Ulster Bank - Yappy Customers!

hawkhead

Biggins wrote: »

Not for much longer: http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/latest-news/end-of-free-banking-as-ulster-to-charge-for-account-3116133.html



Sorry for the bad news if you didn't know this.

Timing is everything

OutsideLane

Pantsface wrote: »

Monife wrote: »

While it is inexcusable how long this mess has been going on for, I think Ulster Bank are still one of the best to bank with for current accounts. No charges, open on Saturday's, instant online chat to a customer service rep and Visa Debit cards.

Also, with this mess going on, they extended their hours til 8pm weekdays in a lot of branches and opened on Saturday's and Sunday's. If the same thing happened in BOI or AIB, you would NEVER see them open on a weekend.

Also, all the b*tching about not having access to your money. If you go into a UB branch with your payslip (or proof you are entitled to a social welfare payment/pension) and a bank statement and ID, they will give you cash on the spot.[/QUOTE]

Yes, and they could'nt have been nicer. - Really? Cup of tea there and would you like sugar?

Ulster bank at the top level are still in denial as to what the problem is (see below if you're interested).

This continuing fiasco is (& will...) continue as the CEO is in denial as to what the source of the problem is - we know about the upgrade to the CA7 scheduler and it's subsequent back-out a few days later. So they said that CA7 caused the issue (they threatened to sue CA, but as the top mgt have retreated from that now as they have started to begin to understand how their own systems are meant to operate). The bottom line now is that the batch process area does not now work/has been disabled and they are manually processing jobs - which is why some deposits, DDs, etc are now appearing. This is a very dangerous practice with any business (all inbuilt checks are bypassed), but especially for a bank. They have to be in breach of compliance on that one. I do know that some jobs have been run twice or in the incorrect order (e.g. locking accounts due to insufficient funds because other jobs were not run beforehand). It was a complex system, but they are now running jobs manually with manual only checking.

So CA7 isn't the issue, nor is data file corruption, so what was/is the issue? The issue is that while doing the back-out they didn't follow proper procedure and also destroyed what (as it turned out) insufficient backup of the batch processing files and libraries (not data, not sys SW btw). This backuot was run from George's Quay and Hyderbad; the real issue is that the people now charged with operating and supporting the batch processes are basically IT students based on the sub-continent and who know little of the overall application and batch job sequencing and interlinking. Those who used to support this complex job interdependence were made redundant a few years ago; that is the heart of the issue and any subsequent changes have now turned out to be non-compliant in regard to banking regulations here. But as we know our regulator isn't equipped to deal with rogue banking practices here........

My advice: If you're a UB customer - go to BoI or AIB and open an account - and get your DD's and salary pointing to your new A/C. If you're an IT guy looking for work (esp. if you know of batch operations, JCL, security procedures and have some experience of working in a complex batch environment, CA7 or banking shouldn't be necessary) then you should update your CV; no point in ringing 'em yet - the top guys don't yet understand how their systems were built and they're still looking for scapegoats, ironic when it was their decision to move batch processing operations and support (+ all related activities like security & backups) to India a few years ago that is the real issue.

(compare their system to a merc - they have a self-inflicted gearbox malfunction done during a routine service; you go in to say the car will not go faster than 10mph - they say they'll give you a free valet and not to worry bas they are doing everything; but if you go round to the servicing bay you'll see there are no mechanics........). Which is why I put the comment re. tea/coffee when every customer just wants the system fixed.


The reason NW and RBS are back is that they had sufficient backups to be able to restore their batch environment - they can thank their regulator and the fact that they retained some of their older staff for that one.

Madam_X

Who's to say they didn't genuinely think those time-scales were realistic?

I don't get the lack of trust thing either - nothing sinister was going on, and they're highly unlikely to **** up after this.

It is an awful disaster though.

Wacker The Attacker

When it all comes down to it, the real loser in all of this is Ulster Bank itself.

Customers will be inconvenienced temporarily but the brunt of the medium to long term damage resulting from this episode will be borne by the bank itself. It is a disaster in both financial and PR terms that they will take quite some time to recover from.

alphabeat

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.

you better close you precious accounts , cos its likely they may not fix it
and in any case , its likely UB are finished here out of this ,
they likely will not recover.

How's that common sense workin out for ya ?

Geri Male

OutsideLane wrote: »

Ulster bank at the top level are still in denial as to what the problem is (see below if you're interested).

This continuing fiasco is (& will...) continue as the CEO is in denial as to what the source of the problem is - we know about the upgrade to the CA7 scheduler and it's subsequent back-out a few days later. So they said that CA7 caused the issue (they threatened to sue CA, but as the top mgt have retreated from that now as they have started to begin to understand how their own systems are meant to operate). The bottom line now is that the batch process area does not now work/has been disabled and they are manually processing jobs - which is why some deposits, DDs, etc are now appearing. This is a very dangerous practice with any business (all inbuilt checks are bypassed), but especially for a bank. They have to be in breach of compliance on that one. I do know that some jobs have been run twice or in the incorrect order (e.g. locking accounts due to insufficient funds because other jobs were not run beforehand). It was a complex system, but they are now running jobs manually with manual only checking.

So CA7 isn't the issue, nor is data file corruption, so what was/is the issue? The issue is that while doing the back-out they didn't follow proper procedure and also destroyed what (as it turned out) insufficient backup of the batch processing files and libraries (not data, not sys SW btw). This backuot was run from George's Quay and Hyderbad; the real issue is that the people now charged with operating and supporting the batch processes are basically IT students based on the sub-continent and who know little of the overall application and batch job sequencing and interlinking. Those who used to support this complex job interdependence were made redundant a few years ago; that is the heart of the issue and any subsequent changes have now turned out to be non-compliant in regard to banking regulations here. But as we know our regulator isn't equipped to deal with rogue banking practices here........

My advice: If you're a UB customer - go to BoI or AIB and open an account - and get your DD's and salary pointing to your new A/C. If you're an IT guy looking for work (esp. if you know of batch operations, JCL, security procedures and have some experience of working in a complex batch environment, CA7 or banking shouldn't be necessary) then you should update your CV; no point in ringing 'em yet - the top guys don't yet understand how their systems were built and they're still looking for scapegoats, ironic when it was their decision to move batch processing operations and support (+ all related activities like security & backups) to India a few years ago that is the real issue.

(compare their system to a merc - they have a self-inflicted gearbox malfunction done during a routine service; you go in to say the car will not go faster than 10mph - they say they'll give you a free valet and not to worry bas they are doing everything; but if you go round to the servicing bay you'll see there are no mechanics........). Which is why I put the comment re. tea/coffee when every customer just wants the system fixed.


The reason NW and RBS are back is that they had sufficient backups to be able to restore their batch environment - they can thank their regulator and the fact that they retained some of their older staff for that one.

Hi - is that your view or is there a source?

Sounds very plausible anyway.