Alliance & Leicester Plus account

Surfer

we switched from Nationwide to A & L as Martin recommended it on numerous occasions, but obviously he does not have an account with them. we opted for the Plus account which is Internet based. Unfortunately what we are not advised is that the technology used on their website is light years behind and ancient. With my Nationwide account, if I went to draw money from an ATM the amount drawn was reflected immediately, if I paid an account through the website, i.e. credit card the amount paid was reflected instantly. When my salary was paid in, it was available for withdrawal just after midnight if required. The A & L account, takes 24 hours to update that cash has been drawn. If money is paid in via BACS, i.e. salary, for that whole day it shows that you have exceeded your limit or have exceeded your overdraft although we don't have one.
More annoying is that you log into the account and then start writing a secure message to send, it then logs you out stating that you have not done anything on the account for 5 minutes although you have been writing a secure message. You then lose your message and have to start all over again. Their solution was for us to acccess Word to write the message and then access the account which is difficult if you are querying transactions etc and need access to the account for details while writing the message.
This is a big disappointment for us and we are already considering changing back to Nationwide although we have only been with A & L for a month.
Has any one else experienced this or is it just us. Interest rate may be good but antiquated software is annoying!

Surfer

Any one experience the same as us?

PROLIANT

No, find there service A1

DGJsaver

Well to be honest i dont like a&l anyway , but i dont find their on line service THAT bad , although when making payments to other people it takes a day or two to show up , which is annoying

terafarma

Surfer wrote: »

we switched from Nationwide to A & L as Martin recommended it on numerous occasions, but obviously he does not have an account with them. we opted for the Plus account which is Internet based. Unfortunately what we are not advised is that the technology used on their website is light years behind and ancient. With my Nationwide account, if I went to draw money from an ATM the amount drawn was reflected immediately, if I paid an account through the website, i.e. credit card the amount paid was reflected instantly. When my salary was paid in, it was available for withdrawal just after midnight if required. The A & L account, takes 24 hours to update that cash has been drawn. If money is paid in via BACS, i.e. salary, for that whole day it shows that you have exceeded your limit or have exceeded your overdraft although we don't have one.
More annoying is that you log into the account and then start writing a secure message to send, it then logs you out stating that you have not done anything on the account for 5 minutes although you have been writing a secure message. You then lose your message and have to start all over again. Their solution was for us to acccess Word to write the message and then access the account which is difficult if you are querying transactions etc and need access to the account for details while writing the message.
This is a big disappointment for us and we are already considering changing back to Nationwide although we have only been with A & L for a month.
Has any one else experienced this or is it just us. Interest rate may be good but antiquated software is annoying!

My greatest banking mistake was switching to Alliance & Leicester from Nationwide. Day to day banking transactions with Nationwide are properly reflected in your statements both online and at ATM's, more so,their website is simply fantastic.

Alliance & Leicester's banking transactions via their Premier direct current account website is simply amateurish and very user unfriendly as transactions are not properly reflected, leaving you with the risk of incurring undue and unwarranted charges.

I switched from Nationwide to take advantage of A&L's 0% overdraft for one year which has been of such good benefit in helping to reduce my overdraft to a manageable level. The joy,comfort and ease of banking with Nationwide as well as their friendly members of staff were what I left behind to join the nightmare of a bank called Alliance & Leicester.

Your experience mirrors my frustration with A&L.

I am simply going to pay off the (overdaft), overdraft and then find my way back to the Nationwide. Never again with A&L. Thank you very much.

Surfer

We are going to be doing exactly the same thing when we have reduced our overdraft with Nationwide to a suitable level. We went over our limit by £3.45 due to them not reflecting my wife's wages being paid in and not showing a "payee" payment for 48 hours. Cost me £10 as you can't pay any money into the account on Sunday and paying it on the Mondya is not reflected to the Tuesday. A right deliberate scam in my opinion and Martin should not be promoting banks like this no matter what sort of APR they offer. Caught me once but will not catch me again.

ka6r9en

I totally agree, i think those of us who have had Nationwide's online banking have been spoilt. I thankfully didn't close my nationwide account when i moved to A&L, i will stay with them another 6 months to take advantage of the regular savings account i have with them and the 0% overdraft, but then i will be off, there will be no reason to stick around.

I have tried googling current account reviews, which aren't that hard to find except no one has reviewed the ease of the online banking, which i am sure Nationwide would win (ok I am biased)

dave_dph

I have banked with Nationwide for about 23 years and have always found their service to be excellent. Their online banking service is spot on, I even sent them a secure message saying so when they re-vamped the service a few years back. I have used online banking with Halifax, Lloyds TSB and also A&L, for features and ease of use none of them come close to Nationwide.

I opened my A&L Premier Direct account around last June in order to get 6.5% on £2500 for 12 months - I just transfer £500 in and out each month. I did consider using it as my main current account, probably for all of 2 seconds, but it would take something rather special to get me to move from my Flexaccount.

MrsTinks

I have to say I've not had any of the problems you mention with A&L (like my BACSpaychecks go in around lunchtime on the day they are due in my case...) - now we ARE about to change banks as the 0% overdraft offer is up and I am thinking maybe Nationwide is a good choice - wonder if there is a cashback offer somewhere! LOL!!!

PROLIANT

terafarma wrote: »

My greatest banking mistake was switching to Alliance & Leicester from Nationwide. Day to day banking transactions with Nationwide are properly reflected in your statements both online and at ATM's, more so,their website is simply fantastic.

Alliance & Leicester's banking transactions via their Premier direct current account website is simply amateurish and very user unfriendly as transactions are not properly reflected, leaving you with the risk of incurring undue and unwarranted charges.

I switched from Nationwide to take advantage of A&L's 0% overdraft for one year which has been of such good benefit in helping to reduce my overdraft to a manageable level. The joy,comfort and ease of banking with Nationwide as well as their friendly members of staff were what I left behind to join the nightmare of a bank called Alliance & Leicester.

Your experience mirrors my frustration with A&L.

I am simply going to pay off the (overdaft), overdraft and then find my way back to the Nationwide. Never again with A&L. Thank you very much.

Wrong, clean your specks pal:cool:

terafarma

PROLIANT wrote: »

Wrong, clean your specks pal:cool:

The few posts above with similar, or near similar experiences can't all be wrong with regards to Nationwide, can they?

If your banking experience with Alliance & Leicester has been good fine, but not everyone can vouch for such with them. You seem to have a bias and soft spot for A&L which I do not begrudge you.

Nationwide's internet and in-branch banking can not be faulted for clarity, ease of use and simplicity of banking transactions.

Get real and see the rubbish that A&L's online banking is all about