Those of you that don’t like my rants, stop reading now.
OK, you’ve got this far. I want to tell you about my recent experiences with attempting to buy premium bonds from NS&I. And before you all tell me it’s not a good investment, yes, I know that, but it’s a better investment than the lottery. And I bet most of you play that (I don’t). I’m also hopeful that my experience might serve as a warning to others before they manage to walk into the same customer service black hole that I’ve just stumbled into.
Up until 2 or 3 months ago, buying premium bonds online was really simple. All you needed was your holder’s number and a valid debit card. You went on their website and bought the bonds. Your certificate arrived in the post a few days later. Everyone’s happy.
But then, they introduced a new online system. First of all, registering on it was a pain. I now have in addition to my holder’s number a brand new and shiny NS&I number that is so long you simply can’t remember it. I also can’t remember the exact hoops I had to jump through to get my account set up, but it was pretty painful and involved various ‘phone calls, letters, forms that were too small to write on properly, pin numbers, security questions and very strict rules on passwords that were acceptable and those that were not. Anyway, I managed to jump through these hoops (I think it took me about a month all told) and got myself set up.
Tonight, I decided to attempt to buy a few more premium bonds. The site challenged me for my NS&I number. After messing around in my filing cabinet, I found it. It then wanted the 4th and 6th characters of my password. Now I work in computing so I know not to write my password down and leave it lying about. Unfortunately, it wasn’t one I could remember because of their rather strict rules on passwords. I went through the password reset routine instead. This involved answering questions on-screen and then NS&I ringing me via an automated system to ask for a number that had appeared on-screen (it was a good job I was at home!) The final act of their system was to tell me my new temporary password “was being sent to me”. I was then unceremoniously thrown off the website via a pop-up (not good practice). I then spent the next 10 minutes checking my email inbox before calling them to ask where my temporary password was. Apparently they send them out by post.
Sighing a little, I then asked if I could simply purchase my bonds by ‘phone instead. To which the answer was a resounding “no” – at least, not until they’d sent me my new password and me having logged in and reset it. This was despite them knowing who I was, having provided them with my name, address and holder’s number (they weren’t interested in the NS&I number for some strange reason). Apparently, if you’ve managed to lock yourself out of their online system then they can’t sell you anything by ‘phone because the two systems are very tightly linked. Their suggestion was that I made my way to the nearest Post Office and buy them over the counter as it could take a few days for my password to be finally reset.
I complained. They’ve given me a complaint number. They will acknowledge my complaint by letter in the next week. It could then take another 28 days to respond to it.
So much for customer service. NS&I have lost my custom for the foreseeable future. I’m off to buy lottery tickets instead.
Or you could set up a premium bond syndicate like we did and let the syndicate manager wory all about it. It’s been running so long now (over 20 years) that we’re starting to have people retiring from it!
Love your ramblings:-) Used to be a keen investor but with markets as they are, have given up. Besides, don’t have time to chase potential waves…. So lottery tickets may be the next best thing!!!
I need to update this post at some point. NS&I’s response to my complaint has been incredibly impressive. They rang me to talk about it the next day and my new password appeared a day later.
They’ve not changed anything (yet), but it was obvious that they understood the issue (particularly the point about the online and telephone systems being too tightly coupled when attempting to buy products from them). I’m a slightly mollified customer now – even if I’m still not happy!
Same sort of experiences, but some new ones too. I agree though that the apparent security measures do not actually increase security, merely hinder use. Just wanted to add my own gripes. I was astounded to discover the only way I could view my address, phone number etc. (under preferences) was to change them! I have submitted an email pointing this out to them, but, c’mon how stupid is that. Some apparently minor other things reflect poor design, like once you enter the first requested character of your password the cursor does not automatically jump to the next box ready for the second character … this kind of thing is website design 101. All very poor, and quite worrying that it probably reflects other poor design issues … hopefully not security though. I’m tempted to instruct closure of my online account and force them to continue doing everything by post.
I hadn’t delved that deeply into the website, but I’m not surprised at what you say based on my limited experience of it so far!
… and the saga continues. I’ve now had a letter from NS&I that contradicts what their customer service centre and complaints rapid response team told me! Apparently, it is possible to buy Bonds using a BACS transfer direct from your bank account, without having to go anywhere near their website or call centre, or have a password and all of the nonsense that goes with it. Sighs.
Details, if anyone else is interested:
Removed 30/09/2011- apparently the advice given to me about this originally was incorrect!!
Not happy with these peolple as they lie and contradict themselves in letters. I tried to register online and i received a letter asking me to sign a form and have it witnessed as they didn’t have it on file. I did this and received another letter stating that i couldn’t be registered as my last signature didn’t match the one they had on file. It’s now a month since my first attempt and i am now complaining about their service and why the need to lie and contradict each other. Makes me feel the time is right to withdraw the money i have lodged with them
I’m not sure about lie, but they certainly contradict themselves in the letters they send you. I’ve since had another letter from them telling me that you can’t do a direct transfer to them from your bank account, but that it may sometimes be possible if they are feeling benign. I eventually managed to get £25 from them as a goodwill gesture, but I’ve given up with them now.
Glad I’m not the only disgruntled one. What a farce their system is. I’ve happily bought premium bonds to safely store my tax money till needed for years. Last year I applied for the online/phone password, but by the time all the forms were filled in & I finally got it, I’d withdrawn the money. So I never used it. Then I wanted to buy more, but because I hadn’t used the password quickly enough, it didn’t work. So guess what, I have to call them, and not only do they have to send out the new password by post, but we have to do the whole form filling in thing again. Jeeeezus. I have an account. I have purchased from them before. Just let me buy the damn bonds already! Grrrrr
Somebody in the Organisation was / is paid megabucks for setting up this overcomplicated system . I am 66 years of age & by no means backward but I am sure anyone of advanced years would be petrified by the intricacies of the ns&i set up.I am now thinking ahead &wonder if I will be able to get my hands on my own money when I am finaly freaked out by the ns&i systems. Time to reconsider.
Further to other comments on this subject, I have been set up to manage Premium Bonds online for some time but now I have attempted to make several withdrawals in a couple of weeks, system rapidly started being not satisfied with my NS&I Number and random characters from password, started adding pages asking for answers to security questions which I answered correctly then finally logged me out because the system says my answers were incorrect and online access is suspended! On ringing them today (Saturday) I now have to wait until at least Wednesday of next week for password change info in post (I DON’T NEED TO CHANGE MY PASSWORD, THERE WAS NO PROBLEM WITH IT!) and then if I am successful in resetting my info, it will take the proverbial 3 working days to transfer the withdrawal into my designated bank account! Also nowhere on the website does it tell investors that answers to security questions may ALSO be required for withdrawals, even if their NS&I Number and password info are accepted. Not at all impressed and am becoming convinced this is some sort of ‘ploy’ to take longer to process withdrawals or make them more difficult to obtain. Their website generally is really poor and it is almost impossible to find even their postal withdrawal form without going through many pages on the website.
Hi Sue,
It was some time ago that I wrote the original post – I was hoping that my complaints and those of others might have improved the situation by now, but apparently not. I hope you manage to get your issues resolved with NS&I soon. However, make sure that you do register a formal complaint – it’s only in this way that organisations ever start to improve – and they did compensate me in the end as well.
Tim.
Still as bad in April – had a password reset by post and attempted to set up the link to get Premium Bond prizes sent to my bank account (not that there are many nowadays) but it then asked for security answers to questions that had no answer! EG what is your spouses middle name (she does not have one!!)
Helpline then suggested I must have completed that box last year – which is odd because she didnt have a middle name then either….
The previous posts say it all – very badly designed, and far too complicated for what should be simple transactions…