Some Robinhood merchants who can’t contact customer service try another tactic: to show up at the front door.
A handful of Robinhood customers traveled to the California startup’s headquarters, asking to speak with a representative and, in some cases, vandalize the property, according to police reports.
A total of ten reports from January 28 to February 9 obtained by CNBC detail the frustration with the trading start-up. Some customers tried to explain security issues to the security agents outside the indescribable building in the Bay Area suburb and received a paper form to complete. There were no Robinhood-related police reports before this date, the department said.
A Menlo Park police spokesman said the incidents included up to 15 people protesting outside the office and a male suspect throwing a T-shirt at a security guard. Another suspect cut into a sculpture on Robinhood’s property. A third man threw animal feces on the front door, according to police.
Robinhood came under the scrutiny of users and lawmakers because it restricted the purchase of transactions at the end of January. Some have accused Robinhood of protecting hedge funds that had short circuits in stocks such as GameStop. Robinhood said it did not make these decisions based on the interest of market makers or hedge funds and that it should limit transactions to increased capital requirements.
Robinhood declined to comment on police reports and customer service complaints.
2,400 miles to Robinhood
Forty-three-year-old Rayz Rayl said he has been using the free trading app for seven years and recommended it to Robinhood friends before the end of January. The professional poker player told CNBC that he lost by trading Nokia for $ 50,000 – one of many stocks that were limited on the platform due to volatility.
After unsuccessful attempts to contact Robinhood customer service, he decided to drive more than 2,400 miles from his home in Sellersburg, Indiana, on Thursday to Robinhood headquarters to close his account.
“I have money in my Robinhood account that I need for maintenance,” said Rayl, who has three children, in an interview outside Robinhood’s headquarters. “My money is currently being held hostage by Robinhood, I can’t take it out.”
Rayl said he was blocked for more than 10 days. After his interview and a request for comment to Robinhood by CNBC, he was contacted by customer service and was able to access his account.
CNBC watched another Robinhood customer knock and knock on Robinhood’s front door, claiming the startup has “$ 2 million of my money pending” and asked “to take my account number down ”. The man refused to talk about his complaint.
In the weeks since, more than two dozen lawsuits have been filed against Robinhood from customers seeking compensation. Another lawsuit filed against the trading application this week is from the family of Alex Kearns – a 20-year-old man who committed suicide last year after mistakenly believing he owed more than $ 730,000 after trading options.
Certainly, the incidents in Menlo Park represent only a handful of Robinhood’s 13 million customers. Despite the reaction online and on Capitol Hill, the start-up appeared to add record accounts in the last week of January. JMP Securities estimates that Robinhood recorded 600,000 mobile downloads in the week of GameStop trading.
Robinhood’s usage policies describe loss potential and trading restrictions. Users agree that “Robinhood may, in its sole discretion, prohibit or restrict the trading of securities or the replacement of securities in any of my Accounts.”
Rayl said he knew the risk of losing money when he signed up for Robinhood and lost up to $ 20,000 in a single day in poker. For Rayl, his inability to buy certain shares made this stand out from other losses. He said that Robinhood, which limits customer transactions, amounts to “taking the carpet off” customers.
For now, Rayz is taking a break from the stock market.
“I don’t trust Wall Street right now – I’m moving all my cash and taking a break,” Rayz said. “I don’t know if I’ll ever go back to daily trading after this happened.”