumer assistance, he made the decision to drive extra than 2,400 miles from his house in Sellersburg, Indiana previous Thursday to Robinhood’s headquarters to shut down his account.
“I have funds in my Robinhood account that I need for residing expenditures” Rayl, who has 3 children, stated in an interview outdoors of Robinhood’s headquarters. “My income is presently held hostage by Robinhood, I cannot get it out.”
Rayl mentioned he was locked out for far more than 10 days. After his job interview, and a ask for for comment to Robinhood by CNBC, he was contacted by buyer services and equipped to access his account.
CNBC witnessed a further Robinhood shopper kicking and knocking on the front doorway of Robinhood, proclaiming the commence-up experienced “$2 million of my income on keep,” and inquiring to “get my account amount down.” The person declined to communicate about his complaint.
In the weeks considering the fact that, extra than two dozen lawsuits have been submitted in opposition to Robinhood from shoppers looking for damages. Another lawsuit brought towards the buying and selling application this week is from the family members of Alex Kearns – a 20-calendar year-old who dedicated suicide past 12 months just after mistakenly considering he owed more than $730,000 just after buying and selling choices.
To be guaranteed, the Menlo Park incidents only represent a handful of Robinhood’s 13 million buyers. In spite of the backlash online and in Capitol Hill, the begin-up appeared to increase record accounts in the very last 7 days of January. JMP Securities estimates that Robinhood noticed 600,000 cell downloads throughout the week of GameStop investing.
Robinhood’s consumer insurance policies outline prospective for losses, and restrictions on buying and selling. Users concur that “Robinhood may, in its discretion, prohibit or restrict the buying and selling of securities, or the substitution of securities, in any of My Accounts.”
Rayl reported he knew the danger of losing dollars when he signed up for Robinhood, and has dropped as much as $20,000 in a one working day in poker. To Rayl, his inability to purchase particular stocks created this stand out from other losses. He claimed Robinhood limiting clients’ trades amounted to “pulling the rug out from beneath” clientele.
For now, Rayz is getting a hiatus from the inventory market.
“I don’t believe in Wall Road appropriate now — I am moving all the dollars to income, and taking a split,” Rayz explained. “I you should not know if I will at any time go again to day trading right after this happened.”
