The everyday blog of Richard Bartle.
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11:31am on Wednesday, 8th April, 2009:
Outburst
A series of unexpectedly large direct debits on 31st March meant my mother's bank account went £35 overdrawn. She was sent a letter telling her that if she didn't put some more money in by the end of the month, she would be subject to a charge for unauthorised borrowing. The letter arrived on 2nd April. She put in £100 to bring her account back into credit. On 3rd April, another letter arrived, sent 1st April. This informed her that, because she had ignored the first letter and had not taken remedial action to bring her account into the black by the end of the month (March), she was indeed now liable for an unauthorised overdraft fee to be taken from her account in May.
Back in the day, programmers would spot this kind of stupidity and fix it themselves. Now, with so much being outsourced to match business requirements determined by committees, it doesn't happen.
After the first letter, but before the second, my mother wrote to the bank asking what was going on. If they reply, I bet they charge her for deigning to do so...
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Copyright © 2009 Richard Bartle (richard@mud.co.uk).