First-e Net Bank takes the day off for maintenance - UK Computing Feb 10

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Claire Woffenden [09 Feb 2000]

First-e Net bank takes the day off for maintenance

Customers with Internet bank First-e were unable to make transactions for most of Monday as the website closed without warning for maintenance.

Europe's first Internet-only bank shut out account holders as it upgraded its Web servers. Customers were able to make transfers again by Tuesday.

Richard Thackray, First-e's general manager, said the bank chose Monday to perform the upgrade because it is the quietest day of the week. However, he admitted that many customers were not warned about the closure.

"We don't notify every customer, but if they had contacted the site or customer services we would have made the information known," he said.

One irate customer who contacted vnunet.com said he repeatedly attempted to make transfers from his account between 10am and 5pm on Monday, but received "system error" messages and a notification that the site was unavailable because of "routine maintenance".

The customer tried again Tuesday morning at 9.30am, but said that it was only possible to view balances. He finally made a successful transfer at midday.

Thackray said maintenance had been carried out to upgrade First-e's current account pilot scheme. The bank, which was launched last September, offers only savings accounts at present. The scheme will be piloted on a limited number of customers before it is rolled out later this year.

-- Jim McAteer (jim_mcateer@hotmail.com), February 10, 2000

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