Post Office Savings Withdrawal Issues!

longtimereader

Hi gerardwynn, did you ever get your money transfered? I'm experiencing the same problem today. Tried early this morning and again this afternoon. Still getting the old "cannot complete - please phone customer services". So I did! And I might as well not have bothered. The surly guy on the other end of the phone didn't know what was going on and told me to try again later.............. "There MAY be a technical issue". Not a professional response. Things go wrong from time to time but if they can't fix it professionally then I won't be banking with them again.

I've submitted a request for a callback. Hope I don't get the same guy..........

david_1552

This thread won't die! 3 years after the original post the error is still around, but.... HAS ANYONE EVER RESOLVED THE ISSUE?
I jumped on the Post Office Online Saver because it offered the best rate for an instant access account. Unfortunately, I ran into the classic "Transfer cannot be applied at this time" problem 3 weeks ago when I tried to make my first transfer out of the account. I've tried contacting the Post Office by email, webform and, God help me, social media but I'm travelling overseas at the moment with intermittent phone access and to say that they have been half-hearted in their efforts to help is an understatement. They called me once and were unable to access my account. I was told they'd try again the next day. That was 2 weeks ago and my mother in law in California tells me she was overjoyed to received a call at 2am yesterday. They only missed me by a fortnight.
I warned them that there was a point beyond which I was going to start incurring financial losses if they continued to deny me access to my money. The fact that they would be required to reimburse me didn't motivate them in the slightest and those costs continue to mount. No-one has even bothered to offer an explanation for the problem which has the (possibly misleading) appearance of a technical fault.
If anyone has a happy ending to the "Transfer cannot be applied at this time" problem I'd love to hear it because I've been unable to find any online, anywhere. Personally I gave up hope after the first week and sent a letter requesting the account be closed but by the time it reaches the UK and they bother to act on it (assuming they don't just ignore it because it came from overseas) I'll be out of pocket quite a bit, and given how hard it's been trying to access my own money I can't imagine how hard it will be getting reimbursed. Frankly, I've been wondering at what point their insistence on retaining my money against my will becomes a criminal issue.

longtimereader

David, I got mine sorted the next day. I phoned their customer service line and this time got a helpful girl who explained that my account had been frozen due to no transactions in 3 years. She put me on hold for a few mins while she did an identity check and freed up the account for me there and then. I then tried the transaction again online and it worked! Pity the first guy couldn't do that. Maybe your account has had the same thing happen?

david_1552

My account has only been open since the end of October so at least I know my issue wasn't the same as yours. Their policy seems to be to avoid any kind of written responses, probably so that they have deniability in the event of phone calls that go badly. And if you're traveling with no phone access you're screwed. This is really the most hopeless financial institution I've ever done business with, which is really saying something.

Savingswatcher14

I had an Online saver with them some years ago, then drew it all out when the 12 month bonus ended. During that time I found that although the withdrawal process went through OK on the website, it could take several days for the money to arrive in the nominated account. Of course during that time it wasn't earning any interest anywhere.

Like others here, I've been drawn back by their 1.4% Online Saver rate. The account opened last week, but didn't appear in my online login until three days later (despite email saying I could see it straight away if I already had a login, which I have). I arranged for a nominal £10 to go in by debit card, which worked OK (processed by them).

Since yesterday morning I've been trying to transfer money in via my debit card (they quote a ridiculous 'up to 9 days' for transfers in by DD) and it will not work. Well, I tried a smaller amount and managed once to get £100 in, but since then no amount will transfer in.

Contacted my bank and was told there are no restrictions on my debit card. Tried again with PO, still wouldn't go through (get as far as the Verified by VISA page then it fails). Sometimes you see a 'We are having problems with our system' and gives an 0845 number to ring. Rang them (obtained 0800 from SayNoTo0870.com) to ask for likely resolution time and I was told that they knew about it and were working on it. Yesterday afternoon got a call from my bank's fraud department about the many attempted withdrawals.

Tried again today, still not working. What a shambles of a 'bank'. There is no secure messaging, only phone numbers or a webform (which they seem to ignore), and the Online Savings website looks as if it was knocked together by a work experience student in his/her tea break.

Perhaps when Martin lists the PO as having a good rate of interest he should mention that they have a poor website? You can't even ring them up and do it over the phone, as it is internet only. Maybe their site is linked to the PO's Horizon system...

david_1552

I was a Post Office banking customer in their Girobank days and a very happy customer I was back then! These days, I can't help but think how lucky you are having problems with deposits. If I'd had a problem at that stage it would have been all the warning I needed not to proceed any further. If you get out now you might look back & realise you dodged a bullet.

As for their website looking like it was "knocked together by a work experience student" thank you for saying what I suspect many were thinking.

And as for their webforms being ignored, there is one that worked for me (in that I got a call back in 2 days) although your maximum message length is about the size of a tweet: Unfortunately, this forum's anti-spam block won't let me post it.
They seem to give more attention via social media, of all things - Facebook & Twitter will at least get you prompt acknowledgements. Probably for legal reasons they seem resistant to any form of meaningful written communication - all the more reason I am keen to insist on it at this point.

david_1552

Is there a way to get your money out of a Post Office online saver after a "Transfer cannot be applied at this time" message other than closing the account?
Maybe.
It's possible that a phone call to the right person could have fixed everything instantly. My situation didn't allow for much phone contact and the one call I had achieved nothing.
A week after I first encountered the problem I decided to hedge my bets and wrote from overseas to close the account, and two weeks after that my money was back in my hands. Considering how long it probably took for the letter to reach them that's pretty speedy. It remains to be seen how long it will take to get them to reimburse the costs I incurred as a result of their system failure.
In theory this is a great account with desirable features and an excellent interest rate. In practice it's not an "online only" account by any means. I hope anyone considering a Post Office "online saver" researches the experiences of others before taking the risk.

Archi_Bald

Had the annoying "Transfer cannot be applied at this time" message when I tried to make a withdrawal from my Online Saver today. I rang them (0800 1697500) and they fixed what they said was "a technical issue" whilst I was on the phone. I could then make my withdrawal but it took 10 minutes longer than it should have taken.

far

Archi_Bald wrote: »

Had the annoying "Transfer cannot be applied at this time" message when I tried to make a withdrawal from my Online Saver today. I rang them (0800 1697500) and they fixed what they said was "a technical issue" whilst I was on the phone. I could then make my withdrawal but it took 10 minutes longer than it should have taken.

I had the same issue and called them on Monday, just a little too late for technical support to be open who sort out these issues. An e-mail was sent by the representative to sort the issue out and indeed it was by today. Apparently the technical support team are open business hours (9am-5pm) so the key is to call that number during those hours and it looks like the issue can be sorted out almost immediately.

Keefyboy

I have been trying to transfer funds now that intro bonus has lapsed
6 weeks later with all the preceding b/s techniCal problems, we will call you back (never) , wrong reference number , etc , I am extremely concerned about PO Savings.
Strange I never had these problems when making a deposit.....
I have spoken to countless Irish ladies who put me on hold and play me music while they talk to technical , then I get put through to an extension who answers with "FRAUD" so I sY I want TECHNICAL to be put on old again , how in this daY and age can it be this difficult?
I have requested them to close the account and transfer my savings to my current account , I live in hopes
Bank of Ireland sucks!