# Ulster Bank compensation scheme for IT issues



## vandriver (31 Aug 2012)

A colleague of my wife had €125 paid this morning(nothing in MY account though)

_The [broken link removed] website has all the details._

_Here is the Press Release - Brendan _

*Ulster Bank statement: 31st August 2012* 
ULSTER BANK ANNOUNCES COMPREHENSIVE PACKAGE OF MEASURES FOR CUSTOMERS

 
 Ulster Bank has today announced details of the comprehensive actions it  is taking to provide full redress for customers affected by the bank’s technical incident. The package of measures is available to customers from Monday 3rd September and has been built on four core principles:


Refunding  all fees, charges and debit interest which may have been charged in  error and correcting any credit interest owed as a result of the  incident 
Reimbursing reasonable out of pocket expenses incurred as a result of the incident 
Reassuring customers that their credit rating will not be permanently affected 
Recognising the inconvenience caused with a range of proactive customer measures
 *Refunding: *
We are already  proactively refunding all fees, charges and debit interest which may  have been charged in error and correcting any credit interest owed to  Personal, SME and Corporate customers’ accounts as a result of this  incident. This is happening automatically and we expect to have the majority of adjustments completed by the end of October 2012. 

*Reimbursing: *
Our  customers who have incurred reasonable out of pocket expenses as a  result of this incident can now claim for these to be reimbursed and we  will start processing these from Monday 3rd September. Information on how to claim is available to our customers through our website, branch network, telephony centre and we are also writing to our customers. Customers can send us their claim to our FREEPOST address.


We will also pay an additional 20% on top of these expenses up to a maximum €120, to Personal and SME customers. 
It  will help if customers can back up their claim with any original  paperwork for example, phone bills, bus tickets, travel receipts, bills  or invoices.  
*
Reassuring: * 
We  know that credit ratings are a significant concern to our customers and  we continue to work with credit reference agencies to ensure that no  customer's credit rating is permanently affected as a result of this  incident. If a customer has concerns about their credit rating they should visit their local branch and speak to a member of staff or call us on 1800 205 100 and we will facilitate a credit report for them, free of charge. 

*Recognising the inconvenience caused:*
We  appreciate that the recent technical incident impacted on the  day-to-day banking needs of our customers and in recognition of this  inconvenience, we are implementing the following additional measures:

i.An automatic one-off  payment, which equates to an additional rate for 3 months of 0.06%  Gross, 0.25% AER (fixed) on the average daily balance between 1  September and 30 November 2012, for those Personal and SME customers  with a savings account.
ii.     A 3 month waiver will apply to certain fees, charges and surcharge interest. 
iii.     During the incident, we encouraged customers to visit an Ulster Bank  branch to access their funds. In recognition of the inconvenience this  caused, an automatic one-off payment  of €25 has been made to those Personal current account customers who  visited and transacted at a branch during the period of the incident (19  June – 18 July) more frequently than in the equivalent period before  the incident (19 May – 18 June). 
iv.     Commitment not to introduce account maintenance fees for all Personal current account customers until July 2013.

 
If a  Personal current account customer has not incurred any reasonable out of  pocket expenses or does not qualify for the €25 automatic payment for  visiting and transacting at a branch more frequently during the period  of the incident, yet has suffered inconvenience, we would also be happy  to discuss that customer’s individual circumstances. Customers should  speak to a member of staff in their local branch or call us on 1800 205 100.

*
Customers of other banks:*
For  non Ulster Bank customers, fees, charges or interest that were incurred  as a result of the incident will either not be applied or will be  refunded directly by their own bank, where identified.

If  customers are seeking reimbursement for reasonable out of pocket  expenses they should contact their bank directly. Banks will use their  usual complaint handling policies and procedures to investigate and respond to any claims arising from this incident.
If a customer of another bank has concerns about their credit rating as a result of this incident, they should contact their own bank who will facilitate a credit report for them free of charge.
 Commenting on the customer redress programme Ulster Bank CEO, Jim Brown said:
“Once  again, I apologise unreservedly to our customers and customers of other  banks for the inconvenience this has caused and thank them for their  patience as we worked to resolve this issue. We recognise that we have  work to do to restore our customers’ trust in us and we believe that  this is the first step in that direction. We have worked with our key  stakeholders to ensure the additional measures which we are taking  provide a comprehensive response to customer concerns and demonstrate  our commitment to making amends.” 

A  provision of €35m has been made at a Group level for Ulster Bank costs  arising from the technical incident. Given the scale of the impact on  our customers, we expect that there will be additional costs over the  coming months as we continue the process of putting things right. 

The package of measures will be available to Ulster Bank customers from Monday 3rd  September and in the interim, customers who are concerned about their  individual redress and are seeking further information can go online,  call into their local Ulster Bank branch or call us on 1800 205 100, Monday – Saturday, 8am – 6pm. Business and Private customers should speak to their Relationship Manager or usual point of contact. 

Full details are available on our website at www.ulsterbank.ie


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## Knuttell (31 Aug 2012)

Just from listening to the 9am RTE1 news.

The gist of it is compensation for anyone who had to visit the branch during the outage will get €25...

No introduction of Bank fees til June 2013?

Out of pocket expenses will be reimbursed etc however no mention of those who had to wait weeks in order to get paid but managed to get by without visiting the branch and had to go to Post Offices etc to pay bills.

Link to "Compensation" details.

[broken link removed]


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## pudds (31 Aug 2012)

*€25*

€25 euro what an insult.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/...nds-as-refunding-policy-announced-565115.html


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## Harry31 (31 Aug 2012)

I posted this on another page - I still can't get into my online account - anyone else the same problem? Quelle Surprise!!!


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## Knuttell (31 Aug 2012)

Cannot log on either,the compensation offered is pathetic.


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## pudds (31 Aug 2012)

I can't logon either.. must be adding me hugh compo to my account, so must be patient.


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## Jonny (31 Aug 2012)

I cannot believe that people would settle for a mere 100.00 euro compensation ! Ulster bank chiefs that may be reading this must be laughing (all the way to the bank ! ) This is one of the biggest breakdowns in history and exact clinical financial compensation is NOT anywhere near sufficient. The real human pain this has caused,anxiety,stress,worry,embarrassment etc. must be taken into account & compensated for in conjunction with the "out of pocket amounts" which will vary from client to client. I really feel UB customers should form an alliance and engage the appropriate legal & financial expertise to go to UB & negoiate a realistic settlement figure & if it comes down to a case by case basis so be it.


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## Knuttell (31 Aug 2012)

Jonny said:


> I cannot believe that people would settle for a mere 100.00 euro compensation



eh Jonny its €25 and to qualify for that amt you must have visited the branch during the outage otherwise you get...



Nowt.


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## suemoo1 (31 Aug 2012)

well I got a measly 25e paid into my account yesterday.. certainly wouldnt suffice for the amount of stress and running around I had to do over two or more weeks.. reading it on line the hoops/receipts/invoices etc they are looking for for people that had to travel to other branches etc is madness.. i had to que so much for lodgements for work also that i had to get stamped and could not use the quick lodge as it was our year end (which still hasnt been sorted here in work) how do I go about proving all this?


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## Harry31 (31 Aug 2012)

Any word from the Financial Ombudsman about the offer?  Or is it deafening silence yet again.  I agree with Jonny above - the bank chiefs are just laughing at us, will it affect their pay - I doubt it.
In my own case, I still can't logon & there is no way I'm going into their bank - why would I waste my time yet again.  When there was the problem I did go in, but in the end didn't do any transaction as I was told that it would be pointless - so I won't be getting anything for that.  The whole bank is a farce!!


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## Sunny (31 Aug 2012)

They wouldn't have relased this without agreeing it with the Central Bank. I am happy enough. Not out of pocket, €25, free credit check and no Ufirst account fees for a few months. I can live with that. I can understand why people who were seriously inconvenienced aren't happy though.


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## ClubMan (31 Aug 2012)

Harry31 said:


> Any word from the Financial Ombudsman about the offer?


Nothing on their website that I can see but RTE mentions this:



> The planned deal has been approved by the Central Bank, while the  Financial Ombudsman said anyone not happy with their award can appeal.


and the _CB _have issued [broken link removed].



> Ulster Bank has now finalised its remediation plan, following the  recent technical failure which caused widespread inconvenience and  disruption due to the unacceptable delay in resuming normal services.  This affected both its own customers and those of other banks. Ulster  Bank is now writing to its customers directly to outline next steps. The  measures contained in its remediation plan will be effective for  customers from Monday 3rd September 2012.
> As part of its engagement with Ulster Bank, the Central Bank is  requiring Ulster Bank to provide clear and timely information to all its  customers on the remediation plan and, in particular, what customers  should do next in order to ensure they receive any redress and  compensation payments due to them.
> 
> 
> ...


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## Harry31 (31 Aug 2012)

Just managed to get into my account - I didn't receive any compensation - obviously the fact that my salary didn't go in for a week doesn't merit anything!


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## Sunny (31 Aug 2012)

Harry31 said:


> Just managed to get into my account - I didn't receive any compensation - obviously the fact that my salary didn't go in for a week doesn't merit anything!


 
Did you not go to a branch to take out money when your salary wasn't paid?


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## Harry31 (31 Aug 2012)

No Sunny, I took money out my CU account, I did call into the branch to attempt to pay in that cash because I didn't want D/D's to miss, but was told that it would be pointless paying in the cash as they couldn't guarantee that it would show up.  I couldn't be bothered arguing with them for 25Euro - they can keep it I'm going to close my account.


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## Sunny (31 Aug 2012)

Harry31 said:


> No Sunny, I took money out my CU account, I did call into the branch to attempt to pay in that cash because I didn't want D/D's to miss, but was told that it would be pointless paying in the cash as they couldn't guarantee that it would show up. I couldn't be bothered arguing with them for 25Euro - they can keep it I'm going to close my account.


 
Be careful you don't cut off your nose to spite your face. By all means, change banks if you like but this could happened to any one of them. Ulster Bank are still the only one (as far as I know) that offer free banking without conditions and a guarantee not to start charging until July 2013. I would hold off until then and then move.


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## Harry31 (31 Aug 2012)

Sunny said:


> Be careful you don't cut off your nose to spite your face. By all means, change banks if you like but this could happened to any one of them. Ulster Bank are still the only one (as far as I know) that offer free banking without conditions and a guarantee not to start charging until July 2013. I would hold off until then and then move.


 
Maybe I will hold off - it's just that it gets tiresome dealing with them!


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## Brendan Burgess (31 Aug 2012)

I have edited the first post in this thread to reproduce the press release 

Whatever about the amounts, it is a well designed system. 

Most people suffered some small amount of inconvenience and they don't have to submit a claim. 300,000 (?) of them are getting €25 directly into their bank account. Most people wouldn't have bothered documenting a claim, so this is good for everyone. Customers are saved the hassle of complaining. UB resources are freed up to deal with the more serious complaints.

They have agreed with the other banks that they should compensate their own customers directly and UB will then compensate those banks. Again, this is very clever and very efficient. If your employer is an UB customer and was 2 weeks late in paying you, you have no legal claim against UB. Your employer might have though. This allows these claims to be resolved quicky and efficiently. 

*Are the amounts adequate? 

*They are paying most people €25 anyway, but they are free to submit a larger claim if they don't like that. I would have thought that it would be better all round to pay €100 instead of €25. This would satisfy most people, but would push the cost up from €7.5m to €30m for this aspect. 

They will pay out of pocket expenses up to a limit of €125 as well. 

The commitment not to introduce fees until July 2013 is a good move, although I personally don't like "free banking". 

I don't understand why they are paying extra deposit interest. It seems like a very paltry amount and they would have been better not offering anything than offering 0.06%. Someone with €10,000 on deposit will get €6.  Paying €6 is more likely to cause offence than paying nothing.


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## tallpaul (31 Aug 2012)

No reimbursement for us. 

It seems therefore that if you are not living such as that you needed to physically queue in a branch to get money for food or other essentials, you are not worth compensating. 

Notwithstanding the fact that salaries were delayed then paid then overpaid and deducted again, direct debits were delayed, legitimate purchases were debited twice and remained on the account for _weeks, _visa bills not paid and then charged interest and fees for consecutive months even though the money had left my account to pay it and ultimately having to watch account like a hawk to ensure UB did not somehow manage to make yet another cockup, all against a backdrop of repeated fruitless calls to Anytime Banking...

Baffling!


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## Bronco Lane (31 Aug 2012)

My other half queued in the Stillorgan Branch for half an hour to be told that they couldn't deal with the transaction. So she had to leave. Who recorded this visit to the branch?


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## Harry31 (31 Aug 2012)

Conversation online with UB "help" desk (summary):
 
UB: Did you go overdrawn or incur any charges while system was down.
ME: No but my salary was delayed a week & although I called into the branch to try & lodge cash so D/D's would be paid I was told  - after a long waitthat you couldn't guarantee that monies would show up so I didn't bother but I did have to take 500 Eu out of my CU account.
UB:*: *i am sorry for your inconvenience.But if you would like to discuss this further the best way is to contact telephone banking.
ME:Why should I have to go to that trouble again - am I not entitled to any compensation?
UB:Automatic compensation is on incurred charges & interest unfortunately.  If you want to discuss compensation further you can escalate it via a complaint.
ME: A very unsatisfactory service - I will close my account.
UB: I am sorry but I can't advise further on the matter but I do understand your frustration.
===================
So I can bank their apology - not good enough!


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## Grizzly (31 Aug 2012)

I lodged three official complaints with the complaints department. Spent a couple of hours on the phone. My letter of apology that I received after I had made my complaint was a standard letter. I was not given a reference number for my complaints. I rang this week with yet another complaint only to find that my previous complaints had not be dealt with. So I was given an apology for the other apology not working out to my satisfaction. €25 would be an insult to me.


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## Harry31 (31 Aug 2012)

Grissly
I couldn't agree more.
I know about the "free" banking etc. but to be honest UB don't deserve to have use of my money sitting in my account over the month after the way they have treated us. I'm going to change to my CU, I may have to carry more cash to avail of their free usage policy, but it'll be worth it.


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## IsleOfMan (31 Aug 2012)

I simply used my account in the local credit union to access cash because my Ulster Bank was not available to me. I also phoned various departments to try and clarify matters. There is no record of me using the branch during this time because there was no point. I used Plan B. 
I still have not received any bank statements since last May despite being on a monthly system.  For me this "incident" is not over yet.


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## Time (31 Aug 2012)

I can see this backfiring on UB. €25 is a derisory amount of money for those severely inconvenienced. Many did not get to branches so they get nowt.

I can see their complaints department being even busier than before.


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## Brendan Burgess (31 Aug 2012)

Hi Time

What would you think would be fairer?  This is what I suggested in an earlier post.



> They are paying most people €25 anyway, but they are free to submit a  larger claim if they don't like that. I would have thought that it would  be better all round to pay €100 instead of €25. This would satisfy most  people, but would push the cost up from €7.5m to €30m for this aspect.


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## Brendan Burgess (31 Aug 2012)

Irish Times 

[broken link removed]

Consumer Association of Ireland chief executive Dermott Jewell described  it as “a mixed bag”, while Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Michael  McGrath called it “fair and reasonable”.

Ulster Bank’s compensation package for customers affected by the  meltdown of its IT systems seems to be “fair and reasonable”, Fianna  Fáil has said.
...“Overall, the package of measures announced by  the bank for its customers affected by the IT debacle seems to be fair  and reasonable provided it is implemented efficiently and the bank  doesn’t unnecessarily contest claims for out of pocket expenses,” Mr  McGrath said.
...
Labour Party Senator Lorraine Higgins said the compensation scheme was “insulting and derisory”.
“The  one-off payment of €25 to customers who had to go branch during the  crisis does not adequately address the stress, inconvenience and  hardship endured by them during this time.”


...
Sinn Féin MLA Phil Flanagan said the compensation announcement was “too little, too late”.
...


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## Time (31 Aug 2012)

The problem with their scheme is that those who stayed away from branches during the period are deemed not to have been impacted and thus receive nothing.


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## Harry31 (31 Aug 2012)

Of the people who did not/are not receiving any compensation, how many are going to write in & appeal?  I think I will just for the hell of it!


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## IsleOfMan (1 Sep 2012)

I am still waiting on a closing statement for a fixed term deposit that was closed at the beginning of August. Still not sorted despite asking at least 5 times now.
My branch is not answering the phone. All calls are being directed to Northern Ireland. They in turn email the branch to contact the customer. Despite the assurances that they will phone within 3 hours this is not happening.


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## SoylentGreen (2 Sep 2012)

I had a Term Deposit that closed in August. I see that I will not qualify for the bonus interest being paid because my account will not be open in November. Apparently your account has to be open in November for some reason to avail of this bonus. Why?  My account closed right in the middle of the "incident". I could and still not have received a closing statement of this account. I received two certificates of interest though. One showing that DIRT had been deducted at 28% and one showing that DIRT had been deducted at 30%.
As I am still waiting on my current account statement to be posted out I don't know when my Term Deposit was closed and when it was transferred across to my current account. (I don't have online banking).
If anything it's the accounts that closed during the incident that should be paid the bonus interest for all of the inconvenience that was caused.


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## kceire (5 Sep 2012)

I got €300 and was only lightly affected.
I think the trick is in how you word your complaint letters and how you get your point accross on the followup call from UB


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## Harry31 (6 Sep 2012)

I haven't contacted them to complain about my salary not going in yet, but was very interested in kceire post.  I also see that my account statement online now shows that my salary did go in on the correct day - is that allowed when it didn't?


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## Bronte (6 Sep 2012)

I don't want any money from Ulster bank.  In any case all those who are going to get paid a miserly 25Euro, well it's me and you who are actually paying this, not the bank.  The bank never pays.


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## Laramie (12 Sep 2012)

I got yet another letter of apology yesterday but post marked two weeks ago. It seems that Ulster Bank's post sits in a box for two weeks before being posted. 
The insult to me was that the letter inside was dated the 7th August. They have been churning out these "standard" apology letters and it has come to the stage where the person who was put in charge of this task couldn't even be bothered to update the date of the letter.


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## Bronte (12 Sep 2012)

It's a 'system driven response letter' to put it in their lingo.


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## SlurrySlump (12 Sep 2012)

I finally got 3 bank statements this week. The first since the beginning of June.


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## Palerider (22 Sep 2012)

Bronte said:


> I don't want any money from Ulster bank. In any case all those who are going to get paid a miserly 25Euro, well it's me and you who are actually paying this, not the bank. The bank never pays.


 
I don't want the €25 either, especially as it will be one more thing on the tax return, I'm sure you all know any payment received is subject to taxation, as to Bronte's comment, compensation will come from the parent RBOS, Ulster will mark a provision against the costs of this debacle and RBOS will write a cheque to cover, so it will be the U.K. taxpayers footing the bill as RBOs is majority owned by the U.K Govt and only right as the ' debacle ' started with a collapse in their systems, systems Ulster were whooly dependent upon.


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## Laramie (4 Oct 2012)

Has anyone refused the €25 compensation and what was the result?  I was offered the €25 on a joint account and refused as it wasn't enough for both of us as several accounts were messed up. They have ignored my correspondence about the matter and have just credited my account with €25.


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## Time (4 Oct 2012)

You need to formally reject their offer in writing. They will then negotiate a settlement with you.


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## Tintagel (7 Oct 2012)

I have written to Ulster Bank and they are just ignoring my correspondence. My letters are addressed to the person who sent me 4 letters apologising for their problems. Just goes to show he didn't really mean it, I guess.  I wonder does he actually exist at all or was his name and title fabricated?


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## chasm (12 Oct 2012)

Tintagel said:


> I have written to Ulster Bank and they are just ignoring my correspondence. My letters are addressed to the person who sent me 4 letters apologising for their problems. Just goes to show he didn't really mean it, I guess.  I wonder does he actually exist at all or was his name and title fabricated?



Are you sending it to the Head of Complaint Management's address?


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## Bronco Lane (13 Oct 2012)

I have sent a letter to The Manager of the complaints Department in Georges Quay and it has been ignored as well.


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## IsleOfMan (23 Oct 2012)

I have written twice to the person from customer complaints who sent me the various letters of apology during their crisis, same as another poster above. He has completly ignored both letters.
Does anyone know who the head of customer complaints is in the Ulster Bank so that I can raise a new complaint about my letters being ignored?


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## Time (23 Oct 2012)

Clare Gleeson.


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