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How reliable are online trading companies that disclaim the accuracy of their quotes and other information?

I've been reading Smith Barney's agreement terms, and have found it rather interesting that the company explicitly "does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, sequence or timeliness of the Information..." Likewise, the OPRA agreement states that OPRA is not responsible for loss or damage due to "... delays, inaccuracies, errors in or omissions from any options information...whether or not due to any NEGLIGENT act or omission on the part of OPRA." While I realise that this is standard legal protection against liabilities, I cannot help but wonder: Beyond market forces, what exactly protects investors from misinformation and what motivates trading companies to provide the most accurate information possible? How likely is are investors to 'come up short' in this sort of agreement?

Public Comments

1. They are only as good as the reputation they have. If customers started complaining and telling the investment community of bad trade execution and inaccurate quotes, those companies would suffer greatly. A professional trader/investor is wise to have more than one source of information and quotes. Many of the high end trading platforms allow you access to accounts at many brokers at once. btw - Etrade has terrible order execution on OTCBB stocks!!
2. They all have some type of disclaimer like this.
3. You are exactly right in your concerns. The quality of data on the web and even the quality available to brokerages is TERRIBLE. The primary problem is NOT the daily pricing, but rather the handling of dividends, splits, mergers, and other corporate actions that impact total return (what you actually make on a share). I personally make a living taking the standard data provided by the exchanges and then fixing and cleaning it for use by people like yourself. Nevertheless, my services also come with a standard disclaimer which I deeply regret having to use because of potential liability. The three companies that take data quality seriously are Investors FastTrack, Morningstar, and Lipper. I would encourage you to use these services in making sensible long-term investment decisions.