Alexa Premium Bonds checker

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yorkiebar
yorkiebar Posts: 755 Forumite
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edited 8 January 2020 at 3:52PM in Savings & investments
For any premium bond holders here. I've created an Amazon Alexa skill which will tell you if you've won (or not) in each monthly prize draw. It can also send you an Alexa notification on the monthly prize draw date (normally 2nd working day of each month), at a time of day or your choosing, with your win/no-win outcome.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07V3FL3N8

Feedback welcome. I wrote the skill for my own needs but hopefully it will be useful to others.

Regarding the existing 1 star review, I've taken the comments on board and the skill now validates your holder number against NS&I records.
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  • Sapphire
    Sapphire Posts: 4,269 Forumite
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    yorkiebar wrote: »
    For any premium bond holders here. I've created an Amazon Alexa skill which will tell you if you've won (or not) in each monthly prize draw. It can also send you an Alexa notification on the monthly prize draw date (normally 2nd working day of each month), at a time of day or your choosing, with your win/no-win outcome.

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0795Z38F3

    Feedback welcome. I wrote the skill for my own needs but hopefully it will be useful to others.

    Regarding the existing 1 star review, I've taken the comments on board and the skill now validates your holder number against NS&I records.

    What's the point of this? You can easily check whether you've won by clicking on to the NSANDI website and tapping in your number.
  • yorkiebar
    yorkiebar Posts: 755 Forumite
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    Hi, yes you can. The skill is a bit of fun and is an alternative means of seeing if you've won or not. Also you can set it up to send a notification to you on the Alexa device, telling you if you've won or not on the day the prize results are announced.
  • Gers
    Gers Posts: 12,032 Forumite
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    edited 17 February 2018 at 10:46AM
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    Love the idea. I only have two £1.00 bonds from the year dot which have never ever won anything, however if I had more I would be interested in your skill.

    PS - realised I can use this for DMs holdings, and yes I have POA.

    Thanks
  • yorkiebar
    yorkiebar Posts: 755 Forumite
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    Thanks Gers! With 2x£1 bonds I don't think Alexa will be bringing you good news too often :)

    However yes, if you have a relative's holder number then you can use the skill.
  • 6022tivo
    6022tivo Posts: 781 Forumite
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    edited 18 February 2018 at 9:44AM
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    Excellent app, well played. It's nice to get involved with alexa skills.

    Can't believe the only review you had was a one star.

    I've reported it, if it gets a couple of reports it will vanish.

    (Text removed by MSE Forum Team)
  • Ken68
    Ken68 Posts: 6,825 Forumite
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    NS&I will e-mail winners..

    https://www.nsandi.com/how-will-i-know-ive-won
  • yorkiebar
    yorkiebar Posts: 755 Forumite
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    Thanks, the 1 star review was against version 0.1 ! I've tightened up the holder number checking for the current version and also made the skill a bit more chatty when you're setting it up initially. I've written a few skills and people don't seem to read the instructions in the Amazon skill store so the actual voice interaction needs to help the user along....
  • yorkiebar
    yorkiebar Posts: 755 Forumite
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    Ken, Yes, I also receive the emails.

    However, with the NS&I Emails, you only get one if you've won and the Email does lag behind the actual prize results being announced by a day or two. The Alexa notification will arrive on the day the monthly draw results are announced and will tell you if you've won or not, unlike the NS&I Email. :money:

    Thanks for the positive reviews on the Amazon skill store from those who have tried it recently :T
  • YikesSteveH
    YikesSteveH Posts: 25 Forumite
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    I've just set this up for all family members and discovered I've got to say each
    member in turn, I may as well login online.

    I want to say check all.

    Arggghhh.
  • hgm
    hgm Posts: 62 Forumite
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    Yorkiebar
    As in several reviews, it really does seem to be impossible to get the final letter. The numbers are correct every time. The final letter though is always wrong. Would it be possible to convert the Nato phonetic alphabet - alpha for A etc?
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