Will you close your accounts with Ulster Bank?

Diamond_Ninja

Saw someone on a thread ask how to set up a poll about this so I said I would.

After all of this mess has been cleared up, will you be closing your accounts with them, or giving them a chance?

MrFrisp

Will stay with them for now..

This is despite only changing over to them a few weeks back,,and having a total nightmare during it.

If anything else was to happen down the line though,,We'd seriously think about moving then.





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later12

Already in the process of switching.

Staff were lovely but if nobody does anything banks settle into the (justified and largely true) belief that customers will very, very rarely leave. That belief is a barrier to efficiency imo.

msg11

Leaving for BOI I think.

Would have stuck around.

1.Fixed up there UK customers and look at us as if we are second rate.

2.Gone on way too long.

If they think, opening for a few hour into the evening or saying sorry helps it dosen't. My line of work we open 24 hours, 7 days a week.

Actully raging here, if my account was fixed up in the next few mins I would be moving to BOI today.

Hibernicis

Almost cetain to move. Will definitly move my savings. Management and communication of this has been a disaster. Whatever about having confidence in the long suffering staff to do their job, and the IT staff to sort it out, I have no confidence whatsoever in the management of Ulster/NatWext/RBS to look after my money after this. None.

mathie

Will you stay with Ulster Bank?

Yes, I will close my accounts
No, I will keep my accounts

Most confusing poll ever.

Will you stay?
Yes I will not.

testicle

Poll question is the opposite of thread title. Suggest OP return to Junior Infants.

BuffyBot

Thread title edited for clarity.

Diamond_Ninja

Alright lads, Jesus Christ.. The answers are clear no matter how the thread is titled. Several people had voted without a problem before ye got confused!

hairyprincess

I wasn't going to close initially, but it has gone on so long and they have given such little respect and consideration towards their Irish customers that they have left me with little choice.

Savman

Giving it some serious consideration tbh, but I'll vote Undecided for the purpose of this.

Sunnyisland

Who do I change back to ?

Stavro Mueller

I'm not sure but the longer this goes on, the greater the chance of my closing my accounts with them. I'm still waiting on last Thursday's wages and have no confidence in them sorting this before the end of the week at least .

cyrusdvirus

undecided here.

Didn't need money until yesterday, as i had cash sitting at home. Went to bank yesterday evening and was taken care of, withdrew €400 no problems.

Have been with them for 20 years, and only had a problem once before when my cracked laser card got swallowed by an ATM...on Christmas week about 4 years ago.... That time they couriered a new card out to my workplace, so i was well taken care of.

Just a bit disappointed that this has gone on so long without a clear and unambigous statement from them, and no definitive end date in sight either....

Spent about an hour yesterday ringing all my DD and S/O people and as soon as i mentioned Ulster bank they were all fine..just a tad concerned that this won't be sorted until after next week when my mortgage is due.

msg11

Well just set up an account with BOI, takes 5 days to get set up. They have the Visa Debit also. Plus if you get over 3000 deposited into your account and make 3 online transactions (moving money from a savings AC to your regular AC) in 1/4 it's free banking. And with Ulster Bank looking to bring in charges soonish, rather move now and get everything in order.

Sad to leave Ulster Bank never any issues with them and would have waited it out. But to see RBS and Natwest up and running, leaving the Irish customers to stick it out and suffer for another week I will be taking my banking else where.

Also don't think I was the only one in BOI setting up a new account with them.

AllGunsBlazing

I have both a savings and current account with UB. I'm prepared to give them some leverage room because first off they made opening an account with them very simple. Other banks almost treated me like a suspected criminal trying to launder dirty money or something.

And second of all, I'd guess they'll be bending over backwards to accommodate their customer after this colossal **** up.

But if they ever drop the free banking - I'm gone.

wintear

I am undecided as I need to get money from an RBS account in the near future so transferring within the bank maybe easier than sending money to AIB or BOI.

Though lets be clear the UK parts of the RBS Group have always been priortised over the Irish parts(North or South). If there was an issue you resolved NWB and RBS first and Ulster could have a manual workaround until the others had been resolved.

RichT

I moved to UB in December from BOI after continually getting fobbed off about the BOI Visa Debit Card roll out.

Had no complaints till now.

I think I will ride it out with UB for awhile further but they are most definitely on a YELLOW CARD, and two yellows will guarantee a RED.

Goes without saying if my wages fail to turn up at all, it will be a straight RED.

scotchy

I just switched to UB from AIB because of AIBs new account charges.

I’ll leave UB if they bring in charges.

.

Daisy M

I only have a small secondary account with ulster bank so I will keep that. I am of the opinion that this is something that will never be allowed to happen again by ulster bank but I am worried that it may be "catching" and its only a matter of time before other banks have a melt down.

al28283

Diamond_Ninja wrote: »

After all of this mess has been cleared up, will you be closing your accounts with them, or giving them a chance?

what mess? you haven't really given any info here

skeptik

Still undecided. I always praised UB, their staff are nice and banking with them was simple and FREE. But after this I don't know. It's not the actual IT problem, these things happen, but it's the fact that RBS and Nat West were looked after first and the Paddies had to wait! Plus all the lies, it'll be sorted Monday etc. Surely they had an idea last Friday there wasn't a fear of this being sorted by Monday!

Hibernicis

skeptik wrote: »

Surely they had an idea last Friday there wasn't a fear of this being sorted by Monday!

That they had so little understanding of the gravity of the problem 3 days after it started is the core issue for me. It indicates some/all of; gross incompetence; very poor internal communication; very very poor management, total lack of understanding of the complexity of the business; very weak corporate governance. It certainly says that they are not operating in control.

So trust them to look after Hibernicis's spondulix in the future ? That will be a No.

Savman

They would have to be monumentally stupid to even think about introducing Current Account fees any time soon, after this debacle it would be Ulster Bank signing it's own death warrant in ROI.

People can forgive but I think customers will be expecting some form of goodwill gesture to continue banking with them.

dchris

I am thinking of switching to Ulster Bank as I think a lot of people will when AIB introduce Current Account Fees. I assume what happened with Ulster Bank is an isolated incident and is unlikely to happen again.

I also think they will think long and hard about introducing Current Account Fees any time soon. Good time to switch imo

Hibernicis

Mirror getting in on the act.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/money/personal-finance/switching-from-natwest-941048

RBS's incompetence and appaling communication is reminiscent of the way Northern Rock behaved. Before they all but disappeared.

stee.mc79

Just after watching the six one news and its now going to be next week before irish accs are going to be fixed & running again,:mad: it's been a PR disaster been fobed off every day. I was considering last year switching after a mess-up with my accs. This is the straw that breaks the camels back and I will be taking my business and by money else where:mad: once everything is back in order again.

filmbuffboy

I will stay with them for the time being. If they stretch out the waiting time for things to be resolved (yet again) past next week then Ill start thinking of switching.

Stheno

I'll stay with them and for the following reasons:

1. I cannot fault their staff throughout this, couldn't have asked for better via phone or in branch
2. Used work there, one of the nicest places I ever worked in, genuinely nice environment.
3. Have dealt with disaster type events in my role, can't imagine having the fortitude to get through this.
4. Every other bank here I suspect is glad it wasn't them, as it was UB, they will invest hugely to prevent this happening again.

Outside of that I genuinely find them a decent bunch to deal with, as a result of this disaster I've dealt with AIB and BOI staff, and I'd much prefer to deal with UB.

Yes they have massively inconvenienced me, I've had to borrow from the OH, and buy a prepaid card to pay online bills, but their courtesy and willingness to go the extra mile have impressed me hugely.

Stheno

skeptik wrote: »

Still undecided. I always praised UB, their staff are nice and banking with them was simple and FREE. But after this I don't know. It's not the actual IT problem, these things happen, but it's the fact that RBS and Nat West were looked after first and the Paddies had to wait! Plus all the lies, it'll be sorted Monday etc. Surely they had an idea last Friday there wasn't a fear of this being sorted by Monday!

I actually ended up managing an issue similiar to this.
As it was an unprecedented happening where I worked, we literally went from day to day, and it took us a couple of weeks to recover.

In the thick of dealing with something like this and especially as a manager you take the optimistic side, hoping for the best, and sometimes it doesn't work out to be honest.

I can see how they dealt with the UK first, it being their prime currency etc, and then started processing euro accounts, and also how they are processing interbank transactions to minimise non UB customer impact, hard to understand when like me you are a UB customer, but in the hard cold light of dealing with something like this, you maintain your core relationships and hope that the faith your customers have essentially will see you through.

For me, having managed similiar but far less public incidents, it boils down to, are they treating me well and helping me through it, do I believe they will do everything possible to prevent this happening again, and do they offer something no one else in the market does?

I answer yes to all three of those, and will happily stay with them

I just wish last weeks EFTs were through

Hibernicis

Stheno wrote: »

I actually ended up managing an issue similiar to this.
As it was an unprecedented happening where I worked, we literally went from day to day, and it took us a couple of weeks to recover.

In the thick of dealing with something like this and especially as a manager you take the optimistic side, hoping for the best, and sometimes it doesn't work out to be honest.

I can see how they dealt with the UK first, it being their prime currency etc, and then started processing euro accounts, and also how they are processing interbank transactions to minimise non UB customer impact, hard to understand when like me you are a UB customer, but in the hard cold light of dealing with something like this, you maintain your core relationships and hope that the faith your customers have essentially will see you through.

For me, having managed similiar but far less public incidents, it boils down to, are they treating me well and helping me through it, do I believe they will do everything possible to prevent this happening again, and do they offer something no one else in the market does?

I answer yes to all three of those, and will happily stay with them

I just wish last weeks EFTs were through

I can see where you are coming from but I would fundamentally disagree. Like you I have some experience of handling "serious situations". In a leadership role you are working under duress, with incomplete information, managing tired and stressed people, coping with totally unreasonable demands and expectations, and facing many other unexpected challenges. There are a number of things that are important in recovering from a disaster and very high among the priorities are (1) having the fullest possible understand the extent of the problem and timeline for recovery and (2) communicating honestly and effectively with all stakeholders. This shower appear to have failed on both of these critical counts. I am not denigrating the branch staff, or for that matter the remnants of their IT staff, but I would very seriously question the Leadership team. At no point over the last week do they appear to have been in control, and not one of the pronouncements by Hester or Allan did anything other than create FUD and raise anxiety.

I would also challenge your acceptance of the "RBS/NatWest first and sort out UB later" strategy on two grounds. Firstly UB is so much smaller it would have made a perfect pilot; the batches would have competed in 1/10 th of the time and if further rollback/retry was required this would also have been much faster. Secondly, UB is a substantial entity in its own right, and needs to be independent in such a situation. It is a just one step behind AIB/BOI in terms of order of magnitude and needs to be resourced/operated accordingly. I can only see three reasons for de-prioritising UB (1) RBS are much much more afraid of the BOE/FSA than they are of our bunch of god-help-us-toothless-wonders (2) the UB mess, because of customisation or whatever, is very much worse and the schedules are very different (3) F**k the paddies.

Last point. Will they come out of this stronger/better. You appear to believe that this will be the case, and it is certainly a possibility. Other organisations have done so. I don’t think it will be the case this time, simply because they have such weak leadership. RBS is not exactly in good shape as it stands, and the chances of that team being able to use this as an opportunity to radically overhaul the operation and strengthen the operation appear slim to me. Much more likely to see it decline and be gobbled up, or broken up. Its early days, and it will certainly be fascinating to see how this unfolds, but that’s my prediction.

Davidth88

Hibernicis wrote: »

I can only see three reasons for de-prioritising UB (1) RBS are much much more afraid of the BOE/FSA than they are of our bunch of god-help-us-toothless-wonders

You have hit the nail on the head right there

The central bank and regulator have been quite obvious by their silence . As have the Gvmt TBH

Compare that to the reaction of the FSA and the gvmt in the UK that basically tore RBS a new a***hole, of course it helps that the UK Gvmt does own RBS. He who pays the piperman ........


I am not an UB customer , and never will be , however I have not been paid ( 2 days late ) , I have had to transfer money from my savings ( loss of interest , and I went OD for a time ( more interest ) , will I EVER see this money back from UB of course not .

Diamond_Ninja

al28283 wrote: »

what mess? you haven't really given any info here

Tell me this, do you look at the news at all?

tunedout

Diamond_Ninja wrote: »

Tell me this, do you look at the news at all?

It's still only speculation that Ulster Bank will introduce charges, until then there is no point changing or moving bank. I find them great to deal with.

DJLJ

tunedout wrote: »

It's still only speculation that Ulster Bank will introduce charges, until then there is no point changing or moving bank. I find them great to deal with.

Yup, the last week has been full of great things they have done, day after day after day...

Diamond_Ninja

tunedout wrote: »

It's still only speculation that Ulster Bank will introduce charges, until then there is no point changing or moving bank. I find them great to deal with.

I've no interest in the charges, the question I'm asking is will people move to a different bank after the mess that has gone on the past two weeks.

tunedout

Diamond_Ninja wrote: »

I've no interest in the charges, the question I'm asking is will people move to a different bank after the mess that has gone on the past two weeks.

I don't get any interest or charges either. But it's better than not getting interest AND being charged as is the case with AIB. If they do introduce the charges I'll look at all options then.

skydish79

mouthinlad wrote: »

Nope. I'm very happy with their UFirst account option. Their online banking is the best around in my opinion. This is only a blip, they have held their hands up and are being accountable

This is a MAJOR blip and no their communications have been terrible, after a week we only get to hear from Ulster Bank CEO, and no accountability whatsoever

Supercell

mouthinlad wrote: »

Nope. I'm very happy with their UFirst account option. Their online banking is the best around in my opinion. This is only a blip, they have held their hands up and are being accountable

Still think this is a minor blip three days later and and an ever slipping eta on resolution?

I'm undecided but heading back to "I'm moving" when this is over more and more every day the fiasco continues.

_Kaiser_

I setup an account with them 2 months back in response to AIB's new charges - I mean, when even the staff agree it's a disaster waiting to happen, what faith can the ordinary punter like myself have

To be fair to UB, the account setup was very smooth and hassle free but I've been dealing with FYE requirements in the office so haven't gotten around to moving my wages, bills etc over yet. After this debacle I'm not sure I will - I would have been seriously fecked last week if I'd had no access to my money (as I'm sure a lot of people who get paid at the end of the month would be/were)

Plus, part of my initial request was to move the whole lot (current a/c, credit card and loan if possible) out of AIB.. otherwise it just becomes hassle shifting money around every month and waiting days for stuff to clear/show up in the system (like a lot off people these days I'm sure I do 99.9% of my banking online as I don't have time during the day to go find a branch and queue). But it turned out then AFTER I'd setup the current a/c that we'd have to "wait and see" on the rest - then I had a meeting with one of their advisors where he flat-out told me it was unlikely to happen .. which isn't the expectation I was given.

So now I have a new/empty UB account and my AIB setup so I don't know what I'll do now really.. BOI maybe?

Captain Slow IRL

I'm going to open a student account with PTSB and depending on how things pan out, swap everything over to it.

EdanHewittt

It is unforgivable.

Whilst RBS will lose some customers as a result of the fiasco, it will (more than likely) not fall into the sea like some financial institutions did when similar fiascoes happened. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Too_Big_to_Fail

As for people saying they're switching to Bank of Ireland because of this, well, bear in mind they had something similar happen to them in the past, although it wasn't as severe as the RBS fiasco.

The only solution to avoid these problems, IMHO, is go off the grid. Some say they can't possibly live without a bank account, but have they tried doing so before?

I've lived without being attached to a Financial Institution for 11 years now. All my wages are paid in Post Office bonds, which means, I don't have to wait 3-4 days for a cheque to clear. I can cash it anytime.

And there's no shortage of Post Offices in Ireland.

If the bond gets stolen, it's in my name, so nobody can cash it.

Just arrange this with your employer - they'll understand. You also save your employer money, because there is no lodgement fees, etc

I also save a rake of money, because I can see my money right in front of me, and know where every cent is going. Pure liberation.

zenbuffy

At the beginning of the problems, I was still pretty sure that I would stay with UB. Now, with an account that still has duplicate transactions and no resolution in sight, I'm not so sure. I just don't feel confident that they can manage my account, given the random charges and balance fluctuations I've seen (which could only have been due to charges not my own being applied to my account, as I stopped using my card once it became apparent that my wages were not there).

FreudianSlippers

I hadn't planned on leaving as my local branch are amazing... but the customer service "extended hours" is a joke and a sham. They are totally unhelpful and read a pro forma letter to me. My account must be part of that last 2% because things are actually getting worse on my account rather than better.

Switching now.

MugMugs

I'm staying put tbh... Why change? It's done & dusted. Move on