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Thank you very much Natwest!
***WARNING*** RANT ALERT ***WARNING***
Well thank you very much Natwest! I took a very long and rather dull ride to exeter en route to dartmoor/plymouth with an assurance from their website that "All ATMs and point of sale transactions are still available." I Just about get to exeter on one tank of fuel, fill up using the last 20 quid in my wallet, go to get some more cash out to get me down to plymouth and get something to eat, Lo and behold! My card is rejected, i try several ATMs at different places including a closed Natwest branch and nothing. So i was forced to turn around and have another rather long and just as dull ride home again! Just consider myself lucky that i had the money in my wallet or i would be very much stranded in exeter about now with no way of accessing any funds at all! Bastards!!! What a nice waste of a day and 40 quid for a fairly dull ride! :)
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
The banks having troubles like this seems very fishy to me.
I don't believe they don't have top computer people that can't fix this in hours rather than days
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
It is dragging on a bit..... ::)
BB
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
that sucks G, they don't seem to know what they're doing
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
Did Stephen Hester's pay cheque clear ok? :P
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoYou
***WARNING*** RANT ALERT ***WARNING***
Well thank you very much Natwest! I took a very long and rather dull ride to exeter en route to dartmoor/plymouth with an assurance from their website that "All ATMs and point of sale transactions are still available." I Just about get to exeter on one tank of fuel, fill up using the last 20 quid in my wallet, go to get some more cash out to get me down to plymouth and get something to eat, Lo and behold! My card is rejected, i try several ATMs at different places including a closed Natwest branch and nothing. So i was forced to turn around and have another rather long and just as dull ride home again! Just consider myself lucky that i had the money in my wallet or i would be very much stranded in exeter about now with no way of accessing any funds at all! Bastards!!! What a nice waste of a day and 40 quid for a fairly dull ride! :)
I've had this. Seems there is a onging problem with the Link network. Had a situation of not being able to withdraw cash a few weeks ago.
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
The Nat-West, part of RBS Group, which is 82 per cent owned by the taxpayer, has still refused to give a detailed explanation of the causes of the crisis despite the bank’s desperate consumers demanding answers.
Surprise, surprise however, the bank’s hierarchy are denying that the 30,000 UK redundancies at RBS and the outsourcing of jobs to India and elsewhere are to blame for the malfunction.
Whatever, surely the main stakeholder (us, the taxpayer) in the bank should at least expect “British jobs for British workers” in this instance? >:(
Closed my account with RBS in protest at the bail-out at the time.
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
We all know that banks and even countries are in a very bad way so I think this is just a sign of things to come
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
Will we ever see our hard-earned redies now that the Nat-East is part of the RBS (Relocated Banking Sector?) :D ::) :P
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
I've been with NatWest for 25 years and recently it appears to have gone very much downhill (I don't mean just this recent incident).
Their adverts about helpful banking are also very annoying and stick in my mind due to the irony.
I work with people in India in my IT job and I'm although they are very nice people indeed, the lack of experience and turn over rates are bound to meant there is a downward trend in quality.
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
Ducatista, on a serious note, I find it absolutely astonishing that the UK government would hand over billions of taxpayer’s cash to a failing bank without attaching a condition that there would be no outsourcing of jobs from the UK. It just beggars belief. :o
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
Well i went into my bank to find out what was wrong and it would seem there has been some "suspicious activity" on my account, i called up the number i was given and then spent about an hour trying to convince them i was actually me because the branch i signed up with and have never changed is now closed.
When they finally believed me i was told that someone tried to take $403 out of my account in the US, I've never actually been to the US so that would be quite hard! I not have to wait 3-5 days for a new card to be sent TO MY OLD ADDRESS, because they wouldn't accept that i'd moved house without telling them.
Oh well, Guess i'll have to spend the next week without any money >:(
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ducatista
I work with people in India in my IT job and I'm although they are very nice people indeed, the lack of experience and turn over rates are bound to meant there is a downward trend in quality.
+1
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoYou
Well Oh well, Guess i'll have to spend the next week without any money >:(
Tell them they haqve to give you instant access to your cash over the counter or you will close your account and go, vote with your feet.
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
Quote:
Oh well, Guess i'll have to spend the next week without any money Angry
My OH left his wallet at home recently and got a unique code via his iphone/Blackberry app to get cash out of the machine.
The code is one use only.
Isn't there a way of you getting money without a card?
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ducatista
Quote:
Oh well, Guess i'll have to spend the next week without any money Angry
My OH left his wallet at home recently and got a unique code via his iphone/Blackberry app to get cash out of the machine.
The code is one use only.
Isn't there a way of you getting money without a card?
I can get money by going the bank if i really need it, its not the act of getting money that the problem its the inconvenience that is my complaint. I'm exceptionally careful about where i use my card for this very reason, 99.9% of the time only at bank ATMs, i never pay for anything by card, only cash, apart from the very occasional time i haven't remembered to get any cash out.
The fact this has happened so close to their other "technical difficulties" seems far too much of a coincidence for my liking, and the fact that they haven't made any attempt to contact me about it only adds to my suspicions about the whole thing.
Its more an annoyance of principle than anything else, especially as their lack of effort to try and contact me almost left me stranded more than 200 miles from home! Their complaints department will be hearing from me very shortly, once i find a way to contact them other than by phone.
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
Quote:
its not the act of getting money that the problem its the inconvenience that is my complaint
My advice would be to complain.
I complained recently and got £210 compensation.
I find it handy to bullet point the issues to make it clear exactly what they are point by point, rather than just do a ramblling rant.
Quote:
Their complaints department will be hearing from me very shortly, once i find a way to contact them other than by phone.
You can do it on the web, but make sure you make it clear it's a COMPLAINT. As they have a "query" category.
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
[quote=Ducatista]
Quote:
My advice would be to complain.
I complained recently and got £210 compensation
did the compo cover your original outgoings or was it a token gesture?
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
Quote:
did the compo cover your original outgoings or was it a token gesture?
My complaint did not involve a financial loss.
It was about wrong information, phone calls not returned, adressing letters to the man of the house >:( >:( which is a cardinal sin.
I don't want to set your expectations as your case may be different to mine.
I was just saying it's worth doing a complaint.
It may get you some comensation, you may feel better and who knows something may change as a result (if enough people complain).
A gesture will make you feel better, not just because you'd got some money but because they've taken some notice.
It costs them around £500 if anyone goes to the FOS (financial ombudsman service) so they want to avoid compalints getting that far if they can.
Obviously your ultimate power is to switch banks.
I have been with NW for a long time and OH is with them too so it's a big upheaval to change, but it's certainly something I am considering.
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ducatista
Quote:
did the compo cover your original outgoings or was it a token gesture?
My complaint did not involve a financial loss.
It was about wrong information, phone calls not returned, adressing letters to the man of the house >:( >:( which is a cardinal sin.
I don't want to set your expectations as your case may be different to mine.
I was just saying it's worth doing a complaint.
It may get you some comensation, you may feel better and who knows something may change as a result (if enough people complain).
A gesture will make you feel better, not just because you'd got some money but because they've taken some notice.
It costs them around £500 if anyone goes to the FOS (financial ombudsman service) so they want to avoid compalints getting that far if they can.
Obviously your ultimate power is to switch banks.
I have been with NW for a long time and OH is with them too so it's a big upheaval to change, but it's certainly something I am considering.
Thanks Ducatista :) Useful info about the cost to them from the ombudsman, I've put in a complaint and wait for their response. Not bothered about getting anything out of it provided i get a satisfactory response ... not saying it wouldn't be nice ;D ;D
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
I know this ain't much help to you G3o - today's Telegraph.
The computer glitch at the Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS.L - news) which left millions of customers unable to access their accounts could have been caused by just one junior technician in India, it was suggested last night.
The “inexperienced operative” accidentally wiped information during a routine software upgrade, it has been claimed.
The member of staff, who was working on the programme for the Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest and Ulster Bank, is believed to have been based in Hyderabad, India.
According to technology website The Register, at least some of the team responsible for the error were recruited in India following redundancies in the department in the
UK.Unions have already blamed the fiasco on the decision to outsource much of the company’s IT jobs , as Indian staff are paid as little as £9,000, compared with £50,000 their British counterparts were paid.
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
Haha they expect people to believe that ??? ;D
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
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s Indian staff are paid as little as £9,000, compared with £50,000 their British counterparts were paid
Well this clearly shows the nub of the problem.
We all want cheaper prices as consumers, we all want good returns as investors.
In my company we know the quality is less but for 1/5th of the price it represents good value for the investors.
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ducatista
Quote:
s Indian staff are paid as little as £9,000, compared with £50,000 their British counterparts were paid
Well this clearly shows the nub of the problem.
We all want cheaper prices as consumers, we all want good returns as investors.
In my company we know the quality is less but for 1/5th of the price it represents good value for the investors.
Ducatista, not so sure RBS (Nat West) customers would agree with you on that one. If cheaper always meant better value we’d all be riding about on Chinese motorbikes.
This is not all about quick returns. My point is simple. The taxpayer bailed out this bank to the tune of £billions which could have been spent on vital services. I have never understood the logic of publicly owning any business to provide jobs for workers elsewhere?
As one of the main investors (taxpayer) I would be happy with a slower rate of return in my investment in the knowledge that a British owned bank was employing British workers. And providing a quality service to its customers, which is certainly not the case at the moment.
Moreover, in the wake of this fiasco and in economic terms, outsourcing jobs could prove to be counterproductive, when the final bill for customer compensation and lost custom is tallied-up.
Swanny, the bank is denying that jobs outsourcing has caused the problems with the bank’s computer system. Obviously a PR nightmare for the bank should that turn out to be the case.
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
I work in IT as a Problem/Incident/Change management professional and I can assure you that if RBS had followed industry standard practise instead of farming out their sw upgrades to India, this would not have happened.
The change would have had a full impact analysis done and been thoroughly tested and fully regression tested on a simulated system before they even thought about putting it live.
I don't buy all the cr@p the papers are saying. At the end of the day, RBS made a massive error and didnt have any plan in place to clean the mess up - I feel sorry for those who bank with them or Nat West... some people have been hit really hard this this monumental **** up :'(
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
Not after any compensation per say Duc but they've got to realise they've bollocksed up big time, going without access to cash in this day and age isn't easy, seriously considering switching banks but where is safe....no where i'm guessing!
almost thought about living off cash and just using the account to receive the money but normal bills and the like need to be paid so is impractical....come on NW, sort it FFS
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
Cerutti, the papers (not tabloids) I have read appear to be singing from the same hymn sheet as you in as much as saying that the problems probably would not have occurred if the IT jobs had remained here.
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
Join Santander, then you can have this every week, not just limited to occaisional f*ck ups.
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
Quote:
Ducatista, not so sure RBS (Nat West) customers would agree with you on that one.
Well I did say investors not customers (and I meant the ones who have clout) but we'll have to see.
Unfortunately ordinary tax payers have no say in what happens at RBS and I agree the government should have done more in our name.
My guess is that we won't suddenly see loads of jobs coming back to the UK but I'd be absolutely delighted to be wrong about that.
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Not after any compensation per say Duc
Obviously it's not cheaper when it all goes wrong big time.
The fall out from this is massive for RBS.
However I still think investors (with clout), board members, CFO's will still chose to offshore as it's 1/5th of the price, but will now put more safeguards in place.
No-one would be more delighted than me to be proved wrong about that as I spend my days sorting out the issues with less experienced s/w professionals in India.
Just because it's gone wrong once albeit big time doesn't mean the whole idea is a write off.
If that were true none of us would ever get in a car, plane, bike, boat etc.
I really don't think the clock is going to be turned back, but as I say I'd be delighted to be wrong in this case.
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
Ducatista, apologies for harping-on a bit on this topic, I know you are right, but that is the very reason I feel so angry – we are the main investors of the RBS and yet we don’t have a say. Our elected representatives who forked out our hard-earned can't even influence top brass pay awards at the bank.
That has to change IMHO. >:( >:( >:(
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
Quote:
we are the main investors of the RBS and yet we don’t have a say
I totally agree with you.
The first example of this was bonuses, where we bailed out the banks but the top staff got huge bonuses. When the government did the deal they should have put agreements in place on lending, bonuses, jobs etc.
We did have someone capable i.e. Vince Cable, but unfortunately just before he was going to confront the banks he was put out of action. Now I'm not a conpsiracy theorist, but that's one I'd go for. I'm a NatWest customer and a taxpayer and I spend my time polishing t***ds from India, so you have no need to apologise.
I just don't think the clock will get turned back. We're more likely to get assurance of more safeguards put in place so it can't happen again.
If something went wrong with your bike would you scrap it and buy one 5 times as expensive, or would you look to fix the problem?
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
With respect Ducatista, your question is a bit too simplistic as I put up the cash for my bike; I am only accountable to myself.
That is not the case with RBS – there would be no such choice to be made at the bank if it were not for the generosity of the UK taxpayer.
The taxpayer cannot be expected to fork out £billions without expecting some kind of democratic accountability in return.
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
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The taxpayer cannot be expected to fork out £billions without expecting some kind of democratic accountability in return.
I agree completely with that statement.
I don't however think that everyone would vote for paying 5 times the price for wages.
We may have to agree to disagree on that one, but my experience is that people generally don't chose to pay 5 times the price for something.
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
I am happy to agree to disagree on this one – if a poll was conducted asking the British taxpayer (main investor) whether or not he/she thinks the RBS subsidised jobs should stay in the UK, I know where I’d place my money.
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
The consequence of that decision would be a bank with costs that are 5 times the costs of other banks, probably higher if you add in all the bits that don't happen in India like pension benefits, sick pay etc.
That means simply subsidizing that bank forever out of the taxpayer pocket.
Whilst I agree with you about "some kind" of democratic accountability I don't think you will ever get the scenario of millions of investors getting to vote on issues about how to run the business.
It's simply not going to happen.
Ordinary investors do not get that kind of power and thank goodness as they don't understand the issues.
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
I was in Mumbai on Sunday.
Utter f**king chaos doesn't even come close to describing the way things work out there.
We are regressing. Everything is now 'short term' and 'let the next generation/government/contractor deal with it'
The only consistency is that we the end user always loses out.
On my flight back from India I happened to watch Capitalism by Michael Moore. I know he's a sanctimonious prick but he had some very valid points about bowing to the needs of share holders and corporations.
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
Unfortunately the alternatives to Capitalism are much worse, so whilst it's not perfect we have a lot of freedom, choice and democracy to be thankful for.
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Re: Thank you very much Natwest!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ducatista
Unfortunately the alternatives to Capitalism are much worse, so whilst it's not perfect we have a lot of freedom, choice and democracy to be thankful for.
You should watch the film. Capitalism and democracy are 2 completely different things and rarely go together.