Coventry Building Society apologises after system crash causes chaos for customers
Coventry Building Society has apologised after a system crash caused chaos for customers.
An internal technical issue meant direct debits did not go through, online banking was down and members had limited access to their own cash.
In the meantime customers have been left in the lurch due to problems the system failure has caused.
One customer says he has been left unable to work for two days as he has not had access to his own cash.
Another says bills have not been paid and they have been left unable to do their weekly food shop.
The building society has issued an apology to customers and said it is hoped the issue will be resolved by the end of Tuesday 2 August.
Coventry Building Society has been permitting people to take out £100 from a branch, but one man who banks with them says he does not live in the city or near a branch.
He said: "Whole systems have gone down at Coventry Building Society.
"There's no internet banking and cash machines are not working. It's been since around 6.30am yesterday.
"I have been unable to get money out and lots of people are stuck.
"I just don't know what to do. No one can get any money out. I have lost two days' pay as I can't get to work.
"They say people can go to a branch and get £100 out but I don't live in Coventry."
A mum from Coventry said: "It is my daughter's birthday Saturday so I found out when I went to town to do the birthday shopping on my one day off this week. It's a nightmare.
"It was down all day. No access to money, direct debits not left the account. It was the first of the month, when the bills were meant to leave and the shopping is done.
"They didn’t tell anyone - the only reason I knew was because the cashpoints wouldn’t let me have my own money.
"We’ve all got bills to pay, food shopping to buy and they are no help.
"The maximum you're allowed over the counter is £100 and that’s with ID - that’s not going to cover a food shop. It was payday weekend - internet banking isn’t working either, everything is down.
"They are a nightmare anyway because they stopped debit cards ages ago and you only have a basic cash card - they make you use cash.
"Imagine a bank that forces you to use cash not letting you get your own cash. I have another account with another bank but what about the people who solely have just a building society account? Let’s hope that everyone isn’t charged for any failed direct debits that haven’t left the account."
A spokesman for Coventry Building Society said: "Unfortunately, we’ve had an internal technical issue that caused disruption to some of our systems yesterday.
"We are extremely sorry for the inconvenience and stress that this has caused and are committed to putting this right for our members.
"We’ve been working to restore services as quickly as possible and we expect that they will be back to normal by the end of today, with all regular payments, standing orders and direct debits, that were scheduled to take place yesterday and today, starting to go through."