Kent Reliance covering up problems

epm-84

I tried to log in to Kent Reliance online servicing on Sunday morning to be greeted by a blank page. I tried again a few times and got the same result so I contacted them and told them, then in the afternoon it still wasn't working but there was a 'we're undergoing maintenance' message on the home page. I managed to get in on Monday and set up the withdrawal I wanted to make.

Today I received the following response from Kent Reliance:

Unfortunately our online service was under maintenance on 19 June 2016, apologies for the inconvenience caused.

Please try to access our website and login to the online system now.

There was no advance warning of any scheduled maintenance and no apology on the website homepage if it was an unscheduled technical problem, which the bigger banks would all do and their response telling me it was back up and working was delayed.

Given they've just cut the interest rate on my savings account I think I might now take my custom elsewhere.

ctdctd

What about their list of maintenance times on the website?

http://www.kentreliance.co.uk/maintenance-schedule

Upcoming maintenance times
Start time Finish time
Saturday 28 May 2016 17.30 Sunday 29 May 2016 23.59
Sunday 19 June 2016 00.05 Sunday 19 June 2016 08.00
Sunday 17 July 2016 00.05 Sunday 17 July 2016 08.00
Sunday 21 August 2016 00.05 Sunday 21 August 2016 08.00
Sunday 16 October 2016 00.05 Sunday 16 October 2016 08.00
Sunday 20 November 2016 00.05 Sunday 20 November 2016 08.00

epm-84

Sunday 19 June 2016 00.05 Sunday 19 June 2016 08.00

Given I didn't try before 10am on Sunday and it was still down at 2pm I don't think they can fob me off with a scheduled maintenance excuse, the online servicing section was down for over 6 hours at times when they said it would be up. If the scheduled maintenance was over running why didn't they think to put a message on the homepage with a revised time for being up and running?

Goldiegirl

Do they make a habit of maintenance over-running?

If it's an isolated incident, personally I'd cut them some slack as I think closing my account is a bit harsh for a first offence.

But the interest rate is a different matter - if you can get better elsewhere, then take your business elsewhere.

epm-84

I haven't experienced them overrunning before and that's not really the thing that annoys me. I fully accept things will go wrong at times but there's been no omission they did overrun (they've been acting like it was all scheduled when the times posted above say otherwise) and there was no indication on Sunday afternoon when services would return to normal.

I have a Virgin Money ISA and ESaver. I actually opened the Kent Reliance Account and withdrew all but £1 from the Virgin ESaver because Kent Reliance were offering an account had an interest rate 25% higher than the Virgin ESaver. With the interest rate cut the Kent Reliance account will now only pay 0.05% more interest than the Virgin ESaver, so while I may get a little more interest sticking with Kent Reliance, the big advantage has gone. While closing the KR account would reduce the number of different logins I need to use for online banking and Virgin also offer instant withdrawals while with KR it's next working day if it's before 1:15pm.

Rhino666

I'm not that happy with Kent Reliance at the moment. They always let me know when the interest rates change(fall) and allow the usual notice period to be waived if transfers are made as a result on the 60 day notice account. Last time this happened was June last year when rates fell 0.15%
Recently KR have reduced interest rates by 0.25% and no letters!
I called today and was fobbed off with 'we do sometimes contact customers when the rates change but are only mandated to do so when the rate change(drop) is more than 0.25%. I haven't checked the small print but do not believe this - perhaps someone else can clarify.
There are currently better rates around, certainly for notice accounts(moneyfacts), so assuming those rates are not due for imminent change, I will be moving.

eskbanker

Rhino666 wrote: »

I called today and was fobbed off with 'we do sometimes contact customers when the rates change but are only mandated to do so when the rate change(drop) is more than 0.25%. I haven't checked the small print but do not believe this - perhaps someone else can clarify.

They're right in terms of the regulator's directive on materiality (see https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/changes-bank-account) but you would need to check the small print of the individual product(s) to see if there's any more of a commitment mentioned there.

Westie983

I was notified when the regular saver rate dropped from 4%, but I suppose that was because the drop was more then 0.25%, I thought they had to give notice of any change to interest rates, but you have informed me that this may not be the case, I will keep an eye on this.

Thanks for letting me know.