Is the FD secure key's battery user replaceable?

RG2015

Deleted_User said:

FD site says just to ring them and they will send you one out if the battery is dead.

Ts & Cs are mandatory for banking codes, they can't skip them

Just take advantage of them thinking you are senile/thick and ask for a physical one, say you don't have a smart phone

I have a NatWest one and there are 4 screws in the back. If it was genuinely dead I'd take them out and see if I had a battery I could replace but otherwise I wouldn't try

Edit: I found a site that did an HSBC one, but looks messy

https://www.visionrouge.net/fixed-digipass-battery-replacement/

If you mean the NatWest card reader, it has a slide in/out slot for a standard CR2032 disc battery.

colsten

soolin said:

Both my OH and myself have had to request new secure key machines this month as our old ones died. We both independently got the hard sell for the app, both of us just kept saying no to it and had to listen to frankly patronising warnings about how everyone will be using phone aps and we will get left behind. We stuck to our insistent on a new key card and they even tried warning us it would take weeks and we couldn’t access our accounts while we waited. In the end mine arrived after a week and my husbands 8 days. 

Like it or not, eventually you will get left behind. There comes a time when those FD customers who cannot / do not want to migrate to the digital secure key will be a tiny, unprofitable, minority for FD and they will stop supporting the physical secure key. Your guess is as good as mine how long it will be until this happens, and you are of course within your rights to use the physical key until they stop supporting it.

Notepad_Phil

Deleted_User said:

FD site says just to ring them and they will send you one out if the battery is dead.

Ts & Cs are mandatory for banking codes, they can't skip them

Just take advantage of them thinking you are senile/thick and ask for a physical one, say you don't have a smart phone

hoc said:

You will need to put up with calling them. Put aside 30 minutes to do this while you're doing something else, their wait times are a good 10 minutes and going through all the verification and confirmation details will take another 10 minutes.

According to https://www1.firstdirect.com/help/secure-key/support/#securekey-codes "You can't change the batteries yourself - you'll need a whole new device, which you can get by sending us a message through the ‘Message us’ option in the bottom right hand corner of Online Banking."

Though this does assume that the key does give out the battery warning codes when the battery is running down.

pbartlett

"...and going through all the verification and confirmation details will take another 10 minutes."

If, like me, you have voice ID registered with them, then there are no verification and confirmation details.

colsten

pbartlett said:

"...and going through all the verification and confirmation details will take another 10 minutes."

If, like me, you have voice ID registered with them, then there are no verification and confirmation details.

Why did you do that? You can't even moan about the verification now................

KxMx

I opted for a physical secure key because I didn't want to rely on digital.
The HSBC app went down for 3 days a few months ago, those reliant on the digital secure key were locked out of their accounts. Those using physical could still use online banking. 
I'm happy with my decision... The app will go down again in future.

When the battery on mine died I was able to go into branch and pick up a new one. I know FD don't have branches though. 

[Deleted User]

Notepad_Phil said:

Deleted_User said:

FD site says just to ring them and they will send you one out if the battery is dead.

Ts & Cs are mandatory for banking codes, they can't skip them

Just take advantage of them thinking you are senile/thick and ask for a physical one, say you don't have a smart phone

hoc said:

You will need to put up with calling them. Put aside 30 minutes to do this while you're doing something else, their wait times are a good 10 minutes and going through all the verification and confirmation details will take another 10 minutes.

According to https://www1.firstdirect.com/help/secure-key/support/#securekey-codes "You can't change the batteries yourself - you'll need a whole new device, which you can get by sending us a message through the ‘Message us’ option in the bottom right hand corner of Online Banking."

Though this does assume that the key does give out the battery warning codes when the battery is running down.

The HSBC battery replacement site I linked also says you can't do it yourself, but they proved you can if you're willing

[Deleted User]

KxMx said:

I opted for a physical secure key because I didn't want to rely on digital.
The HSBC app went down for 3 days a few months ago, those reliant on the digital secure key were locked out of their accounts. Those using physical could still use online banking. 
I'm happy with my decision... The app will go down again in future.

When the battery on mine died I was able to go into branch and pick up a new one. I know FD don't have branches though. 

And what happens if the card reader goes down and you can't get to the branch? Or they phase it out? Or it gets stolen?

Use what you want but don't fool yourself that a physical reader is somehow a perfect alternative

hoc

Notepad_Phil said:

Deleted_User said:

FD site says just to ring them and they will send you one out if the battery is dead.

Ts & Cs are mandatory for banking codes, they can't skip them

Just take advantage of them thinking you are senile/thick and ask for a physical one, say you don't have a smart phone

hoc said:

You will need to put up with calling them. Put aside 30 minutes to do this while you're doing something else, their wait times are a good 10 minutes and going through all the verification and confirmation details will take another 10 minutes.

According to https://www1.firstdirect.com/help/secure-key/support/#securekey-codes "You can't change the batteries yourself - you'll need a whole new device, which you can get by sending us a message through the ‘Message us’ option in the bottom right hand corner of Online Banking."

Though this does assume that the key does give out the battery warning codes when the battery is running down.

That is the theory. In reality the you may get a first warning and find the device dead a few days later without any further use. It is different internal design than the ones using the card. It has to continually draw some power as part of its security measure so even without use the battery drains within a few years, best to order in anticipation even without a warning.

The app is more convenient in theory but the physical device is much more flexible and reliable outside of the battery issue.

hoc

Deleted_User said:

KxMx said:

I opted for a physical secure key because I didn't want to rely on digital.
The HSBC app went down for 3 days a few months ago, those reliant on the digital secure key were locked out of their accounts. Those using physical could still use online banking. 
I'm happy with my decision... The app will go down again in future.

When the battery on mine died I was able to go into branch and pick up a new one. I know FD don't have branches though. 

And what happens if the card reader goes down and you can't get to the branch? Or they phase it out? Or it gets stolen?

Use what you want but don't fool yourself that a physical reader is somehow a perfect alternative

The digital key can only be on a single device ie phone. Your scenarios of temporary and permanent unavailability apply as well for a phone or phone app.

The physical key will inevitably be phased out. FD's physical reader is currently more reliable and flexible than their digital key/app. I abandoned Barclay's physical reader years ago, I will stick with FD's physical key until they can demonstrate their digital infrastructure is sufficiently reliable.