Bank of Bermuda upgrade problems

With the massive, big-bang upgrade to the Bank of Bermuda’s systems that took place over the weekend, some problems were perhaps to be expected.

I managed to sign up for the new internet banking service successfully this morning, but when I tried to log in this evening, my memorable answer and password were rejected. Suspiciously, the section prompting me for characters from my password asked for four characters (first, second, last and last again), but only provided boxes to enter three. Moreover, no matter how many times I went to log in, or what browser I used, I was always prompted for the answer to the same memorable question and the same characters from my password.

Thinking that perhaps I had mis-remembered my password, I followed the link to reset it. After entering the answers to two of my memorable questions, I was then prompted to enter another memorable answer – but no question was specified. Well, that’s certainly secure.

Now I’m getting a system message saying that my account has been temporarily suspended – presumably because of too many failed logon attempts.

I would call the bank to find out what was going on, but helpfully, support is only available between 8am and 5pm. If ever there was a case for customer support being outsourced to an Indian call centre, this is it.

Anyone else having problems?

» Looks like the logon problems may have been a temporary glitch. Still a bug in their password reset process though.

Comments

[NoVote on 16.10.06 at 19:46]

Nope. Registered successfully. Logged in several times. Transferred money. Changed wire limits. Updated my address details (something I couldn't do before, but which were needed due to my negligence and not poor data mapping). Exchanged messages electronically. Renamed all my accounts. Ordered a cheque book. Also managed to use AMT to withdraw cash, deposit a cheque. Debit card also worked fine in a restaurant. All in all things went well. Queues at head office looked pretty long though.

[a thursday wart on 16.10.06 at 20:00]

User error.

And what the hell is "mis-remembered"? The word is forgot.

[The Limey on 16.10.06 at 20:13]

I remembered my password perfectly. I only set it up this morning.

I have, however, just followed the instructions for resetting my account, and despite that missing third security question (I just guessed what answer they were looking for), I got back into my account.

Interestingly, when I log off and log back on again, I'm now only prompted for three characters from my password, and they are different from the three I was prompted for earlier. When I enter them, it logs me on OK. Perhaps they were having some problems when I tried to log on earlier.

Would still like to see them providing some customer support after 5pm though.

[NoVote on 16.10.06 at 20:16]

Limey - I believe that the help line is available 8:30am to 7:30pm. That according to the bulletin on the web-site and that was sent out by post.

[The Limey on 16.10.06 at 20:17]

I also have 5 additional accounts associated with my logon that I don't recognise, and that weren't advised to me in the letters I got from HSBC the other week.

Sadly, the balance in all of them is zero.

Still waiting for a response from the bank on what they are.

[The Limey on 16.10.06 at 20:21]

NoVote,

Hmm, you're right. That's not what their website says though!

[a thursday wart on 16.10.06 at 20:46]

Limey, I had extra accounts as well, and the answer was that it's for cash generated from your investment accounts (ie. dividend's). I also think you have a separate one for each currency you hold an investment in.

Apparently the investment accounts can no longer hold cash.

PS I was just winding you up earlier.

[slick on 16.10.06 at 20:52]

I registered last night and then tried to get online at 8:00am. Forgetaboutit. So I called the help desk at 8:00am when the service was supposed to be there (according to the website). Forgetaboutit. Got transferred to a voicemail telling me that their hours were 9:00am to 5:00pm then got transferred to a voicemail which told me "this user does not subscribe to this service". Can you believe it? They hadn't even set up the voicemail to cover when they promised to be available but couldn't make it. Tried again at 8:30 am but still no luck. Got transferred to the non-existant voicemail again. Well it is Monday in Bermuda! I guess that HSBC is on Bermuda time.

Contacted HSBC net (the Corporate site) and spoke to a very nice lady who was a little surprised that no-one was available to answer my call. She told me that someone would call me back. By the time I went to work - no call. Tried to call in on 299-5959 later in the day. Twice in fact. Waited 30 minutes with lots of nice messages about "Your business is important to us" and "this message may be recorded". Lots of nice soothing music, almost fell asleep. Does anyone work at the Bank of Bermuda? Finally gave up.

Tried to log in several more times with no luck. Spoke to a contact with the Bank who told me to log in again with a diferent user name. Followed her advice and wonder of wonders got to my accounts!!! Took me 30 minutes to figure out which account is which old account. Like Limey I have piles of new accounts. I've got Euros, I've got Canadian dollars, I've even got a Sterling account. Nothing in them but I've got the accounts. Shit, are they just teasing me! Man I'm loaded up with accounts. I think I had better contact that guy in the email from Nigeria, he is always looking for accounts!!

Final straw. Came home and picked up a message on my answering machine. Very upbeat person who kindly told me she had reset my user name and password. Man I can't believe it. Tried to log in and shit!! So for the third time today I have to re-register on the Bank's new site. Shit,shit shit!! I hate HSBC. I hate the Bank of Bermuda. You guys at HSBC can go frig yourselves.

PS. If anyone cares at the Bank I am a Premier customer. God help the rest of you.

[The Limey on 16.10.06 at 20:58]

a thursday wart

Oops. Missed the humour. Blame HSBC. ;)

[CB on 16.10.06 at 21:31]

I hate it. I want Sleazylink back.

[slick on 16.10.06 at 21:33]

Thanks Limey. "I feel the looooooove."

[Lisa on 16.10.06 at 21:51]

A mate of mine went to the BofB today and said it was utter chaos in there and that they were serving refreshments to people in line!

Luckily I bank with BNTB :-)

No way I'm lending my money to HSBC who uses it to fund Orangutan habitat destruction amongst other bad stuff.

They may donate a lil' bit to WWF - and don't they love to brag about that stuff... but they're not so eager to tell you how they make their money!

I got no sympathy for you Limey :op

[The Limey on 16.10.06 at 22:13]

There also seem to be problems with downloading transactions. When I download my transactions into Microsoft Money 2007 (carefully selecting the .QIF file option), the dates and amounts are correct, but none of them have the name of the payee attached to them. Not very useful.

[bdabye on 16.10.06 at 22:31]

Hi slick,

Sorry to hear about your terrible experience. I work for the Bank in their computer area, but am not directly involved with their switch-over. I will not make excuses for your poor customer service, but I will say that to execute something of this magnitude in 48 hours in a place like Bermuda is an enormous effort, and there are bound to be some teething problems that can not be forecast. We did try as much as possible to minimize them. I hope you have a better experience tomorrow, we are all trying our hardest, as this is new to all of us as well.

[The Limey on 16.10.06 at 22:44]

I'm probably coming across as unduly negative about the new internet banking site, so I should say that overall it looks a lot better than EasyLink and offers many more functions. I'm sure that most if not all of my gripes are just teething problems.

[Craig on 17.10.06 at 05:34]

I was able to successfully log in yesterday morning using the instructions on the site and the information from my new card. I have to admit I was probably lucky given that I only received the actual HSBC flyer instructions this morning.

While I like the ability to update the address/personal information, I hate the password entry system that requires you to enter different digits of your password each time you enter the site! How many of us will be resorting to counting on our fingers to make sure we get it right!! That being said - I'm sure that there are those of us who use Butterfield Direct that still get irritated using the virtual keyboard for password entry. the price of enhanced online security I guess.

As for the rest of the functionality - we will have to see how it goes. Luckily - I do most of my banking at Butterfield - so haven't been significantly impacted yet!

[sandgrownan on 17.10.06 at 08:31]

It all worked as advertised for me..shrugs shoulders...

[RedOnion on 17.10.06 at 08:43]

I'm off island right now and am guessing that my new card is sitting in my P.O. Box in Bda. My chances of being able to access my accounts is probably zero right now until I get back .... grrrrrrrr. The good news hopefully is that by the time I get back the system will be up and running as planned without glitches.

[Jennifer on 17.10.06 at 09:19]

I have to say, my experience has been much like NoVote's - no problems at all. I registered on Sunday and was using the system Sunday and Monday without issue. Transferred funds, set up payees (I was pleased to see they'd updated my other Bank of Bermuda payees to their new account numbers so I don't have to contact my landlord, landscaper etc. for their new numbers), renamed accounts, set my daily limits, etc. All very seamless. Must just be luck of the draw!

I have to agree that the policy of asking only for certain digits of the password is HIGHLY annoying, however I do understand the security aspect of it. I guess having to count on my fingers is a fair trade to increased security over my password!

I also really like the fact that I can view my loan and investment statements online (now, just need to be able to transfer to my investment account online...) and also the e-statement option.

All in all, I think the changes are great, I am pleased with my experience thus far.

[inBda on 17.10.06 at 12:15]

Well on the commercial side it's ridiculous - now you have to bank cheques and cash separately using tamper evident bags, different forms and bags for cash and cheques and the form you complete for cheques doesn't even have a field where you put the total amount of you deposit.

My dept deposit hundreds of cheques a month ans this is going to make reconcilliation day and real pain in the wotsits....I thought having to endorse every cheque we receive was a pain until I saw this....

BNTB is looking more attractive by the minute...

[Kristen on 17.10.06 at 12:50]

HSBC/Bank of Bermuda gave considerably to the public education system in Bermuda, and a number of other causes whilst I was in Bermuda. I suggest you raise your concerns with their philanthropic arm in Bermuda, I think you'll find they're quite keen on helping wherever and however they can. But i'm not saying they're angels.. we all could do more :)

[Denis Pitcher on 17.10.06 at 17:14]

I popped into the bank today and went to use my card to make a deposit in the bank machine. I was a bit surprised that no envelopes were there, but was informed by a rep that they now are spit out of the machine on demand, which was an unexpected change.

The machine however now gave all of my accounts by number, which had me confused as to which one to use. The rep suggested I could rename them online, so I registered online which was a breeze aside from the odd "memorable questions" of which I found none of them fitting anything that would be memorable to me. I would have rathered "enter a question" and "enter an answer", but what can you do but hope you'll remember what your dog's name was when you really had a cat. I think "pet" would have gone over better.

Withdrawing money was fun, because I wasn't able to. I suppose in the warnings they sent out they should have advised us to take out cash "just incase" for who knows how long it'll be before I can manage to get through the hour long lines or the endlessly busy support line.

For their future transitions I hope they bring in extra support staff or utilize external bank offices for added support, as it would have been helpful.

Though I do understand and appreciate the transition, especially given all the notice, so I hope the difficulties of myself and many others are simply hiccups in what will prove to be a much better system.

[observor on 19.10.06 at 11:27]

Kristen

HSBC/Bank of Bermuda gave considerably to the public education system in Bermuda, and a number of other causes whilst I was in Bermuda.

That is what they would have you believe. The vast majority of charitable donations supposedly made in the name of the bank these days are actually made by The Bank of Bermuda Foundation (nee The Centennial Trust) which has absolutely nothing to do with the current iteration of the Bank of Bermuda or its mother-ship, HSBC.

The Foundation was set up many years ago and funded with BoB stock; which in turn was was realised upon the sale of the bank to HSBC. It is a distinct and separate legal entity which is unrelated to HSBC.

Accordingly I find it entirely disingenuous when the powers that be at HSBC (especially Mr. Butterfield) continually take credit for the good work being done by the Foundation and in turn line the goodwill pockets of government using other people's money.

[SmokingGun on 19.10.06 at 11:48]

observer - interesting. Good to know.

[slick on 19.10.06 at 13:47]

Observer is absolutely right. The Bank of Bermuda Centennial Trust was created on the 100th anniversary of the Bank. Around that time Midland Bank the largest shareholder of the bank decided to sell its shareholding and the Bank bought back the shares which were placed in a trust. On 100th anniversary, the Bank made a gift to the people of Bermuda, the Bank of Bermuda Centennial Trust whose purpose and income was to be used for the people of Bermuda. Donald Lines was the mastermind behind this idea and deserves a lot of credit. It was a huge gift. Of course it also provided a relatively compliant shareholder for the management of the bank.

When HSBC took over the Bank, the Centennial Trust became more independent from the bank since it no longer owned the bank's shares. I think that independence may have been one of the requirements of the sale so that HSBC could not assume control and ownership of these funds.

HSBC's contribution to the trust is probably pretty minimal. They may forego fees, salaries and expenses in managing the trust but I don't think they have contributed any funds to it.

So if you are going to thank anyone for this charitable trust it is the former shareholders of the bank and Donald Lines.

[sick_and_tired_of_complaints on 19.10.06 at 23:12]

I currently work at the Bank and deal with businesses and individuals on a daily basis. I'm not sure why this discussion board started to make an argument about the Foundation, but I feel that another opion has to be thrown into the ring.

In response to Slick and Observer, yes the Bank of Bermuda Foundation is responsible for a large amount of donations to the community. However, the actual Bank of Bermuda also donates AT LEAST 1% of its net income in a year towards charitable activities. The Bank and the Bank of Bermuda Foundation both donated to the Bio Station (now BIOS) to allow them to purchase their new research vessel.

The Bank is also the sponsor for Cup Match and the summer Soccer Clinic. So please be mindful of what you say before you make an attempt to bash the Bank. If you look at the annual report from 2004 on the foundation, you will see that the Bank (HSBC) made a very large donation of coins and artifacts to the foundation to allow them to have a large asset base to grow from, which allows them to donate heavily to the community.

Finally, the Foundation works very closely with the Bank, as they have numerous schemes in place to entice employees to donate to local charity's, such as their matching scheme.

[island dweller on 20.10.06 at 06:38]

sick and tired...

Please snap out of it. The Bank is not all that. A community would expect it. Any large business is always expected to contribute a greater share to the community.

Further, it is business a decision called GOOD WILL. This not a corporation just be benevolent. Bashing icons comes with the teritory.

And by the way, the people who benefit from the Bank are truly grateful.

[JW on 20.10.06 at 07:26]

Why doesn't the Foundation change its name in order to remove any idea that they are still connected to the bank?

[hotspur on 20.10.06 at 08:33]

Is your toilet supposed to flush when you attempt a wire transfer?

[The Limey on 22.10.06 at 15:20]

Update on the problem downloading transactions to MS Money:

Four working days after notifying the bank of this problem, I received the following message:

Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting Bank of Bermuda.

Please be advised that we currently only support the following versions of Quicken and MS Money:

Quicken versions 2000-2004

MS Money versions 2000 - 2004

We are currently pursuing support of later versions.

Sincerely

Internet Banking Support

I am using MS Money 2007. However this cannot be the problem, since if you view the downloaded file (which is just a text file, despite having the .QIF extension), the payee details are nowhere to be seen in it. Hence, this problem must be affecting users of MS Money 2000-2004 as well.

The .CSV file download option suffers from the same problem. The Quicken file does contain the payee details, albeit in the memo field and mixed in with other information about the transaction.

I'm disappointed that the bank took so long to get back to me, and then with a response that indicated they hadn't properly investigated the problem. I'm following up with them, but if you are also experiencing this issue please consider sending a message to HSBC customer support, if you haven't already. The more complaints they get, the more likely they are to take a serious look at the problem and fix it.

[NoVote on 22.10.06 at 17:45]

Limey - I reckon at the moment that the more complaints that they get, the more likely they are to take a long time responding! You work in IT and therefore must have some experience of the complexity of the kind of change that the Bank is going through right now. This is the banking equivalent of transplant surgery for every major organ in somebody's body: the Bank will treage your complaint and give it the attention it deserves, I'm sure!

[The Limey on 22.10.06 at 17:55]

NoVote

As someone who works in IT, I know that if a user wants me to fix a problem, the more noise they make, the higher I'm likely to prioritise it!

I wouldn't mind so much if they'd said, "Yes, we can see that there is a problem, and we will fix it as soon as we are able". Clearly, my ability to download my transactions into Money is small beans in the grand scheme of things. It's the fact that they clearly didn't look into the problem before replying that irks me.

[island dweller on 22.10.06 at 20:17]

Limey,

They got your money. What do they need with you?

Good luck getting assistance.

[NoVote on 22.10.06 at 21:14]

Limey - I wish that I had such responsive IT staff to turn to as you!

If you try the approach that you suggest with the Bank, I suspect that they might raise their game on the PR front, but I don't see them refocusing their IT team to the MS Money extract functionality for a while.

One week after a conversion of this size, there have got to me bigger gremlins to deal with.

[Pitts Bay on 23.10.06 at 14:54]

Seems they have other problems too - their very helpful assistant at the PLV branch ATM center told me at lunch time today that they have run out of the new deposit forms!! therefore they only have the old ones, which don't really correspond to these new long a/c numbers, and I am sure using the old forms will cause a fatal glitch in the processing!!

Now that is some efficient planning for you!!

[observor on 23.10.06 at 15:41]

sick and tired of complaints

If you look at the annual report from 2004 on the foundation, you will see that the Bank (HSBC) made a very large donation of coins and artifacts to the foundation to allow them to have a large asset base to grow from.

Can you kindly quantify this donation and clarify how this non-liquid asset will provide a future revenue source which in turn can be used for charitable purposes?

Also can you also please quantify how the Bank arrived at a $30 million price tag for upgrading their online computer systems to a version which is already heavily used and supported by the entire HSBC group?

[SmokingGun on 23.10.06 at 16:11]

"Also can you also please quantify how the Bank arrived at a $30 million price tag for upgrading their online computer systems to a version which is already heavily used and supported by the entire HSBC group?"

Come on observer - you know better than that. It's called the "Bermuda over-run" charge. ;-) If you are thinking that all they had to do was just plug and play the exact same system that HSBC has had up and running then you are quite right. However don't forget, we aren't dealing with Macs here. ;-)

[slick on 23.10.06 at 16:30]

sick and tired,

It would be helpful if you would quantify the amounts that HSBC is donating directly to charities each year. Sponsoring events is a classic public relations and marketing expense. Its intent is to raise the profile of the organization in the community so that it maintains and increases market share. It is that feel good factor that makes customers say that they are glad they bank with HSBC.

The donation of coins and artifacts (I assume you are talking about paintings and maps)was a nice gesture but not very meaningful. HSBC assumed ownership of these artifacts when they bought the Bank of Bermuda and I suppose could have sold them. You could imagine the outcry from the community if that had happened. It would have negated all of the positive publicity obtained from sponsoring events!!

I am very grateful that the Bank sponsors events and is a good corporate citizen in Bermuda but the contributions of the Bank of Bermuda Charitable foundation have very little to do with HSBC. At the moment most people equate the foundation with HSBC and a good deal of unearned goodwill is created by that fact. Personally I think the Foundation should change its name and be seen as an independent entity.

[JJ on 25.10.06 at 16:20]

I hear from insiders that this conversion has been an absolute disaster and that the self-congratulatory rubbish they published last week saying how well it has gone is just that.......rubbish.
Payrolls not getting processed, ATM cards not working (here or overseas), tellers walking out over the pressure of dealing with scores or irate customers..
The system was basically rammed in before all the checks had been done.

[banker on 25.10.06 at 23:23]

The bank is having major conversion problems.

- Cards are being declined
- Accessing the new online platforn is a guessing game (log into your account and see for yourself)
- The retail banking lines aren't processing service correctly. You have to fill out the old form and sign it, then they print out a new form and request that you sign it and then you are given the old form back and along with the new form to confirm the transation took place.
- As of Monday, they are advertising where to find "DEPOSIT" on the atm screen. (the new platform hides it under "Other Services")

Apparently, the bank took a calculated risk converting before the new year.

This mess reminds me of CableVision's new box. Promise less than noticeable conversion... but delivered on noticeable surprises.

YOU will notice one thing...

When you receive your consolidated statement of all your accounts, you no longer have a line by line transaction report showing who has been using your bank account. If you are not online, then you are going to have to ask for a detailed report.

[NoVote on 25.10.06 at 23:44]

It's all still working fine for me. ATM's here and abroad. Debit card as well. Made deposits at the ATM's without problem. Got paid on time with no hastle. Have had no problems with online banking either.Really don't see the issues myself, other than queues being a bit long in the branch.