NS&I Robo Bouncer.

NotRichOrFamous

Thanks for the tips on how to bypass the NS&I Bouncer; I will be trying them next week.

To answer some of the other comments, I do have several online accounts but I’m not a great fan as one of them was compromised a couple of years ago.

Also reading other threads on this forum regarding problems some people have when trying to login onto the NS&I website, has put me off going down the online route.

It’s a shame as when you do manage to talk to an advisor, I have always found them to be helpful and efficient.

It’s seems NS&I are transforming into an online only service, so I don’t understand why they advertise that you can manage your Direct Saver by phone.

Thanks again for all the replies.

wmb194

NotRichOrFamous said:

Thanks for the tips on how to bypass the NS&I Bouncer; I will be trying them next week.

To answer some of the other comments, I do have several online accounts but I’m not a great fan as one of them was compromised a couple of years ago.

Also reading other threads on this forum regarding problems some people have when trying to login onto the NS&I website, has put me off going down the online route.

It’s a shame as when you do manage to talk to an advisor, I have always found them to be helpful and efficient.

It’s seems NS&I are transforming into an online only service, so I don’t understand why they advertise that you can manage your Direct Saver by phone.

Thanks again for all the replies.

I'd recommend trying to manage it online yourself again. It's really easy and there's not much scope for NS&I's to be, "compromised."

PixelPound

The problem with the ChatAI will be on whoever set up the rules. They have a decision tree and so will only pass through to an agent when certain conditions are matched. I can understand having it set up to tell people to do it online when the service was mostly phone based, but surely most people now go online. So really many of the objections should be removed and they put you through to an agent when you ask.

It probably needs some complaints lodged before they ask developers to revisit the set up, but it doesn't look good in terms of accessibility if it's making it difficult for those who can't/won't do it online to be able to speak to a person.

masonic

NotRichOrFamous said:

Thanks for the tips on how to bypass the NS&I Bouncer; I will be trying them next week.

To answer some of the other comments, I do have several online accounts but I’m not a great fan as one of them was compromised a couple of years ago.

Also reading other threads on this forum regarding problems some people have when trying to login onto the NS&I website, has put me off going down the online route.

It’s a shame as when you do manage to talk to an advisor, I have always found them to be helpful and efficient.

It’s seems NS&I are transforming into an online only service, so I don’t understand why they advertise that you can manage your Direct Saver by phone.

Thanks again for all the replies.

I got the wrong end of the stick with some of the replies mentioning "chat" and "message" that you were referring to an online live chat rather than an automated phone system. Yes it is reasonable to expect to be able to transact by phone, and normally a telephone banking system would be separate from the general enquiries phone number, and allow you to go through security and make transactions using your phone keypad, which would avoid any navigation of help topics and any waiting around for an advisor. I don't know what NS&I does in this regard, but it sounds like it is lacking.

The online system is somewhat annoying, as they've made a mess of setting up "trusted devices". It is a small minority of people who have an incompatible set-up and have real problems. The issue is that employing advisers is a lot more expensive than running automated systems, but an automated system needs to be easy to use. If they don't have an automated phone system for transactions, then they should be including a short-cut to speak to an adviser for those wishing to transact.

I'd echo wmb194's comment though, NS&I restricts where money can be sent, so it is a low risk option for online banking.

auser99

All depends on how effective the online chat is.
Got through Natwest's woeful autogenerated advisor by simply typing "speak advisor".

Straight to them. Although they were pretty darn useless themselves, basically just being a human pasting in what their autogen advisor would anyway.

Took ringing them and speaking to a proper advisor to get anywhere.

auser99

poppy10_2 said:

NotRichOrFamous said:

Hi from a long term lurker of this forum.

I have held a direct saver account with NS&I for many years; and it use to be very easy to contact a “human” to deposit and withdraw funds from it.

These days it is becoming increasingly difficult to do so as I have to convince Robo Bouncer to allow me to talk to an advisor.

Any reply I give is met with the standard “you can do that online” message.

So if anyone has any tips on how I can easily get to talk to an advisor would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

If you can use an online discussion forum, you can manage your Direct Saver account online. Why waste time and resources just to have a chat to a human?

Maybe they've tried to do it and found it's not personally that easy for them? And instead want the re-assurance of an actual human being?