Virgin One Account - Website Down

southerndave

Not sure if in the right forum, but here goes....

Been with Virgin One since 2001, almost its inception. Had a few issues, nothing major and on the whole been pleased with it. However, a recent issue with their online service is the last straw I think.

Google Chrome is current the worlds most popular browser, swiftly followed by Firefox and their derivatives on Android devices. These have all recently updated to higher security certificates. This change has prevented access to the Virgin One website for online banking, the whole site being set up for Internet Explorer only, which is currently still soldering on with outdated SSL3 security protocols (which is why hackers LOVE IE!)

Anyway, to cut a long story short although I am assured by Virgin they are 'working on the issue' they have confirmed that customers like myself with no access to internet explorer (I have no machines with Windows on), will be affected well into the new year.

Henceforth, we are effectively locked out of our accounts. Virgin long ago abandoned 24hr services and much of what I do in terms of micro managing my money within the one account, is only done online.

I am fairly confident it is even a breach of their own T&Cs as they state in them that online services will only be withdrawn through prior notice / consultation OR if outside influences cause its failure. As I would say the current situation is down to their lack of maintenance and awareness, it is their issue - not other secured websites, not even RBS themselves are affected, so purely a Virgin ONe issue.

Personally I think we will now reluctantly look at re-mortgaging elsewhere which maybe Virgin/RBS's goal here, but it is a shame as we are steadily working our way to paying this down and I would rather not go through the re-mortgaging hassle, but not having internet access to a telephone/internet based account is a major drawback!

Anyone else caught out here or are we odd in not using or having access to Internet Explorer?

prowla

I just tried to login using firefox, and I get:

Secure Connection Failed

An error occurred during a connection to service.oneaccount.com. SSL peer rejected a handshake message for unacceptable content. (Error code: ssl_error_illegal_parameter_alert)

The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because the authenticity of the received data could not be verified.
Please contact the website owners to inform them of this problem.

That's rather annoying!

I try and avoid using IE, and rarely find that I need it.

kingstreet

One Account is an RBS Group brand.

It has had nothing to do with Virgin for years.

davidmcn

southerndave wrote: »

Anyone else caught out here or are we odd in not using or having access to Internet Explorer?

Probably not odd in not using IE as your browser of choice, but possibly odd in refusing to install it. Surely that would be less hassle than remortgaging? Or just use somebody else's machine?

southerndave

kingstreet wrote: »

One Account is an RBS Group brand.

It has had nothing to do with Virgin for years.

Yes I know. However, as customers everything is still Virgin One Account, nothing is branded as RBS other than a line in the small print at the foot of letters. So far as I am concerned, I signed a contract with Virgin One Account and I am a Virgin One Account Customer regardless of the parent company. And none of this has anything to do with their website failure, in fact it only underlined my point that RBS customers can access their site, but Virgin One customers cannot access ours.....

southerndave

davidmcn wrote: »

Probably not odd in not using IE as your browser of choice, but possibly odd in refusing to install it. Surely that would be less hassle than remortgaging? Or just use somebody else's machine?

There's the rub, no-one I know uses IE or windows anymore. Of the few I do know that use windows, apart from the inconvenience, It is not really appropriate for me to call round their homes to do my banking, let alone secure not matter how much I trust them....and again does not resolve the issue.

My point of posting was to ask if other Virgin One Account customers have had the same difficulty and it seems at least one has....

southerndave

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Try your local library.

I use both IE and Chrome for personal use. Really a fuss over nothing.

Thanks for the really unhelpful and totally unnecessary reply - if you have nothing to positively add to a thread, please don't waste your fingers typing, you clearly miss the point of my opening post.

kingstreet

FWIW there are a number of lender and insurer intermediary sites which don't work with Chrome, which is my chosen browser.

We have to use IE to be able to transact business with those firms.

ChapelGirl

Thanks for your post. Yes, I am also someone without Internet Explorer because my operating system of choice is Linux Ubuntu, and has been for several years. I am quite disturbed to hear that I am likely to be locked out of my internet banking facility until into the New Year. I have tried Chrome and Firefox, and also Epiphany, but I am getting SSL errors on all of them. Like you, I don't trust Internet Explorer's security.

For quite some time now they have had a notice on their Home page saying that due to 'staff training' they are currently unable to offer any new mortgage accounts, so I imagine we are all effectively in run-off, and the situation is likely to get worse as time goes by.

prowla

It is slightly curious that it's locked to IE, which is generally perceivedto be a less secure web browser.

ChapelGirl

prowla wrote: »

It is slightly curious that it's locked to IE, which is generally perceivedto be a less secure web browser.

That is probably because the pages were originally developed for IE when that was effectively the ONLY browser, and they have not spent any money on keeping their software current.
It looks as though the recent upgrades to security protocols on the major browsers have caught One Account unawares because they are doing the minimum of maintenance consistent with keeping an old and creaking system working, and they aren't employing anyone to keep an eye on what is happening in the world at large, outside their own domain.