Pensioner Bonds now on sale

mikey_v

Well, I've just managed to get a 3 yr bond online, but it was hard work, especially after the card detail page, when I had to resubmit 3 times before success.

Had email confirmation, now awaiting postal form.

Tried the phone a few times while waiting forever for pages to load, nothing but engaged or bt messages.

System

After waiting ages at every stage I finally got to the Find Address page.
It stalled for another age, and then said I was already registered.
I'm not - they had just sent a letter saying I was not registered because my Index Linked bonds were part of a different registration system.

So it won't let me register because it mistakenly thinks I already am - hopeless.
I've given up trying to buy their product the modern way - I'll just send an application form and a cheque.

Or rather, two forms and two cheques, for added efficiency.

System

chucknorris wrote: »

It is a savings product, not an investment product.

It calls itself a "growth bond". It isn't. It pays a decent rate of interest but there is no capital growth.

Rollinghome

simplealan wrote: »

That is the same as my experience.
Any half decent and responsible organisation, which NS&I obviously isn't, would have prepared themselves and their systems over the past ten months. They would today be ready for the predictable demand.

Why do they not even reply to telephone calls and emails?

I can only assume they are scared.

Any server in the world can be brought to a halt if enough people keep requesting it. That's how a DOS attack works. For NS&I to upgrade their system for a one off event that will soon pass would be a mindless waste of taxpayers money.

In the meantime, it's a bit like a million people fighting to get through a set of turnstiles at the same time. If everyone fights to be first it will take a lot longer.

Every time you refresh the page on the website their server will waste its time responding to your initial request instead of completing the requests it's already dealing with. If on the other hand everyone calms down and shows some patience for a day or two, they will all get through a lot quicker.

I'd also remind you of when NS&I issued the last ILSCs. The press told us they'd be sold out in weeks or days. In reality they were available for several months.

mike88

As someone who has been dealing with this farce for nearly 5 hours I have discovered that if Google Chrome is your browser it simply doesn't work for the NS&I website. I have got through using IE as far as the payments stage. Barclays Secure appeared; I answered the relevant questions and the page went blank.

After 15 minutes or so I got through to the NS&I enquiries line and it seems as though I have to wait for an e mail to confirm my application. If no e mail is received after 24 hours I was told to ring the applications line - what a joke as you simply can't get through.

In the meantime I've checked with the bank online; the payment of £10k seems to have gone from my account but am still unsure whether my application is successful or not. What a shambles.

simplealan

to herbalus

shouldn't "rofl" be "rotfl" ?
Anyway, I apologise for any offence caused, and take pleasure in any amusement provided.

Whether savings or investment is irrelevant.
All I am trying to do is spend £20,000, but NS&I won't let me.
That's a loss for the Treasury (i.e. us).

Neither online nor telephone work for me, but I'll keep trying. They both seem to have worked a bit for others.

Oblivion

simplealan wrote: »

All I am trying to do is spend £20,000, but NS&I won't let me.
That's a loss for the Treasury (i.e. us).

Hardly a loss. They'll sell the full quota in due course anyway ... it simply might not include your money.

evenasus

simplealan wrote: »

to herbalus


Neither online nor telephone work for me, but I'll keep trying. They both seem to have worked a bit for others.

You, me and thousands of others.

mike88

Has anyone who has bought a bond online received their e mail confirmation yet? My application crashed during the payment stage of the application process but the money (£10k) has gone from my account but online can't show the transaction yet other than that sum has been withdrawn. I would have thought e mail confirmation was instantaneous!

simplealan

to Rollinghome

I understand all you say.
Could not much of this fiasco have been avoided, if NS&I had allowed pre-registration or staggered their email announcements, without any major changes to their server?
After all, they have known about this as long as I have, some ten months?