Bankrupt Banker: Tesco Bank's big apology

Tesco Bank's big apology won't stop saver exodus

For the 2,500 savers who couldn't get at their cash – and those who are still struggling in vain – it may be a case of too little, too late. But over the weekend, Tesco Bank wheeled out its top brass to apologise for an almighty IT cock-up that's angered customers beyond repair. Chief executive Benny Higgins admitted the bank had 'failed' its savers and apologised unreservedly. The bank also offered to refund any savers who suffered 'financial losses' in last week's four-day online savings account lock-out. Our inbox (editor@thisismoney.co.uk) is stuffed full of emails from readers, with a worrying number still unable to pay bills or cover direct debits thanks to log-in problems. Charges for failing to meet payments are often harsh - £12 on late credit card payments and 30% on overdrawn current accounts, for example. It's good that they'll receive some sort of compensation. But it remains to be seen whether Tesco's definition of 'financial loss' will include the 7p a minute phone calls made to its helpline in customers' battle to get things sorted. Some customers spent hours and hours waiting on hold. Based on anecdotal evidence, I reckon we're talking thousands of customers who spent around £10 on phone calls before Tesco switched from an 0845 number to an 0800 replacement late last week. They all deserve to get that cash back. Unfortunately, Tesco was non-committal when I asked about this and stressed its 'case by case' policy. (By the way, anyone who still has problems should use 0800 015 3198 – hopefully you’ll get through sooner rather than later at this stage, but it appears lines are still busy). Tesco's web crash was a real disaster as far as internet banking goes. Some 22million of us use online account facilities in Britain, and we’ve become fairly reliant. Sure, we often hear reports of online banking suffering temporary time-outs – this is technology we're talking about after all, and it's not perfect. But Tesco's attempt to migrate some 600,000 savings and loan customers to a new computer system took things to a new level. One of the major problems was that Tesco doesn't have a High Street presence. Its stores stick out like a sore thumb in city centres but, as yet, you can't just walk in and sort your savings. That left panicked customers reaching for the phone as the only remaining option. When lines got jammed with a barrage of calls, they were left in a horrible limbo. The latest apology on Tesco's website (click for popout) When This is Money broke the story of the chaos last week, we also alerted Tesco Bank to a serious problem with Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser which was stopping almost every IE9 user logging in. To be honest, we were a little shocked Tesco wasn't aware of this major issue. Staff investigated and, in conjunction with This is Money, put together a guide to help solve the problem. But we've received a barrage of angry emails from customers who still can't get online banking to work, whatever they try. Many of them, like Ted Shoot, just want to get at their accounts so they can close them down. During the shut-down last week, Mr Shoot had to get an emergency loan from his daughter to pay for a holiday booking. Understandably, he doesn't think that's acceptable and is leaving. If the comments on our stories are anything to go by, a significant number of other savers are preparing to up sticks and say goodbye to Tesco Bank. Here are a few of the gripes we recived over the weekend: - Nigel Jenkins: 'After 77 minutes of waiting, someone eventually came on the line. They were talking to someone else, could not hear me and then hung up and my call went dead. Even bigger shambles.' - Ray Newell: 'The Tesco website states that my wife needs a Temporary PIN and to contact the Online Helpdesk. But it is impossible to get through to the Helpdesk.' - Charles Arnold: 'Impossible to obtain access to Tesco account, after numerous fruitless phone calls eventually got through[55 mins later] to be told I would be called back. No such call happened.' - Veronica Perrin: 'I am using Internet Explorer 9 and have followed Tesco's instructions to enable 'compatibility view' but to no avail. 'This allows me only to get to the second log-in page which then states that I am not using my regular computer and instructs me to enter several digits of my pin so that they can send a one-time access code to my mobile. This doesn't work as the boxes are non-functional. 'I have also upgraded to Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox as recommended by other users. Neither of these actions have made any difference. After a week of not being able to access my finances to pay urgent bills, etc., my situation is getting serious.' - David Baldwin: 'Tesco are telling lies over this problem and it is going to rebound on them. I, for one, will be closing my account, the moment this mess is sorted out, and I advise all Tesco Bank customers to take the same action.' Have no fear that Tesco bosses will be looking at this nightmarish scenario aghast. Within the business there has been a concerted push to compete with the 'Big Five' banks - Lloyds, RBS, Santander, HSBC, and Barclays. The reason is that banking can be far more lucrative than retail if you've got the right brand. Just look at the stats: Tesco made £3.5bn in profit last year but had to turn over £60bn to get it. It already has an incredibly strong brand within the retail space, and was hoping to use it to dominate financial services. This disastrous internet banking fiasco and the lingering stench of negative PR could put the dampeners on its banking dream for a while at least. My issue with Tesco's lock-out is not a technical one – as I say, these things do happen, particularly with big migrations like Santander’s Alliance & Leicester switchover this time last summer. The real problem here was Tesco's response. Customers needed clear information on the website and it was not forthcoming. It took several days to write a guide explaining how to solve the problems with Internet Explorer 9. And customers were left without cash while racking up huge telephone bills, getting passed pillar-to-post without clear answers. Either you get the technology right or you offer great service to make up for unforeseen mishaps. Tesco did neither. - Dan Hyde, This is Money *This is Money would like to apologise for typo in an earlier version of this article. The correct figure of 2,500 savers known to be affected by the lock-out was announced by Benny Higgins on BBC Moneybox on Saturday 25 June.

Tesco Bank's big apology won't stop saver exodus

For the 2,500 savers who couldn't get at their cash – and those who are still struggling in vain – it may be a case of too little, too l...