Posts by Ross

Abbey IT upgrade 'chaos' hits small biz banking

Some tips and info for those caught up...

Let them pay the phone bill while you're on hold. 0800 056 5151.

Ring early in their working day - there was next to no holding delay for me at 0815 this morning.

The helpful chap on the phone explained that "some" people have been experiencing what I have (multiple account listings and inability to transfer) and that they hope to fix it "this week" - in the meantime he arranged a transfer from my reserve to my current account so I can at least make payments.

Epic fail

After jumping through the hoops, I was presented with a list of my Abbey Business accounts: current account, savings account, and then another instance of the current account. FAIL.

The savings account and first instance of the current account won't let me transfer money between them, insisting I don't have authorisation to do so. FAIL. The second instance of the current account claims there are no linked accounts to which I can transfer money from it. FAIL.

I spent half an hour holding on the phone before giving up. FAIL. (Who approved their contingency plans?) I want to know either when this will be fixed, or when I will be able to get through on the phone without wasting large amounts of time.

There seems to be no way to contact them other than by phone. No email address, no contact-us form for business customers. FAIL. (We are nearly a decade in to the 21st century, will you please get with the program?) Even [e-mail] bounces. FAIL.

Dear Register, perhaps you could ask the Abbey press people if they would make a statement on their website or via yourselves when the phone chaos is sorted out so I can get through to their help desk and get the accounts working again?