Ulster Bank - Yappy Customers!

Smcgie

Is there anyone else out there that's sick to death of the whining of some Ulster bank customers? I have 4 accounts with them and I have the common sense to
know that a technical problem can happen to any business.

My accounts are all over the place, but I know they will put them right, I know that they haven't ran away with the money, I know it's not the frontline staffs fault, I know I will be compensated fully and maybe a freebie for the disruption and I don't bloody yap on and on about it an IT glitch or report it to the ombudsman etc etc!

This country is full of people waiting for the smallest of reasons to cry and the politicians make me sick by jumping on the bandwagon and bringing the CEOs into finance meeting to highlight bonuses - YEA like the bonus the bank man gets caused the IT glitch.

Where has the common sense gone in this country

Hanley

If you posted that 3 weeks ago I might have agreed. At this point, it's bullsh*t. I'm glad I'm not a customer. Was giving serious consideration to opening a business account with them a while ago, certainly not now.

They've displayed a fundamental lack of untrustworthiness. Instead of manning up and giving a realistic timescale to resolution, they've employed a death by a thousand cuts strategy.

It's pathetically miserable customer service and I hope they suffer financially. At the very minimum compensation to the extent that they would charge their customers in interest, penalties, referral fees etc etc MUST be recommended and enforced by the central bank if there is any sense of justice to be gotten from this.

Hanley

Also, I heard the bank employees neo-Nazi's.



EDIT: why isn't my Hitler picture working?! How the hell am I meant to Godwin this thread without it!

smash

Must be nice to have blind faith in a company that has your money and has screwed up so catastrophically that not only their counterparts, but EVERYONE with any form of IT knowledge is slating them.

eigrod

Smcgie wrote: »

Is there anyone else out there that's sick to death of the whining of some Ulster bank customers? I have 4 accounts with them and I have the common sense to
know that a technical problem can happen to any business.

My accounts are all over the place, but I know they will put them right, I know that they haven't ran away with the money, I know it's not the frontline staffs fault, I know I will be compensated fully and maybe a freebie for the disruption and I don't bloody yap on and on about it an IT glitch or report it to the ombudsman etc etc!

This country is full of people waiting for the smallest of reasons to cry and the politicians make me sick by jumping on the bandwagon and bringing the CEOs into finance meeting to highlight bonuses - YEA like the bonus the bank man gets caused the IT glitch.

Where has the common sense gone in this country

Completely disagree. This country is probably one of the most tolerant for putting up with "**** happens". In many countries there would be protests, riots & burning of branches (bank branches, not trees obviously )

blow69

Smallest of reasons?

It was a major fcuk up with endless promises that it will be sorted come Monday, come Friday, come Monday again etc. They only seemed to communicate through their website which was cowardly.

I was inconvenienced and asked for a lot of proof which I had. I was brought into an office and told there was no record of me getting paid since March (I get paid every week) and there wasn't anything they could do.

However, now that I'm in the clear, the urge to up sticks has subsided. Not that i could anyway because I'm tied down to them with a loan and investment.

davetherave

Hanley wrote: »

Also, I heard the bank employees neo-Nazi's.



EDIT: why isn't my Hitler picture working?! How the hell am I meant to Godwin this thread without it!

Embeded images aren't allowed in AH.



You know what this country needs, more pillaging, looting and general skulduggery.

ColeTrain

How dare the common man complain. They should get an award out of this. Long live the glorious Ulster Bank.

Hanley

davetherave wrote: »

Embeded images aren't allowed in AH.



You know what this country needs, more pillaging, looting and general skulduggery the ability to embed images in after hours.

FYP.

mikom

Smcgie wrote: »

Is there anyone else out there that's sick to death of the whining of some Ulster bank customers? I have 4 accounts with them and I have the common sense to
know that a technical problem can happen to any business.

My accounts are all over the place, but I know they will put them right, I know that they haven't ran away with the money, I know it's not the frontline staffs fault, I know I will be compensated fully and maybe a freebie for the disruption and I don't bloody yap on and on about it an IT glitch or report it to the ombudsman etc etc!

This country is full of people waiting for the smallest of reasons to cry and the politicians make me sick by jumping on the bandwagon and bringing the CEOs into finance meeting to highlight bonuses - YEA like the bonus the bank man gets caused the IT glitch.

Where has the common sense gone in this country

Computer says No.

K-9

Smcgie wrote: »

I know I will be compensated fully and maybe a freebie for the disruption

Not a hope of that I'd say.

i'll be asking for compensation and possibly opening a ptsb account anyway
although i didnt have it half as bad as most people i would say

RayM

I think the customers have been remarkably phlegmatic about it, considering the amount of time that's passed, and the piss-poor communications from Ulster Bank.

Boombastic

Are you Henry Hippo?

MistyCheese

Now I hate people as much as any AH poster, maybe even more, but I do sympathise with Ulster Bank customers here. Of course mistakes can happen; most reasonable, rational people (all four of them) realise this but this is no regular mistake. It's been going on for weeks with a lot of Ulster Bank customers feeling that they are not being told what is going on, when the problem is expected to be rectified and what is being done to try to fix the situation and prevent further errors.

I'm not an Ulster Bank customer but people who are have said that the lack of information is a bigger issue than the actual problem itself. I imagine that not being able to access your bank account for over a month would be a big enough problem to begin with anyway. Ulster Bank should be preparing for a mass exodus when this is all over.

puffishoes

bluewolf wrote: »

i'll be asking for compensation and possibly opening a ptsb account anyway
although i didnt have it half as bad as most people i would say

I imagine tsb's bank charges will keep you at UB.

Like most of their customers.

Faolchu

the way i see it every customer should have recieved a letter apologising for teh error and an expected time frame for the resolution. I had to wait 2 weeks to get paid. i appreciate that it wont cause problems for my direct debits etc and i will get my money but whatpisses me of is that it has been claimed that they prioritised socail welfare payments. why is someone on welfares payment a higher priority than mine? thats utter ballsology they should have been processed in teh order they came in on.

chin_grin

mikom wrote: »

Computer says No.

That stopped being funny three weeks a few years ago.

Dr.Strange

bluewolf wrote: »

i'll be asking for compensation and possibly opening a ptsb account anyway
although i didnt have it half as bad as most people i would say

What kind of compensation do you mean?

A few quid to sweeten you up after this momentous botch?

I'd be happy with a few quid meself.

Ash.J.Williams

I saw a customer let rip at a clerk in ulster bank, only the clerk to discover the customer had been using an obsolete card....the poor girl was trying to explain this without tipping the customer over the edge!

Biggins

davetherave wrote: »

...You know what this country needs, more pillaging, looting and general skulduggery.

No thanks, it already took long enough to get rid of Fianna Fail!

Stiffler2

I'm not an Ulster customer because I'm not english but I can see why ppl are getting pissed off.

I've heard some people's mortgages have gone into arrears because they cannot pay the mortgage because they have no money to pay it with.

Add bills, petrol & food to this and I'd say you'd get pretty pissed off pretty quickly

Dr.Strange

Dr.Strange wrote: »

What kind of compensation do you mean?

A few quid to sweeten you up after this momentous botch?

I'd be happy with a few quid meself.

someone suggested a few months no interest on the cc, thought that was a good idea
or a few euro, duno
we'll see what ideas they come up with

mikom

chin_grin wrote: »

That stopped being funny three weeks a few years ago.

Duly noted, officer.

Cokeistan

There's no way it should be taking this long to recover their system.

They clearly had sweet fúck all prepared when it came to disaster recovery. This is the end of them in Ireland!

Hanley

Stiffler2 wrote: »

I'm not an Ulster customer because I'm not english

Yet you speak English because...

Hanley

Cokeistan wrote: »

There's no way it should be taking this long to recover their system.

They clearly had sweet fúck all prepared when it came to disaster recovery. This is the end of them in Ireland!

Just going to throw this out - their auditors should have been checking that there was an appropriate disaster recovery plan in place. Now of course auditors aren't IT specialists and it's not REALLY their fault, but it's an interesting bitching tangent to take the thread on.

starviewadams

Hopefully the people who are not tied down to UB (mortgages/loans etc) who have been affected by this situation will actually vote with their money and move accounts to another bank,that's the only way to hurt them because the central bank/govt obviously don't seem to give a flying fúck about what's gone on.

But this being Ireland I doubt they will!

prinz

Meh if they give me a few quid I'll donate it to charity. I was lucky, it happened at a time when I didn't really need to use the account much so not getting money in for two weeks didn't have any major affect so in the grand scheme of things...am I going to get worked up about it? No.

As a matter of interest are UB visa debit cards working alright?

Cokeistan

Hanley wrote: »

Just going to throw this out - their auditors should have been checking that there was an appropriate disaster recovery plan in place. Now of course auditors aren't IT specialists and it's not REALLY their fault, but it's an interesting bitching tangent to take the thread on.

Yeah that's true. But their IT department should have had a recovery plan in place anyway, all major companies do! Could you imagine if something like this happened to another huge company/bank, e.g. Barclays. I'm sure their system wouldn't be down for 3 weeks and counting! Making their Irish staff redundant and outsourcing to India has bit them in the ass big time

Cokeistan

Stiffler2 wrote: »

I'm not an Ulster customer because I'm not english

Wow I must be the unluckiest person in Ireland so as I'm Irish and a customer with them. I must be the only Irish person in Ireland affected by this!

Lollipops23

OP people are mad because their lives have been hugely affected by this cock up for the last 3 weeks. People haven't had access to their wages/benefits. I don't know many people who wouldn't be annoyed by that- the bank's primary function is to allow you access to money that BELONGS to you. When they can't provide that, they can't be trusted.

prinz

prinz wrote: »

As a matter of interest are UB visa debit cards working alright?

ye

VEN

i'm not a UB customer but i'll still be moving my money there from AIB once they've sorted the problem out. It won't put me off, what puts me off is AIBs new fees since the end of May 2012. I'll probably keep the AIB accounts open but i won't be using them very much at all!

They say that the average AIB user will now be charged approx. €176 in fees over the next year, it all adds up.

hardCopy

Smcgie wrote: »

Is there anyone else out there that's sick to death of the whining of some Ulster bank customers? I have 4 accounts with them and I have the common sense to
know that a technical problem can happen to any business.

My accounts are all over the place, but I know they will put them right, I know that they haven't ran away with the money, I know it's not the frontline staffs fault, I know I will be compensated fully and maybe a freebie for the disruption and I don't bloody yap on and on about it an IT glitch or report it to the ombudsman etc etc!

This country is full of people waiting for the smallest of reasons to cry and the politicians make me sick by jumping on the bandwagon and bringing the CEOs into finance meeting to highlight bonuses - YEA like the bonus the bank man gets caused the IT glitch.

Where has the common sense gone in this country

Can you bend over a little further please?

ixoy

Of course people should be annoyed - their DR plans appear to be non-existent. I - and many others here presumably - work with large IT systems and there's contingencies for such scenarios. However even if other systems do mess up, they generally don't have such a big effect as not being able to access your money would.

The only ones I'd feel a bit sorry for are the ground staff in the bank branches who are probably receiving a lot of abuse. Unless these staff also work on CA-7 scheduler updates then they're completely innocent. Questions should definitely be asked on who signed off on outsourcing IT work from employees with many years of experience to new staff, some of whom have only been on the job for a short period of time.

De Hipster

VEN wrote: »

i'm not a UB customer but i'll still be moving my money there from AIB once they've sorted the problem out. It won't put me off, what puts me off is AIBs new fees since the end of May 2012. I'll probably keep the AIB accounts open but i won't be using them very much at all!

Ulster Bank are reviewing the fees situation ...i.e. they will likely introduce fees in the very near future.

MistyCheese

Well, Ulster Bank CEO Jim Brown is refusing his annual bonus because of the screw-up.

Banker waives bonus after IT chaos
Ulster Bank chief executive Jim Brown said he was turning down this year’s annual bonus after a computer meltdown left thousands of customers without access to cash.

He pledged an independent inquiry into the IT collapse last month which affected customers across Ireland and said nobody would be left out of pocket. Details of a compensation package will be announced within days.

Despite insisting hours earlier he would not make a decision until his bonus was reviewed at the end of the year, he said last night he would not be taking it.

He said: “Everyone at Ulster Bank is completely focused on putting things right for our customers. “I don’t want there to be any doubt that this is also my personal priority. I am personally committed to re-earning the trust of our customers. I have therefore informed the Ulster Bank board that I do not wish to be considered for an annual bonus award for 2012.”

It followed calls from politicians north and south of the border to turn down his bonus this year as a goodwill gesture.

The bank initially estimated that about 100,000 customers across the country had been affected by the error, some with limited or no access to their funds at all.

Mr Brown told an Oireachtas committee the figure is much higher than originally believed and that at least half of Ireland’s 1.1 million customer base has suffered.

The bank has an estimated 1.8 million customer base across both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The banking boss unreservedly apologised to customers and said the situation was unacceptable, but he ignored calls from Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty to reconsider his position.

“My focus right now is getting the bank back to normal as quickly as possible,” said Mr Brown.

He also refused to reveal his salary for this year to cross-party politicians in Dublin, adding that the figures would be disclosed in the bank’s annual report when published in October.

Full story at BreakingNews.ie

I Heart Internet

Hanley wrote: »

They've displayed a fundamental lack of untrustworthiness. Instead of manning up and giving a realistic timescale to resolution, they've employed a death by a thousand cuts strategy.

It's pathetically miserable customer service and I hope they suffer financially.

+10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Sums things up perfectly. The most important thing in a retail banker is that they can be trusted to look after your money and have it available to you when required. They've been failing miserably for over 3 weeks now.

To be honest, I think OP is probably related to the guy who stood on the bridge of the Titanic whispering into the captains ear as the ship was sinking: "That's great seamanship Cpt Smith, you're brilliant, sure anyone can have an auwl tip".

prinz

bluewolf wrote: »

ye

Ta, tomorrow is the first day I have to start using my UB account. I wasn't sure what the story was.

MistyCheese wrote: »

Well, Ulster Bank CEO Jim Brown is refusing his annual bonus because of the screw-up.

He could always lodge it to my account. I wouldn't care if it took two months to update.

I Heart Internet

prinz wrote: »

As a matter of interest are UB visa debit cards working alright?

yes - mine is but the current account that its for is dwindling away with no sign of my wages.

starviewadams

MistyCheese wrote: »

Well, Ulster Bank CEO Jim Brown is refusing his annual bonus because of the screw-up.



Full story at BreakingNews.ie

Very nice of him.

Dr.Strange

prinz wrote: »

As a matter of interest are UB visa debit cards working alright?

They are, provided you have money in your account.

Mine wasn't working for a while because my wage wasn't showing up as being paid in, so it wouldn't work.

They seem to have gotten the ball rolling today though because my wage has since gone in and all the DDs that were due aswell.

Stiffler2

Cokeistan wrote: »

Wow I must be the unluckiest person in Ireland so as I'm Irish and a customer with them. I must be the only Irish person in Ireland affected by this!

exactly - shoud have gone native my man

Dr.Silly

Smcgie wrote: »

Is there anyone else out there that's sick to death of the whining of some Ulster bank customers? I have 4 accounts with them and I have the common sense to
know that a technical problem can happen to any business.

My accounts are all over the place, but I know they will put them right, I know that they haven't ran away with the money, I know it's not the frontline staffs fault, I know I will be compensated fully and maybe a freebie for the disruption and I don't bloody yap on and on about it an IT glitch or report it to the ombudsman etc etc!

This country is full of people waiting for the smallest of reasons to cry and the politicians make me sick by jumping on the bandwagon and bringing the CEOs into finance meeting to highlight bonuses - YEA like the bonus the bank man gets caused the IT glitch.

Where has the common sense gone in this country

The smallest of reasons you say !! Are you for real or just taking the absolute p1ss. You think it's a small reason when the elderly couldn't get any money out to do a food shop ?
And it's three weeks in now, a small technical glitch my arse.

There is a big cover up here than what everyone thinks in my opinion.
It doesn't take 3 weeks to recover from a software glitch. Those systems are literally hanging together by a thread.

If it was me, I'd be running an absolute mile from such an incompetent firm.
Of course they lowered the mortgage rates today, imagine if they didn't !!!

MistyCheese

starviewadams wrote: »

Very nice of him.

I know, it's great, isn't it? There'll be a movie about him next summer. Our newest superhero.

mikemac1

Hopefully UB and others will stop shipping jobs off to India

They want people's business but don't want to employ them

Sweenball

Smcgie wrote: »

Is there anyone else out there that's sick to death of the whining of some Ulster bank customers? I have 4 accounts with them and I have the common sense to
know that a technical problem can happen to any business.

My accounts are all over the place, but I know they will put them right, I know that they haven't ran away with the money, I know it's not the frontline staffs fault, I know I will be compensated fully and maybe a freebie for the disruption and I don't bloody yap on and on about it an IT glitch or report it to the ombudsman etc etc!

This country is full of people waiting for the smallest of reasons to cry and the politicians make me sick by jumping on the bandwagon and bringing the CEOs into finance meeting to highlight bonuses - YEA like the bonus the bank man gets caused the IT glitch.

Where has the common sense gone in this country [/QUOT

I agree 100 per cent.I have two accounts and their all over the place.I'm fortunate I have JUST enough cash to get by but I wont be running to the Ombudsman or ringing Joe Duffy.**** happens from time to time & it will be sorted in a week or two.

I Heart Internet

Sweenball wrote: »

**** happens from time to time & it will be sorted in a week or two.

Yeah, that was exactly my attitude, almost word-for-word, 2 weeks ago.

Boombastic

MistyCheese wrote: »

I know, it's great, isn't it? There'll be a movie about him next summer. Our newest superhero.

I reckon he's hoping it'll all be forgotten about by then and will quietly award himself a double bonus:(

MistyCheese

You're probably right, he'll award himself a "refusing a bonus" bonus.