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Whats happened to Troy (oowdg)??

Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 12:32 am
by JDHarris
I've been trying to contact troy since August 25th. With many e-mails and phone calls. I've noticed his voice mail is full and no longer accepting messages. Does anyone know where he is and if everything is ok?

Jason



I wan't sure where to put this on the form Feel free to move it.

Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 7:46 am
by Old European
... and for the first time since the beginning of my subscription the OOWDG data updating service isn't functioning this morning ...

Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 8:23 am
by William
I haven't been able to get data since August 6 and the renew feature isn't working and he hasn't responsed to my emails as well. If I were depending on these data for my system... :evil: :!:

Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 8:39 am
by Forum Mgmnt
I don't know what's happened to Troy.

We've been recommending OOWDG since Troy has historically offered better support than the other vendors, especially for newer traders.

CSI is generally reliable, but their Unfair Advantage application has one of the most difficult and complex interfaces of any software I have ever used, which makes it really difficult for newer traders to setup properly.

Does anyone have experience with a data vendor that offers great support and an easy-to-use downloading system.

I've sent a few messages to Troy and will let you know if I hear back.

- Forum Mgmnt

P.S. I strongly recommend that anyone who is relying on data for trading real money have at least two sources for that data that preferably come from different wholesale providers, e.g. reuters and S&P comstock (now eSignal) since most vendors get their data from one of three or four wholesalers. That way if one of the wholesalers has a problem you will still get data.

Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 9:16 am
by VLAD
downloads worked fine yesterday - but no luck so far today.

Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 9:49 am
by William
At first it sounded like getting two service providers was a bit over the top, but my experiences suggest it is a very pratical solution

About Troy, i agree, i find him to a very good guy and a person who is willing to work with his clients to come up with whatever they want. So, when you can reach him, most likely via phone, he is a pleasure to work with.

However, if you can't reach him by phone then his customer service drops off the map. I have dealt with him for over a year and i must admit for as much as he has helped me at various times throughout the year, his inconsistent customer service has put a few grays in my head and driven me to borderline insanity.

I dont know much about other providers, i use MetaStock and Reuters Datalink and i find their data to be very reliable. Perhaps they will serve as my primary and Troy will be a back up.

As i have stated to Troy in private several times, if he can be more consistent with his customer service, his service would be a no brainer, especially with its ease of use with VT...

Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 4:25 pm
by Hiramhon
The phone number on his website shows area code (561) which is Boca Raton, Florida. I'm guessing he'll say that the severe weather in Florida has something to do with this interruption.

Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 4:27 pm
by d-g
I'm guessing that may be the case!

Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2004 10:46 am
by richard
I have been using Norgate, Premium Data, in Australia for EOD futures and US equity data.

Their service has been impeccable so far. They answer emails promptly and are helpful. I have never spoken to them but did a trial and decided to sign up after every thing worked perfectly.

They offer a pre-made continuous contract for each future, along with the individual months. I can't compare them to CSI except you don't need special software. They do offer some charting software but I haven't bothered with it. I simply use their importing software every day and that is all.

I would imagine it is fairly easy to import that data into almost any app ... I am using AmiBroker and it works okay. There are some issues, notably that it doesn't seem possible to use AmiBroker's classification system to automatically import and classify the data by attributes (e.g. NYSE, NASDAQ, industry sector, etc.) although they say they will have this soon.

They have apparently been in business awhile and they let you either prepay for 6 months or 1 year. The US data is available around 8:00pm eastern time...I wish it was sooner but it isn't.

Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2004 9:16 am
by trendguy
I find Reuters Datalink to be very good and a very good value also.

Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2004 2:06 am
by Old European
The OOWDG data updating service still isn't functioning this morning.

Indeed maybe it's hurricane Frances, but how about contingency planning, backup facilities, ...? :evil:

Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 8:57 am
by VLAD
download worked today again

Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2004 12:50 pm
by rwk
Data quality and reliability are a bit spotty with OOWDG, but I keep subscribing because the downloader is a convenient way to get data into TT format. I still use Chartbook 95 and rely on it heavily. I don't see how Troy can make a go of it with such small capitalization and customer base, but I also want to support his efforts however I can. I keep thinking of the metaphor of a mouse dancing in a chorus line of elephants.

TT data format was a huge breakthrough in the early days, but it has some serious limitations now. I have not found an open (or semi-open) format that is any better, including Computrac/Metastock IMHO. The proprietary formats, such as TC2000 and CSI, are as only good as the vendor and the interface as c.f. pointed out. Chartbook is the main reason for staying with TT format, and I haven't found anything that comes within light-years of Chartbook for power and ease-of-use. It is a shame that it isn't more readily available.

Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2004 1:53 pm
by budonk
after purchasing the eod futures data from oowdg almost two weeks ago i have not received the cd(2 day air). nor do any of the telephone numbers on the site work, nor does troy respond to my emails. does anyone have a contact number for oowdg?

the site/customer service leads me to believe i would never rely on this for updates...

Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2004 4:56 pm
by d-g
I have not heard form Troy in weeks, I would not recommend purchasing from OOWDG until you speak with him, and I have no means to contact him.

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2004 1:30 am
by Austrian
I am really angry and fed up, because I ordered and payed per credit card the historical Futures and Forex data - worth US $ 400 on 17th September 2004 from OOWDG - Till now I got nothing.

Sure it was my decision to buy but I thought as data provider for veritrader......

Helmut

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2004 10:09 pm
by batuco9
Well, in the same boat - had ordered historical data too. Fortunately for me, not needing it just yet .....

Do wonder, however, as to what happened to Troy. By this time, must regretably assume nothing good.
batuco9

Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 2:27 pm
by janvir17
Forum Mgmnt, you mentioned that when looking for a backup data vendor, it makes sense to find one that uses a different wholesaler than your primary vendor. A lot of us (including myself) use CSI as our main feed. c.f. do you (or anyone else out there) know who CSI uses as it's wholesaler? I tried asking them but they refused to "reveal their sources." I was thinking of getting either Reuters or Pinnacle as a back-up but now worry that my end sources would overlap...

Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 3:38 pm
by Forum Mgmnt
janvir,

I wasn't worried so much about overnight data vendors but rather the live feeds.

Large-scale outages for live feed vendors happen all the time for an hour or two. This won't stop CSI or another daily data vendor from having their data at some time during the night. So I'm not so concerned about this for daily data.

For a live feed, it matters since a few hours outage can mean a lot of money.

- Forum Mgmnt

Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 4:13 pm
by janvir17
ok thanks c.f. that clears things up.

alright back to studying for my series 3...