Nationwide Issues

JPin

Hi All,

Yesterday my rent was due and I also get paid yesterday, however, due to a Nationwide outage I was unable to access my account and pay my rent until today. As I owed some agreed backlog rent there was a stipulation that it had to be cleared yesterday. As I was late I have incurred a fee from my Landlord which he is within his right to charge, however, he has agreed to look at the fee if Nationwide accepts that the error was on their side. I contacted them today and they will not accept liability, they have said their site was down which prevented people logging in, however, they cannot find a track of me being logged in yesterday, this sounds absurd.

What are my options?

blue.peter

So... you couldn't log in because the site was down, but Nationwide can't see you having logged in. Yes? That sounds like circular logic to me. If the site was down, of course you couldn't log in, and so there's no trace of you having done so. I'd be inclined to try to get Nationwide to write confirming that (a) their site was down, and (b) as a result, you were unable to log in. There's no need for them to admit fault as such, just to admit to the facts. There's no reason why your landlord shouldn't accept that you weren't to blame in these circumstances.

If they refuse, you could try raising a complaint and, if they reject it, maybe pursue it with the Financial Ombudsman Service. Obviously, this won't be quick, but it ought to gt you somewhere eventually.

colsten

Trouble is, though, that the Nationwide site wasn't down all day long yesterday. 

Cptralls

colsten said:

Trouble is, though, that the Nationwide site wasn't down all day long yesterday. 

I think it was down yesterday PM. 

williewonder

I tried logging in yesterday around 5pm and wasn't able to see my accounts but it still let me log in. It only lasted 10 minutes at most and after that was able to see my accounts.

JPin

I was paid yesterday at 3pm, I attempted to log-in at 4pm and was unable to do so, 5pm was my deadline for paying my Landlord. Nationwide have today said that the problem was resolved at 7:30 pm.

blue.peter

JPin said:

I was paid yesterday at 3pm, I attempted to log-in at 4pm and was unable to do so, 5pm was my deadline for paying my Landlord. Nationwide have today said that the problem was resolved at 7:30 pm.

So I guess you'll need two things, then: (a) the letter that I suggested from Nationwide, but stating the times for which their Internet Bank was unavailable, and (b) a statement from your employer saying what time you were paid. And if Nationwide's Internet Bank was available at any time between 15.00 and 16.00, you'll also need to explain why you couldn't log in then.

Cptralls

The situation does not make sense, Nationwide are generally quite reasonable. They're clearly in the wrong here so why play hardball or am I missing something? 

colsten

Cptralls said:

.....or am I missing something? 

Yes. Nationwide's side of the story.

eskbanker

Cptralls said:

The situation does not make sense, Nationwide are generally quite reasonable. They're clearly in the wrong here so why play hardball or am I missing something? 

They're not necessarily in the wrong as such (if, for example, there was an internet outage outside their control) but it sounds like OP may have been pushing them to accept liability rather than just agreeing that there was an outage, so I can see why they'd baulk at that:

JPin said:

he has agreed to look at the fee if Nationwide accepts that the error was on their side. I contacted them today and they will not accept liability, they have said their site was down which prevented people logging in

jonesMUFCforever

No bank (or building society) employee is going to risk getting into trouble by writing such a letter.
If the letter is used in litigation against the organisation (I know very unlikely in this scenario) that employee could lose their job by acting ultra vires.