Co-op Business Banking – new system looks bad already
I hope to be proven wrong, but I fear that the ongoing Co-operative Bank Business Online Banking fiasco is going to degenerate even further.
The co-op bank have published a short video screencast demoing their new system, presumably to make us believe they might actually come up with something usable any time soon. The new system is already overdue, pushed back to Q2 2010 which we are already into.
Why am I whining again about this? Well if you watch the video pay attention to some of the details.
First – you need a code generator device just to LOG IN. Yes that’s right. You need a CUSTOMER ID, and a USER ID (hey I’m a small business, there’s only me!), and a generated passcode from those crappy machines that need your card and PIN entry. This mechanisms is supposed to make you more secure – but the way Co-op use it on their personal banking is a complete nightmare. You can’t even transfer a few quid to one of your own accounts, pay a bill (already set up) or amend an existing standing order without having to grab a registered debit card AND the code generator device. It makes the entire process extremely slow and awkward. What about people who work on the move? This is not user friendly at all. Using it to log in is a nightmare.
Second – notice how the transaction display in the video is a complete usability cock up. It shows 3-4 lines of balances without scrolling, despite there being much more screen space. It has a horizontal scroll bar all the time, because there are too many columns shown. Even with this, there’s not enough space given to the name of the account and it wraps after only a few characters. All this can be fixed quite easily but the point is it betrays a complete lack of understanding of usability.
On the plus side, I do notice from the navigation menus shown that there appears to be an ability to search for transactions, although you’ll forgive me if I don’t hold out much hope for the actual implementation of this being any good.
There’s however no mention of an international payments option, which presumably – and rather insanely in 2010 – still requires a FAX sent to their offices, on “headed notepaper” to be acceptable. I know, I had to do this last week. It is so antiquated and so foolish. FAX is inherently insecure, and you could easily fax all your bank details to the wrong person if you get the number wrong. Add to that the hilarious false assumption that “headed notepaper” is of any valid use in judging authenticity at all. They don’t know what my headed notepaper looks like. In fact I don’t have any. I sent it with a default template from iWork. And yet if it doesn’t look like “headed notepaper” they won’t accept it.
Laughable. Wake up banks! We don’t user typewriters, telex or fax any more, even if you do in your antiquated businesses.
6 Comments
Chris
May 5, 2010I went through the initial pain of the “pin-sentry” with Barclays a few years ago, and well, its still a pain now. The thing that annoys me with them is that you should only really need it when transferring money to somebody else’s account or paying somebody new. There’s no need for it when actually logging in to see your accounts and transferring money between them.
I think that usability is definitely an afterthought with online banking systems…
Tom Davis
May 5, 2010I hadn’t noticed the new demo. So it looks like, despite the fact we’ve been suffering for years, the new system is going to be just as unusable as the old one.
Whoever is responsible for online services at Coop group needs shooting – the implementation of the keypad things at personal/Smile is abysmal and destroys what otherwise was the model online banking system. Why they can’t engage their brains and think about these things before they implement them I don’t understand? It can’t be that difficult.
I’m going to start preparing my things ahead of finally jumping out of the good ship Coop. I’ve been more than patient – and not it’s just run out.
Andy
May 5, 2010The sad thing is I would settle for a system which is merely difficult to use, rather than impossible as the current one is. Saying that, our patience has finally snapped and we’re moving elsewhere.
The complete lack of concern from the co-operative bank about the amount of inconvenience their shoddy online banking system creates is unbelievable.
James Smart
May 28, 2010I hope and pray the new website is better than their current effort.
It’s embarrassing. It used to be bad, it seems to be getting worse.
joyce pearce
August 21, 2010I totally agree with your comments regarding loging into the new co-operative banking system. I have just been sent the dreaded code generator, if you want to do anything it takes three times as long, you have to click into too many pages and as you say there is only two or three lines on view or you have to scroll down. When you actually log into transactions you have to log into a different page to see what you want and if you want to print it there are all the colours under the sun so you use all your ink. When I contacted the bank they said it was making life easier for the customer (what customer) am I missing the point.
Nicholaus Hall
December 12, 2011I’ve read your posts in the past but haven’t seen anything recently. Have you closed your account?
Another issue I’ve recently discovered is that you can’t get a list of Direct Debits that are setup, unless there have been recent transactions, in which case you can see them in the “Direct Debit report”.