The Share Centre | www.share.com Reviews 1.147

Professional, good website and reasonable charges

Very convenient share market

Switched a reasonably large share portfolio to Share.com last year. Spoke to someone in advance of doing so to check I had understood their fees correctly.

Bought ~£50k of shares recently, only to find out I’d been charged ~£500 commission rather than the £7.50 per transaction I’d expected.

Learnt that my account had been set up for standard commission-based trading rather than “frequent dealing” – which is a misleading term as it doesn’t suggest that's the tariff you should be on for one-off high-value trades.

Yes, I should have checked how my account had been set up. However in many other customer-centric industries, at the point of purchase someone might say “hang on, are you aware we have other tariffs that will save you hundreds of pounds?” This is not advice, it’s simply presenting options. Their website knew I was going to be charged a significant commission, but didn’t highlight this and present a choice.

When I asked if Share.com would retrospectively switch me onto the “frequent dealing” tariff they refused. I guess financial services companies are there primarily to make money despite their customer service pretensions, and sometimes that means customers will be stung.

Looks very user friendly and easy to use.

Easy to deal with and transact my requirements. Hope this will not change when taken over.

An excellent service over the years. First class class make it easy to get things done with the minimum of fuss. Always a pleasant and hassle-free experience.

I have been with SC a very long time and they have been more than helpful on many occasions. By far the easiest broker to deal with and I have never been overcharged. Long may it continue!

The most terrible company to deal with: it took them 4 months to transfer my child’s account to another company - they tell you over the phone that the transfer is effected while in fact it is not, delaying the process of transfer as much as they can. Completely disappointed with Share Centre and Definitely won’t be dealing with them in the future. And completely average in terms if growth of child’s account. My advice a avoid, you can find a better one for your investment in terms of customer service and return.

Been with this company from around the time of its inception, and although I took a long holiday, have to say they have always been excellent.
One thing baffles me though, the share price shown is often lower than say Investing.com, which I use for their market data, why is this ?

I opened by Share PEP not long after the Share Centre opened its doors. I have nothing but praise for the simplicity of investing through their website and app. Both have been extensively modernised in recent years.

I am in process of moving my pension to the Share Centre SIPP. My only negative comment is that the nature of the relationship between the Share Centre and their pension administration company, Curtis Banks, is not clear from the literature available on the website. I phoned the Share Centre and received a very clear explanation.

As commented elsewhere, the service from Curtis Banks is not quite to the standard of the Share Centre.

In contrast to other financial sites I have tried recently, the application process was simplicity itself - once I found where to click to start the whole thing. Three online forms filled in and signed online. The Share Centre doesn't make a big thing of its SIPP - it's hard to find any reference unless you search.

I hope the transfers from the other company will be done soon so I can start investing my own money...

The share centre hide charges. I've currently got a complaint raised with the financial ombudsman. My advice to anyone considering using the share centre is to carefully read the letters they send you. You need to ensure you follow any weblinks contained in any letters sent to you, make sure you visit each webpage referenced. Any charges will be listed somewhere but will be buried deep within the terms and conditions.

To the share centre a word of advice, when sending letters to customers it would be useful if you made it clear in the body of the letter or email the charging structure. Expecting people to follow links to hundreds of pages and read through the detail is unfair and the FCA takes a dim view of companies that trade in this manner.
Be warned!

Good staff on the phones good web site

My queries were answered quickly and clearly by a very professional person. The whole experience was a pleasure

I have found Share Centre staff very efficient, the website Is easy to use and the telephone hours are more generous than some (I use two other online investment services) which has been extremely useful for our family.

The Share Centre customer centric ethos is strongly embedded in all employees. Customer service is always available, the agents are patient, competent and have a good aptitude for listening, which is very helpful.

Do not rely on setting a limit buy or sell on shares with the Share Centre.I had a limit buy which should have been executed and the dealing team failed to do so.It was within market size and also within the offer price at the time it should have been dealt.No real excuse was given.They said they tried twice to do it electronically but it was not accepted,but could not tell me why.Pointless having a limit set up if it doesnt work.Certainly cost me or lost me should i say.Very dissapointed with this service.

My first (& only?) DIY effort to set up SIPPs for me and my wife. Picked Share Centre from various SIPP reviews. Turns out Share Centre only manage investment side: Curtis Banks manage funds in/out and pension. Unimpressed with the latter (silence is their forte), but staff at Share Centre very helpful, efficient and kept me fully informed. I'd have given up and tried elsewhere but for their help.

Efficient team. User-friendly.

I have a SIPP, held for two years, originally transferred in from another broker (HL) as I found the pricing structure more balanced and fair for my needs, hoped the service would be good. The transfer experience was ok, however, despite only trading and contributing occassionally, each time the customer experience has been poor, when raising these issues with the service team I feel like there is no empathy to my customer experience, and no quick resolution to the underlying issues. Examples
i) Trade to buy £40k of a fund from existing cash balance took over nine days to register on my account, despite there being six trading days between instruction and it appearing. I am paying the premium 'Frequent Trading' option expecting a smooth quick expeeience. In addition, once the trade was confirmed (nine days later) I find it took place later than expected costing me £400 due to change in price. On raising the issue I received a vanilla response with no empathy or recognition, seems like I just need to suck it up.
ii) Cash contribution to SIPP £15.5k still not available in my account after eleven days and counting? On raising the issue I received a vanilla response with no empathy or recognition, seems like I just need to suck it up. Still not resolved, seems like their processes between Curtis Banks (SIPP provider) and The Share Centre (Platform and Trading) are poor and inefficient, and neither company are owning or fixing my problem.
With this experience, I'm left feeling that the perceived value I saw in the pricing structure is not real as the customer experience has been poor, I'm left feeling I should explore alternative platforms.

(Respose to their reply on 31/07/20. The second item is still unresolved two months after the fact, I think that is the clearest indication of what the customer experience is like).

They do exactly what it says on the 'tin' but they do it with care and to the best of their ability, you cannot ask more than that.