HUNDREDS of Santander, TSB, HSBC, First Direct, M&S and NatWest customers were unable to access their accounts this morning due to a Sky outage.
The issues started early this morning and hundreds of customers have complained of problems, according to complaints tracker Downdetector.
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Complaints were about Santander, TSB, HSBC, M&S First Direct and NatWest’s internet and mobile banking services – including the app.
The issue hit customers across many parts of the country, including London and the south west, as well as big cities such as Manchester, Birmingham and Norwich, according to Downdetector.
A Sky outage was thought to have caused the technical issues – but the broadband provider confirmed to The Sun that the glitch has now been resoved.
According to Downdetector, 1,084 people complained of a Sky broadband service crash.
A Sky spokesperson said: “We have resolved the issue with Sky Broadband. Customers should be able to access websites and apps as normal.
“We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
M&S Bank also replied to some customers on Twitter saying the issue was linked to the outage.
“We are aware of issues for our customers, if you use SKY as your internet provider,” the bank tweeted to one customer.
“We are working closely with SKY to find a solution, so please bear with us.”
Santander also replied to one customer struggling to get into their account asking who their network provider was, and they confirmed that it was Sky.
Santander replied: “Please switch from Wi-Fi to mobile data or vice versa, if this doesn’t work please try uninstalling and reinstalling the app.”
All of the other banks affected have been replying to customers on Twitter advising them to log on using mobile data rather than WiFi.
Over 700 Santander customers complained about a service crash, with 331 HSBC customers, 437 TSB customers, 314 First Direct customers and 100 Natwest customers flagging issues too at the time of writing.
Issues logging into accounts
Furious customers took to social media to complain that they couldn’t get into their accounts.
One took to Twitter asking Santander: “What is going on with your app I can’t get on it.
“It keeps saying session timed out without even letting me on?”
HSBC customers also took to Twitter to flag the problems.
“I can’t log into my mobile app,” one customer said. “It just keeps saying I need the internet and it’s on and working. Is there a problem?”
Natwest customers also complained about technical difficulties online too, with one saying: “I keep getting an error message on the app, everything is up to date. Why is this happening?”
While a First Direct customer said: “Any announcement about why your servers are down?”
One TSB customer raged: “UUUURRRRRRGAIN…. app doesn’t work, turn WiFi off still doesn’t work (as it suggested), logged on Via web desktop doesn’t work… seriously like how many times does your system need to crash???”
To check whether services are down for you, banks usually have a dedicated page on their websites which show if any services are affected, including mobile, online and telephone banking as well as card payments.
Banks also regularly issue updates on social media, so Facebook and Twitter are worth checking for live updates.
You can also check websites such as DownDetector, which will tell you whether other people are experiencing problems with a particular company online.
It’s not the first time this year that customers have been locked out of their accounts due to an outage.
Thousands of Santander customers couldn’t get on their app or log into their online account in May.
Some customers even claimed that they’ve had payments rejected in supermarkets and that their cards weren’t working.
Last month, Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland customers were unable to access their accounts for hours after an outage.
While Barclaycard customers were also locked out of their accounts after the bank’s website and app run into difficulties in June.
Can you claim compensation for bank outages?
Unlike telecoms companies, banks do not have a fixed compensation scheme for service disruption, although depending on how much it has affected you, you may be entitled to some money back.
It is worth gathering evidence of your problems so you can make a formal complaint to your bank directly if you’ve been affected.
Try to make a note of when you were unable to access the website or app, plus any costs you incurred as a result.
If your credit rating has been affected by a service outage, because you got a late payment fee after being unable to make a transaction, for example, you should also keep a record of this.
If you spoke to anyone to try and resolve the problem, make a note of their name and when you spoke to them, as well as roughly what you discussed and what they advised you to do.
A Virgin Media broadband outage caused chaos for hundreds working from home last month.
While a Sky broadband service crash also left hundreds struggling to get online across parts of the country.
Here’s how to claim compensation for bank, app and card issues due to technical difficulties.
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This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk
