Is It Just Me, Or...

[securespark]

...Is anyone else finding "self-managed" mobile phone accounts (or any self-managed accounts) sometimes a pain in the backside?

Sorry, it's a bit of a rant this one!

My debit card expires at the end of the month, so I wanted to update recurring payments to Smarty and GiffGaff.

So I open up my Smarty app and it completely fails recognise my email and password. I know they're good as I have successfully logged on with those details before.

So, I give up with the app and go to Smarty on the web.
Except it opens the app again. Arrrgh!

So, as the app is not working, I delete it. Then I go and open up the browser and go to Smarty and log in. It also refuses to accept my details. So I clear the cache etc... try again. No go. So I try a different browser, again no go.

So I I write a message to Smarty (as a guest, because I can't log in) detailing all my problems asking them to sort them out or provide me with a PAC, because at the end of the month, I won't have any phone service so will want to move elsewhere.

I also moaned that when asking for my details, they requested my DoB (I entered the one they suggested) which I thought was flipping cheeky.

Afterwards, I tried again later and the system let me log on, sweet as a nut, but I couldn't find anywhere how to change the card details. Like, the web page developer didn't think to stick a big button on the page saying "Update your card details here".

I had to Google it. What you need to do is disable auto renew and turn off save payment settings, then remove the old card details and add the new card details, then don't forget to enable auto renew and turn back on save payment settings.....

Then I was directed to my banking app that looked like it was authorising another £8 payment, which I did, but when I checked it, it hasn't taken another payment.

Why so blinking complicated?

Then I logged into my GG account. No grief getting in, but could I find out where my card details were stored to change them?

As my old primary school mate used to say, "Could I 'eckers like!"

I had to dig out the email from them which helpfully had a button on it which took me straight to the page in my account where the card was. And there was no faffing around like the Smarty system. Just click one button and change the number. And when it came to authorisation with the banking app, the amount it "took" was £0.00.

Do other folk struggle with stuff like this?

Is It just me?

Is It related to age?

Or is it bad design of the app or web page?

 

[Murdochcat]

I some times find apps prevent you from doing some things to an account and logging on to the account on a PC is essential

 

[Deluks]

When I try to send a payment through my online bank webpage they make me log into the app on the phone to authorise the payment. Probably to increase security.

So it's quicker to pay directly through the app, this means I use the web page less often, where I used to remember the log in details off by heart, now because of infrequent use, I have to keep them written down somewhere. Which is a risk to security.

 

[mattylad]

I hate the damn things, they always make it so complicated and then later refuse to accept your correct details because they have changed their site.
I use a password manager for all mine so I know damn well that my details being entered are 100% correct, but they say "oh no, your wrong".

Recently I wanted to withdraw/close a couple of Natwest ISA's as they have little in and are giving a pathetic return.
Trying the website or app was not good as they had not sent me a new card in several years, so asking for entry into fort Natwest I had to get a code posted to me.
While waiting for that I had to drive into the next town (because the bank here had closed) with my expired passport (I have not been abroad in many years), my current driving license and an old statement.
Luckily they were great and paid me out but left a couple of quid in the bank, I think I'll just forget about that as I want nowt to do with Natwest any more.

Virgin, I gave up trying to access that account a few years ago as its always hated me.

 

[blup]

Apps are being used to mine your personal data, there are almost ways to use a service/product without signing up to the app.

 

[Murdochcat]

What really annoys me is that every year we have to move money from one ISA to another to get a decent return AND I do the same for the MIL

Why can’t banks just allow pensioners to open an ISA and maintain a decent rate every year?

 

[Deluks]

What really annoys me is that every year we have to move money from one ISA to another to get a decent return AND I do the same for the MIL

Why can’t banks just allow pensioners to open an ISA and maintain a decent rate every year?

Is a design feature, to milk the lazy, the too busy, the stressed, the uninformed. Basically, the poor and stupid!

 

[Justin Passing]

What really annoys me is that every year we have to move money from one ISA to another to get a decent return AND I do the same for the MIL

Why can’t banks just allow pensioners to open an ISA and maintain a decent rate every year?

I used to do that, then realised how over-simple it is.
Put the money in a stocks and shares isa.

In that, use a Money Market fund which will give you a return equivalent to the "bank rate"
I've posted this a load of times, heres a new one: THREE years

Orange is the bank rate - within half a percent or so or what you;'d get in a BldgSoc, usually.

Move some of your money, say 20%, slowly over say 3-4 months, and only if the fund is rising over the period, into a different fund.
The pinky mauve one is a Convertible bond
Above, the grey one is the S & P 500
The blue one is what's termed a Strategic Bond
The brown one is a technology Index fund.

As you can see, if you bought at the wrong time and weren't watching, your money in the brown one would have taken a while to come back.
The purple one didn't dip much, and the Blue one hardly at all.
If you started with £100, split as suggested, over 3 years, using blue
£80 would have grown about (say) 13% or £10 to £90
£20 would have grown 60% or £12 to £32

Overall you'd have got £122 over the 3 years, That's double the gain the bldg soc would have given.

Bonds, are basically based on loans, not shares, so not so volatile.
You can do better if you shift some or part of your 20% to something doing well "at the moment".
This is the same funds exactly, past 3 months: