Well, what you said makes a lot of sense to me, sir.
You seemed to have a faced a horrible experience when it comes to the platform. Any person, would agree with you that a few pennies saved is not worth it if you are in a position where you risk loosing not only what you saved, but much more. I think Trade Smart Online should take note of this and pass this on to their software provider.
It is not only about cost. It is also about the quality that is provided. I am not blaming TSO at all. I guess they are in a helpless situation as technical errors would be the software vendors problem.
But from the end user's point of view, you wouldn't care whether the problem was Nest or TSO. Ultimately, you want quality service.
The fact that all discount brokers are offering Nest probably means that it is a low cost alternative to the software that is used by the traditional brokers. I read in a recent interview of ZeroDha owner where he says that technology is the highest cost that brokers incur. So I guess discount brokers have made a conscious decision to go for an alternative that is cost effective than to give high quality software as the likes of ICICI Direct, Kotak, Sharekhan, etc. You can't imagine facing the same issues with ICICI for that matter as we face with discount brokers. I think brokers should take note of this.
Traders cannot be penny smart and pound stupid. Trading itself is hard enough. Why should you have to go through the trauma of facing technology issues that are out of your hand?