Community

As an RBS Business Customer I've just received my first direct communication from RBS re this whole matter (at 1pm Monday) :

"We apologise to all of our customers who have been affected by our technical issues. Over the weekend we have made a lot of progress dealing with the backlog of account updates. For a number of customers we have had to hold up payments which include some Faster Payments and Standing Orders. We will be processing these tonight and tomorrow evening. The scale of the backlog means that we cannot be definitive about these timings but we will ensure that we keep all our customers updated on a regular basis. We are doing everything we can to minimise further disruption and we appreciate your patience as we continue to work through possible disruptions."

So for for some Customers things won't be back to normal until Wed morning - a whole week later - and that's not a definite.

When the problem first manifested itself, why didn't they simply back out the change, revert to the old system, and work out what was wrong without impacting the customers?

I assume the top brass at RBS/Natwest won't be taking their Bonus next year?

When I tried to login to RBS Internet banking I got the message "service temporarily available", and it invited me to ask for help. Their advice was very misleading [I've no idea what suggestions 1 & 2 might have been, they started at 3...] :-

3. You could try using an alternative Browser if available

4. If you are using Firefox try Firefox Safe mode. If this works then the issue is most likely caused by one of your Firefox addons. 

5. If you are using Internet Explorer 7 or 8 you can try no add-ons mode. If this works then the issue is most likely caused by one of your Internet Explorer addons.

When I went into Webchat around 12 noon Friday I got

"Apologies we are currently experiencing some technical issues with parts of our service. Some account balances are not up to date and not all of our online & telephony services are available at the moment...... I have not been given exact timescales I am afraid, but I would ask that you check your Accounts summary again later ... I can only apologise, and do assure you that we are doing everything we can to resolve these issues."

At 14:45 there was no announcement on RBS website. My account is switching over to Santander, and my RBS Internet Banking was working fine for Account Enquiry. I noted that on the Logon page my UserId was prefilled - that's never been there before.

Meanwhile an RBS automated VR system called me 90 minutes ago and asked me to verify that the last 5 Internet & Mail Order transactions I'd made over the last 3 days were indeed made by me (they had been)? Never had that before.

Makes you wonder what is the nature of the problems they are having ....

Not only that but it attracted fraudsters.

One of my over-60 employees who swears she has never used Facebook in her life found that her Business Mastercard had been used 5 times in 1 month to purchase Facebook Credits in USA & Ireland.

But by the time the Card Statement arrived, Facebook must have detected them or been forewarned, because 4 of the 5 transactions had been reversed out, and when I contacted Facebook about the 5th (Facebook insists you have to have a Facebook Account in order to complain about rogue card transactions - how illogical of them) they reversed it out within 24 hours - but it must have been a right pain for them.

Bit worrying if this ever became possible in the UK, given that my Signature appears in the public domain on Annual Accounts & Report available on the Charity Commissioners website - no need to even pay a fee!

I love the comment in the original New York Times article :

A Citi spokesperson said that it only affected "a limited number of customers" - I'm relieved about that - it would have been catastrophic if it had affected an "unlimited" number of customers!?

I'm surprised that they had so many Euro Notes available to be shredded? I confess I've never seen a tired worn out Euro note yet? Or is this an Irish plan to reduce their money supply? Presumably the Irish Mint is only entitled to shred Euro notes issued in Ireland?

Mat Peck (Sage Pay) said "Cardholder Present transactions in the UK are mandated to be Chip and PIN verified" - not so - I elected not to go for Chip & PIN, and instead remain with CHIP & Signature.

In recent years I've seen Royal Bank of Scotland staff only ever use mobile phones. I've got no idea who they are when they call me.

In turn they never answer the Bank branch landline when I call - the phone just rings & rings.

I refuse to discuss my details with RBS on a mobile, I make them call me from the Office landline, or I don't do business with them.