I was wondering if I am alone in experiencing these...
Needing to access my bank accounts, a week ago, I tried logging on, using the password I've now been using for a good ten years, together with a code number, which in any case appears automatically in the window concerned. But the next page informed me that I had entered either the wrong identity or code. It didn't state which. I tried unsuccessfully a second time, assuming I must have mistyped my password, and the same message appeared. The simplest solution seemed to be to re-register, with a new password. At the end of this snakes-and-ladders of a procedure, a telephone number appears at the bottom of the page, instructing one to ring this number to complete the re-registration.
A series of digital numbers has to be typed in on my phone, and done so so fast that I find myself repeatedly interrupted by the recorded voice instructor telling me there is no record to connect me with what I have (not yet completely) typed in! I do find typing in preferable to reciting details verbally, since the system does not always seem to recognise my London accent! However, I persevere with this, and am eventually put through to a real human being on the other end, who needs security verification details that I am who I claim to be. Besides the usual thing - first name, first line of address, post code, sort code etc, a firm direct debiting my account, however, she tells me that I had made a withdrawal on a particular date, and demands to know what the amount was. I explain that, not having made any note of such details, and without having access to my account on-screen - the whole point of the exercise! - I could not in any certainty say, but this is my guess. The final thing she wants to know was, in which year had I opened this account?
I mean, I destroy all paperwork relating to such things after so many years; how is one expected to retain this sort of information in one's head - the very point I now make to my questioner???
At this point I am informed that I have failed to answer two of the security questions correctly, that I am therefore not be able to complete my registration, and will receive a letter in the post to take me to the next stage. The female employee on the other end refuses to tell me which two questions I have failed on!
On May 1st I receive a letter from my local authority informing me that I had not paid my Council Tax for the month of April, despite my having posted in a cheque on April 30th. If I do not pay in the required amount within 7 days, I will be disallowed payment by monthly instalments, and required to pay the remainder of the entire year's Council Tax as one payment. The Council's letter is dated 25th April!!! Leaving aside the sheer stupidity of this, the fact that the cheque had gone missing would have been made apparent had I been able to gain access to my current acount on-line. As it is, I now have to cycle the mile to my nearest cashpoint and obtain a printed mini-statement, which unfortunately only goes back as far as April 19th, and so does not include the likely date of the cheque's deduction. I now hope that the dating of my cheque will, er, exonerate me from all guilt for having had my cheque "lost" in the post or in the receiving department.
The aforementioned letter from the bank arrived yesterday, dated April 28th,
, giving me a new Security Number for ringing up the bank's automated service. What this has to do with getting me back on-line, I've yet to discover; however, the Security Number "is on the scratch off part of the secure panel at the bottom of this letter". Aha! The only problem is, scratching off of the patch is impossible because it is made of some plasticy material that doesn't scratch off; when peeled it starts taking with it the surface of the paper underneath. Woops - better try steaming it off then. This only results in the patch crumpling, so using a sharp kitchen knife I manage to peel it off. On the back, barely decipherable through the surface paper of the letter it took with it, is the six-digit security number, which I have to quote two digits from determined by the (presumably) robotic voice at the other end, should I summon up the courage to venture further in my quest. What I can make of the number is in 8's, 1's and 0's, so I am not sure if I am looking at a mirror imprint of a number originally on the page beneath.
Jeeeeeeesus!!!!!
My latest effort to log on immediately presents in the box the second of the code numbers my four futile re-registering efforts came up with, but refuses to recognise any of the same succession of passwords. Each of the four attempts I have made in the past week to obtain access to my bank details has left me in states of near-collapse, and in need of a stiff drink and an hour's lie-down, and I was wondering if fellow boardees have experienced, or are experiencing similar problems with on-line banking.
What's the going interest on deposit accounts??
In utter fury and total frustration, and near to considering withdrawing all my money to a large trunk under the bed
Serial-apologist
Needing to access my bank accounts, a week ago, I tried logging on, using the password I've now been using for a good ten years, together with a code number, which in any case appears automatically in the window concerned. But the next page informed me that I had entered either the wrong identity or code. It didn't state which. I tried unsuccessfully a second time, assuming I must have mistyped my password, and the same message appeared. The simplest solution seemed to be to re-register, with a new password. At the end of this snakes-and-ladders of a procedure, a telephone number appears at the bottom of the page, instructing one to ring this number to complete the re-registration.
A series of digital numbers has to be typed in on my phone, and done so so fast that I find myself repeatedly interrupted by the recorded voice instructor telling me there is no record to connect me with what I have (not yet completely) typed in! I do find typing in preferable to reciting details verbally, since the system does not always seem to recognise my London accent! However, I persevere with this, and am eventually put through to a real human being on the other end, who needs security verification details that I am who I claim to be. Besides the usual thing - first name, first line of address, post code, sort code etc, a firm direct debiting my account, however, she tells me that I had made a withdrawal on a particular date, and demands to know what the amount was. I explain that, not having made any note of such details, and without having access to my account on-screen - the whole point of the exercise! - I could not in any certainty say, but this is my guess. The final thing she wants to know was, in which year had I opened this account?
I mean, I destroy all paperwork relating to such things after so many years; how is one expected to retain this sort of information in one's head - the very point I now make to my questioner???At this point I am informed that I have failed to answer two of the security questions correctly, that I am therefore not be able to complete my registration, and will receive a letter in the post to take me to the next stage. The female employee on the other end refuses to tell me which two questions I have failed on!
On May 1st I receive a letter from my local authority informing me that I had not paid my Council Tax for the month of April, despite my having posted in a cheque on April 30th. If I do not pay in the required amount within 7 days, I will be disallowed payment by monthly instalments, and required to pay the remainder of the entire year's Council Tax as one payment. The Council's letter is dated 25th April!!!
Leaving aside the sheer stupidity of this, the fact that the cheque had gone missing would have been made apparent had I been able to gain access to my current acount on-line. As it is, I now have to cycle the mile to my nearest cashpoint and obtain a printed mini-statement, which unfortunately only goes back as far as April 19th, and so does not include the likely date of the cheque's deduction. I now hope that the dating of my cheque will, er, exonerate me from all guilt for having had my cheque "lost" in the post or in the receiving department.The aforementioned letter from the bank arrived yesterday, dated April 28th,
, giving me a new Security Number for ringing up the bank's automated service. What this has to do with getting me back on-line, I've yet to discover; however, the Security Number "is on the scratch off part of the secure panel at the bottom of this letter". Aha! The only problem is, scratching off of the patch is impossible because it is made of some plasticy material that doesn't scratch off; when peeled it starts taking with it the surface of the paper underneath. Woops - better try steaming it off then. This only results in the patch crumpling, so using a sharp kitchen knife I manage to peel it off. On the back, barely decipherable through the surface paper of the letter it took with it, is the six-digit security number, which I have to quote two digits from determined by the (presumably) robotic voice at the other end, should I summon up the courage to venture further in my quest. What I can make of the number is in 8's, 1's and 0's, so I am not sure if I am looking at a mirror imprint of a number originally on the page beneath. Jeeeeeeesus!!!!!
My latest effort to log on immediately presents in the box the second of the code numbers my four futile re-registering efforts came up with, but refuses to recognise any of the same succession of passwords. Each of the four attempts I have made in the past week to obtain access to my bank details has left me in states of near-collapse, and in need of a stiff drink and an hour's lie-down, and I was wondering if fellow boardees have experienced, or are experiencing similar problems with on-line banking.
What's the going interest on deposit accounts??
In utter fury and total frustration, and near to considering withdrawing all my money to a large trunk under the bed
Serial-apologist
) I have never had a second's bother, indeed they have been much better than real banks I've used in the past (or a trunk under the bed).
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