Don't touch NS&I with a barge pole if you think you might want your money back any time soon!

jsmith9

So let me recap - you have your savings with NS&I and someone (you, but they obviously don't know this) rings up and cannot answer the security questions and fails a credit check and you think NS&I should release the money. I think not...

epm-84

eskbanker said:

Miniminxie said:

If supermarkets can extend their hours to cater for their customers why not NS&I?

Supermarkets have, unsurprisingly, continued to work from the same premises, a luxury not afforded to numerous other organisations who've had to make significant adjustments to their business processes to accommodate vast numbers of people working from home in an unfamiliar way. 

Surely if you're struggling you don't make lots of changes which require customers to phone you in large numbers.  NS&I didn't need to change all their interest rates on the same date and didn't need to announce they were proposing to suspend paper prize warrants for premium bonds when they were dealing with a huge number of withdrawals, caused by the huge rate cuts.  If you look at the Virgin Money thread you'll see they are staggering interest rate drops more than usual e.g. not changing the interest rate on all eISAs on the same date.  They recently had problems with text verification codes not being received when people tried to log in to withdraw money but they did have staff available to answer phones when people phoned up to report the issue.

NS&I aren't the only ones though.  3 mobile decided to tell people on old contracts that they were being moved to new contracts in the height of the pandemic, when not only did they use a call centre working from home, it was a call centre in India meaning those working from home have more technological constraints than UK workers working from home.  3 did create a way of moving to a new contract through clicking on a button in the notification email but understandably most people didn't just click a button which would have resulted in them extending their contract and paying more, without getting anything in return.

sharp910sh

jsmith9 said:

So let me recap - you have your savings with NS&I and someone (you, but they obviously don't know this) rings up and cannot answer the security questions and fails a credit check and you think NS&I should release the money. I think not...

NS&I a load of rubbish and you know it. I have "forgotten" my security questions on many website, many banks. I have 11 bank, savings and credit card accounts and never ever had this problem. I cannot get my money for 2 weeks and counting and you say this is acceptable? Very backward thinking a normal bank account will allow me to take my money out like that. This is clearly some backwards savings account where they try to keep hold of your money. 

What happened to modern technology where they send you a text with a code to reset your password, to allow me to do this instantly. Rather than having to be on hold for hours on three occasions and still not get my password and security question reset. His wording was we need to send you a letter to confirm it is you, he did not at any time state the letter is a standard form you can download on the site. He did not need to send me a letter and it was a standard letter did not have any of my details on it other than my name and address. Every day my money sits in their "account" I am losing money. 

The credit check I speak of is him literally saying we will carry one out no questions asked. I have a good credit rating and all my details are up to date. 

As I said before many other people are having this issue. Martin Lewis should have stated that NS&I is not like a normal savings account, and it will be hard to either A. pay in your money and B. take it out. 

I hope Martin Lewis has his savings here and will see what happens when he tried to take it out.

eskbanker

epm-84 said:

eskbanker said:

Miniminxie said:

If supermarkets can extend their hours to cater for their customers why not NS&I?

Supermarkets have, unsurprisingly, continued to work from the same premises, a luxury not afforded to numerous other organisations who've had to make significant adjustments to their business processes to accommodate vast numbers of people working from home in an unfamiliar way. 

Surely if you're struggling you don't make lots of changes which require customers to phone you in large numbers.

Agreed, hence my comments later in that post about self-inflicted problems!  The selected comment above related specifically to a spurious comparison with supermarkets....

sharp910sh

eskbanker said:

epm-84 said:

eskbanker said:

Miniminxie said:

If supermarkets can extend their hours to cater for their customers why not NS&I?

Supermarkets have, unsurprisingly, continued to work from the same premises, a luxury not afforded to numerous other organisations who've had to make significant adjustments to their business processes to accommodate vast numbers of people working from home in an unfamiliar way. 

Surely if you're struggling you don't make lots of changes which require customers to phone you in large numbers.

Agreed, hence my comments later in that post about self-inflicted problems!  The selected comment above related specifically to a spurious comparison with supermarkets....

NS&I are just backwards. Period. 

sharp910sh

eskbanker said:

sharp910sh said:

Martin Lewis should be assumed for telling all of us to save with them.

Not sure what word you had in mind there, but neither he nor this site tells anyone to save with any institution, they just share facts about rates and the decision obviously rests with the individual thereafter, hence the caveats at the foot of every page:

This info does not constitute financial advice, always do your own research on top to ensure it's right for your specific circumstances and remember we focus on rates not service.

He did not give any information about customer service. Yes you pay earn 1p extra per 1000 interest a month but when you try to take your money out its a FARCE. My 10 year old kid could make up a better account system. 

eskbanker

sharp910sh said:

eskbanker said:

epm-84 said:

eskbanker said:

Miniminxie said:

If supermarkets can extend their hours to cater for their customers why not NS&I?

Supermarkets have, unsurprisingly, continued to work from the same premises, a luxury not afforded to numerous other organisations who've had to make significant adjustments to their business processes to accommodate vast numbers of people working from home in an unfamiliar way. 

Surely if you're struggling you don't make lots of changes which require customers to phone you in large numbers.

Agreed, hence my comments later in that post about self-inflicted problems!  The selected comment above related specifically to a spurious comparison with supermarkets....

NS&I are just backwards. Period. 

sharp910sh said:

eskbanker said:

sharp910sh said:

Martin Lewis should be assumed for telling all of us to save with them.

Not sure what word you had in mind there, but neither he nor this site tells anyone to save with any institution, they just share facts about rates and the decision obviously rests with the individual thereafter, hence the caveats at the foot of every page:

This info does not constitute financial advice, always do your own research on top to ensure it's right for your specific circumstances and remember we focus on rates not service.

He did not give any information about customer service. Yes you pay earn 1p extra per 1000 interest a month but when you try to take your money out its a FARCE. My 10 year old kid could make up a better account system. 

Are you perhaps under the impression that someone simply highlighting flawed thinking in a rant is actually defending the object of the rant?

sharp910sh

eskbanker said:

sharp910sh said:

eskbanker said:

epm-84 said:

eskbanker said:

Miniminxie said:

If supermarkets can extend their hours to cater for their customers why not NS&I?

Supermarkets have, unsurprisingly, continued to work from the same premises, a luxury not afforded to numerous other organisations who've had to make significant adjustments to their business processes to accommodate vast numbers of people working from home in an unfamiliar way. 

Surely if you're struggling you don't make lots of changes which require customers to phone you in large numbers.

Agreed, hence my comments later in that post about self-inflicted problems!  The selected comment above related specifically to a spurious comparison with supermarkets....

NS&I are just backwards. Period. 

sharp910sh said:

eskbanker said:

sharp910sh said:

Martin Lewis should be assumed for telling all of us to save with them.

Not sure what word you had in mind there, but neither he nor this site tells anyone to save with any institution, they just share facts about rates and the decision obviously rests with the individual thereafter, hence the caveats at the foot of every page:

This info does not constitute financial advice, always do your own research on top to ensure it's right for your specific circumstances and remember we focus on rates not service.

He did not give any information about customer service. Yes you pay earn 1p extra per 1000 interest a month but when you try to take your money out its a FARCE. My 10 year old kid could make up a better account system. 

Are you perhaps under the impression that someone simply highlighting flawed thinking in a rant is actually defending the object of the rant?

It is not a rank it is simply highlighting a very bad system NS&I have. I have had many bank accounts through my time and never had this issue before. 

colsten

Whilst I understand that it is annoying that you can't get your money out because you failed to identify yourself, I think you should be pleased that the safeguard with the security questions exists as it protects you from hackers emptying your account. I also think it is right that they won't let you change your security questions online if you haven't been able to identify yourself to the system. That they didn't tell you you can download the security update form from the web is less than impressive but the root cause of your problems is that you could not remember your security details which you set up when you set up your online access. If you feel hard done by, you can always lodge a formal complaint with them but I wouldn't hold my breath for any compensation.

Thrugelmir

sharp910sh said:

eskbanker said:

sharp910sh said:

eskbanker said:

epm-84 said:

eskbanker said:

Miniminxie said:

If supermarkets can extend their hours to cater for their customers why not NS&I?

Supermarkets have, unsurprisingly, continued to work from the same premises, a luxury not afforded to numerous other organisations who've had to make significant adjustments to their business processes to accommodate vast numbers of people working from home in an unfamiliar way. 

Surely if you're struggling you don't make lots of changes which require customers to phone you in large numbers.

Agreed, hence my comments later in that post about self-inflicted problems!  The selected comment above related specifically to a spurious comparison with supermarkets....

NS&I are just backwards. Period. 

sharp910sh said:

eskbanker said:

sharp910sh said:

Martin Lewis should be assumed for telling all of us to save with them.

Not sure what word you had in mind there, but neither he nor this site tells anyone to save with any institution, they just share facts about rates and the decision obviously rests with the individual thereafter, hence the caveats at the foot of every page:

This info does not constitute financial advice, always do your own research on top to ensure it's right for your specific circumstances and remember we focus on rates not service.

He did not give any information about customer service. Yes you pay earn 1p extra per 1000 interest a month but when you try to take your money out its a FARCE. My 10 year old kid could make up a better account system. 

Are you perhaps under the impression that someone simply highlighting flawed thinking in a rant is actually defending the object of the rant?

It is not a rank it is simply highlighting a very bad system NS&I have. I have had many bank accounts through my time and never had this issue before. 

Not a Northern Rock customer then.........