Lloyds internet banking - Automated Alert messages!!!

jeallen01 · 12 March 2017 at 11:44AM

I have a couple of Club Lloyds accounts (not brilliant but OK).

Late last night (started around 10.30pm) I started getting "Urgent - please log into your account for important info..." (not those exact words, but you get the idea), and then they kept coming in 15-20 min intervals until I finally got fed up and logged just after midnight!.

And so what was this "important info" - that there were security breaches on my accounts or something like that??

No, just a very "important" message to say that I had 24 days to open a Lloyds Cash ISA this FY, plus 4 messages (2 for each account) about interest and interest rates for the current FY, and so on!!!!!!

Was so mad I tried to phone them but could get no answer (the air would have been really "blue" if I had!) and, being quite "worked up", I didn't get to sleep quickly and then woke up early this morning.

Found time to phone them around 10am, and - luckily - got through to someone who had himself been on the receiving end of the same problem about a month ago, had raised an internal complaint and was later told that the problem had been found and solved - But obviously now it's not.

Anyway, the guy was very understanding and has raised another formal internal complaint, and then - without being asked - offered compensation for the cost of the calls and (IIRC) £50 to try to compensate for the disturbing effects that these automated messages had caused. So, full marks to that guy!

Nevertheless, if anyone else suffered the same thing last night (or whenever) do complain by phone (When the automated answering system asks what the call is about, just say "Complaint"!), be pretty firm with the call handler that this is a known problem even if they say they have not heard of it (quote this thread and my forum name if you want) and "hammer them" until you get some satisfaction (preferably financial).

Jo_Blogs · 12 March 2017 at 12:12PM

jeallen01 wrote: »

Late last night (started around 10.30pm) I started getting "Urgent - please log into your account for important info..." (not those exact words, but you get the idea), and then they kept coming in 15-20 min intervals until I finally got fed up and logged just after midnight!.

Just to clarify, were these text/app messages you were receiving? It may help others to know

ChesterDog · 12 March 2017 at 12:36PM

Gosh, you seem to get angry very easily.

If I got such a text message - especially repeatedly - from my bank, I don't think I would wait an hour and a half before invesigating.

jeallen01 · 12 March 2017 at 12:58PM

Jo
Messages were like this (sorry about the large para spacing, but there appear to be hidden spaces which I can't delete)
"

You have a new message

There's a new message in your Internet Banking Inbox. Messages contain information about your account, so it's important to view them.

Please note:

If you’ve chosen to use a shared email address, anyone with access to the email account will be able to view the messages we send you about your account.

Anyone with access to your online bank account will be able to view the account correspondence in your Internet Banking Inbox.

We’ll never alter or delete the correspondence in your Internet Banking Inbox.

Subject

Date

Account details

Account number

Important information about your interest rates

10 MARCH 2017

Easy Saver

Please note: this message is important and needs your immediate attention. Please log into Internet Banking straightaway to view it."

Zanderman · 12 March 2017 at 1:04PM

jeallen01 wrote: »

... just a very "important" message to say that I had 24 days to open a Lloyds Cash ISA this FY, plus 4 messages (2 for each account) about interest and interest rates for the current FY, and so on!!!!!! .....

.....Found time to phone them around 10am, and - luckily - got through to someone who had himself been on the receiving end of the same problem about a month ago, had raised an internal complaint and was later told that the problem had been found and solved - But obviously now it's not....

Maybe I'm just overly suspicious, but were the repeated alerts you got definitely from Lloyds? And was the person you rang definitely from Lloyds (i.e. did you ring the number in the alert, or log-in via the alert, or did you log-in and ring direct via the website)?

I'm just surprised the bloke had the same problem 'about a month ago' (when there would be no urgency over investing in an ISA this FY) and offered compo so quickly. And that the alerts were so late at night, when people are generally less alert.

But I'm probably just overly suspicious! Has that £50 appeared yet?

jeallen01 · 12 March 2017 at 1:04PM

CD

Yes I do get angry because things like this just should not happen - 1 message a day = "fine", 8+ messages (and counting) in 90 mins = NOT

jeallen01 · 12 March 2017 at 1:10PM

Zanderman

I'm fairly certain the messages were genuine because that was effectively confirmed by the guy I spoke to this morning - and there was no direct link to follow to log into my a/c. Also, the fact that the messages ceased coming immediately after I logged into the account does confirm that they were generated by the Lloyds system.

As for the late night timing - that certainly could have been suspicious and I certainly could possibly have got "caught" if the messages had not been genuine. Luckily I read them on a machine where I do not have my log in security details to hand, and so had to go through the process on another one in another room.

Not yet checked my a/c for the £50 because I'm writing this email on the first m/c - and I'm also very tired after a very short and poor night's sleep .

masonic · 12 March 2017 at 1:58PM

From the OP, I'd assumed these were automated phone calls or text messages, which would be very annoying to receive at night. Looks like they were actually just emails?

jeallen01 · 12 March 2017 at 2:11PM

masonic wrote: »

From the OP, I'd assumed these were automated phone calls or text messages, which would be very annoying to receive at night. Looks like they were actually just emails?

Yes - "just" emails.

Why was I reading emails at that time of night? Because we had just driven back from dinner with some friends 35 miles away and I/we were fairly wide awake, not ready to go to bed and there was nothing interesting on the tv, and thus just trying to wind down - until all those emails wound me up again!

However, I think some people are missing the point of the thread - which is that it looks like Lloyds internet banking system is suffering another glitch affecting customers, and that anyone affected should make their views known forcibly to that bank.

masonic · 12 March 2017 at 2:26PM

jeallen01 wrote: »

However, I think some people are missing the point of the thread - which is that it looks like Lloyds internet banking system is suffering another glitch affecting customers, and that anyone affected should make their views known forcibly to that bank.

If that's the point of the thread, then all I can do is sigh and wander off muttering something about "compensation culture"...

jeallen01 · 12 March 2017 at 2:44PM

EXCUSE ME - please wander off in any direction that you care to choose (and as quickly as possible)!!!!!

I did NOT ask for compensation - although I think it is deserved where a bank or other body with strong financial responsibility makes errors which could affect us, their customers.

That's why I suggested that anyone else affected should "hammer" them because, hitting in the pocket and making their errors widely visible is often the only way to get them to systematically find, acknowledge and fix their issues, because, if they make errors like this one (AND apparently claimed to have fixed it a month ago but obviously had not!) then that points to systematic failures in their organisation and processes.

Lloyds internet banking - Automated Alert messages!!!

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