Brokerage service Robinhood faced the ire of its clients as it suffered a two-day downtime on March 2 and 3, 2020. Incidentally, this is when the “biggest market rally in 12 years” occurred, causing users to miss opportunities to earn thousands. A few of them are talking about filing a class-action lawsuit.
Because of the opportunity losses suffered by customers, a number of them launched a Twitter campaign using an account with the handle “Robinhood Class Action.” They have threatened to go to the Financial Industry Regulatory Agency to file a case against the brokerage. The account currently has 6,600 followers.
Meanwhile, Robinhood attempted to appease its angry customers by saying that it will address their concerns “on a case by case basis,” said Business Insider. The firm also added that it will be offering three months of its premium services without a cost.
Tech Crunch noted that a Robinhood Gold, the highest tier it offers, cost $5 with an additional of 5% yearly interest when customers borrow more than $1,000. The interest will be charged daily, which could bring the monthly flat fee up to $200.
However, the company is believed to only offer the $5 membership cost for three months. Tech Crunch indicated that users will only be given a compensation of $15 in total.
The commission-free investing firm said that the app suffered infrastructure issues that caused it to go down in light of high-traffic activities. In a blog posted on the company’s website, it was revealed that its system “struggled with unprecedented load” which caused a “thundering herd” impact.
The brokerage app explained that there were several factors that ultimately caused the outage including the “highly volatile and historic market conditions,” “record volume” and “record account sign-ups.”
As of this writing, Robinhood’s services are fully operational and running for iOS, Web and Android app users.
