Customers were furious yesterday after their bank left them stranded without cash for the second time in less than a year. They bombarded Royal Bank of Scotland message boards and social networks after an IT glitch meant they could not use cash machines. Telephone and online banking services were also disrupted by the problem, which began around 9pm on Wednesday. Furious customers were left stranded without access to their money as Natwest computer systems went into meltdown. RBS boss Stephen Hester was forced to say sorry only less than a year ago after a similar IT failure . State-backed RBS, which includes NatWest and Ulster Bank, said a hardware fault was to blame and claimed the problem was rectified within two hours. It apologised for an ‘unacceptable failure’ and promised to compensate customers for any losses they suffered. But RBS insisted there was no link to last summer’s chaos, when a botched software upgrade left 16million RBS, NatWest and Ulster Bank customers unable to make or receive payments – in some cases for several weeks. RBS, which received a £45.5billion bail-out from taxpayers in 2008, has already set aside £175million to compensate customers for June’s chaos. It could not say how many were affected by Wednesday night’s problems but a message board on NatWest’s website was swamped with complaints, some of which referred to the company’s ‘helpful banking’ slogan. One customer wrote: ‘I can’t get to work as card declined on train, so lost a day’s wage and [you] expect me to pay to call for info!’ Another said: ‘Really upset that NatWest comms have failed again. We understand that things sometimes go wrong – but ‘helpful banking’ is all about helping people and communication with them. After last year’s fiasco I stuck with you, but now I’m not going to.’ A Twitter user from Aylesbury said: ‘All that money made, all that money paid out in bonuses, all those software migration issues ignored.’ Helpful banking? This was the error screen on the NatWest online banking website last night as millions were unable to use services for several hours . @SteveJayUK : #natwest A very disappointed customer, once again your system fails and all we get is a sorry. Time to get a grip.‏ . @Konichikagawa: @NatWest_Help so will you be paying for our telephone bill for 0845? no… I’m switching this weekend. s*** customer service. s*** banking‏ . @ClareMiller1: Tried to book our holiday last night, unfortunately #natwest were having problems again. Hope the price hasn't gone up today/tomorrow :( . @isofarro: Some good news, my bank NatWest allowed me to buy a train ticket with my NatWest card this morning. that was terribly nice of them . The latest shambles came as RBS boss Stephen Hester scooped a shares bonus worth nearly £700,000. He received almost 23,000 shares yesterday from a bonus awarded in 2010. Mr Hester forfeited his bonus for 2012, worth up to £2.4million, following last summer’s chaos. Marc Gander of the Consumer Action Group, said: ‘It would be far more appropriate for RBS to spend this money on improving its disastrous IT systems rather than shovelling more into Hester’s personal trough’. RBS said it spends between £1billion and £2billion a year on its IT systems, which have privately been described as ‘chronic’ by regulators and are thought to be the reason why rival bank Santander pulled out of a £1.65billion deal to buy 315 of its branches last year. An RBS spokesman said: ‘We apologise for the disruption our customers experienced last night. ‘All systems are up and running as normal, though any customers with any individual problems should get in touch with us. ‘Any customer who was left out of pocket due to this outage should get in touch so we can put things right for them.’
Customers bombard message boards and social networks following fault .
RBS insist there was no link to last summer's chaos .
News comes as boss scooped a shares bonus worth nearly £700,000 .
Customers were furious yesterday after their bank left them stranded without cash for the second time in less than a year. They bombarded Royal Bank of Scotland message boards and social networks after an IT glitch meant they could not use cash machines. Telephone and online banking services were also disrupted by the problem, which began around 9pm on Wednesday. Furious customers were left stranded without access to their money as Natwest computer systems went into meltdown. RBS boss Stephen Hester was forced to say sorry only less than a year ago after a similar IT failure . State-backed RBS, which includes NatWest and Ulster Bank, said a hardware fault was to blame and claimed the problem was rectified within two hours. It apologised for an ‘unacceptable failure’ and promised to compensate customers for any losses they suffered. But RBS insisted there was no link to last summer’s chaos, when a botched software upgrade left 16million RBS, NatWest and Ulster Bank customers unable to make or receive payments – in some cases for several weeks. RBS, which received a £45.5billion bail-out from taxpayers in 2008, has already set aside £175million to compensate customers for June’s chaos. It could not say how many were affected by Wednesday night’s problems but a message board on NatWest’s website was swamped with complaints, some of which referred to the company’s ‘helpful banking’ slogan. One customer wrote: ‘I can’t get to work as card declined on train, so lost a day’s wage and [you] expect me to pay to call for info!’ Another said: ‘Really upset that NatWest comms have failed again. We understand that things sometimes go wrong – but ‘helpful banking’ is all about helping people and communication with them. After last year’s fiasco I stuck with you, but now I’m not going to.’ A Twitter user from Aylesbury said: ‘All that money made, all that money paid out in bonuses, all those software migration issues ignored.’ Helpful banking? This was the error screen on the NatWest online banking website last night as millions were unable to use services for several hours . @SteveJayUK : #natwest A very disappointed customer, once again your system fails and all we get is a sorry. Time to get a grip.‏ . @Konichikagawa: @NatWest_Help so will you be paying for our telephone bill for 0845? no… I’m switching this weekend. s*** customer service. s*** banking‏ . @ClareMiller1: Tried to book our holiday last night, unfortunately #natwest were having problems again. Hope the price hasn't gone up today/tomorrow :( . @isofarro: Some good news, my bank NatWest allowed me to buy a train ticket with my NatWest card this morning. that was terribly nice of them . The latest shambles came as RBS boss Stephen Hester scooped a shares bonus worth nearly £700,000. He received almost 23,000 shares yesterday from a bonus awarded in 2010. Mr Hester forfeited his bonus for 2012, worth up to £2.4million, following last summer’s chaos. Marc Gander of the Consumer Action Group, said: ‘It would be far more appropriate for RBS to spend this money on improving its disastrous IT systems rather than shovelling more into Hester’s personal trough’. RBS said it spends between £1billion and £2billion a year on its IT systems, which have privately been described as ‘chronic’ by regulators and are thought to be the reason why rival bank Santander pulled out of a £1.65billion deal to buy 315 of its branches last year. An RBS spokesman said: ‘We apologise for the disruption our customers experienced last night. ‘All systems are up and running as normal, though any customers with any individual problems should get in touch with us. ‘Any customer who was left out of pocket due to this outage should get in touch so we can put things right for them.’
Bank of Scotland message boards and social insisted there was no link to last summer’s as RBS boss Stephen Hester scooped a shares bonus worth nearly £700,000. He received almost 23,000 £2.4million, following last summer’s chaos. Marc