Friday, November 20 2009.
The day I choose to do some internet banking, internet banking chooses to fail.
First surprise was seeing a redesigned website from RHB. Even the URL has changed. It’s a little scary to suddenly find I’m at a new site. A virus can also hijack a website and redirect you to another site. I don’t like to be scared by a bank. Never mind, let’s move on. The new design looks refreshing.
Here’s what I liked:
1. Shorter URL. Instead of www.rhbbank.com.my I can now type rhb.com.my.
2. First question the site asked was “Consumer” or “Business”. Great, just show me what I want to see and kill the rest.
3. It finally works on Firefox.
Unfortunately, the joy lasted for one screen. Now the nightmare:
1. Menu bar has tiny white text against a light blue background. OMG, I’m not as young anymore, don’t strain my eyes please.
2. Every time you get into the site, it repeats the same question – Consumer or Business. Can’t you recognize me? (this was on Friday and the problem seems to be fixed on Sunday).
3. Best of all – LOGIN does not work. I am being asked repeatedly to change my password. If my password isn’t working, it doesn’t give me a clue as to what is wrong. (It’s Sunday and this is still happening)
See the menu bar? Look harder.
I checked on twitter and @kzamri replied to say he was experiencing the same thing. I tried to re-register thinking maybe there’s a new login system. Didn’t work. I searched every where to see if this site is still a prototype. No luck.
One hour later, @kzamri and I (after a few deep breaths) called the bank. He didn’t get a clear answer and proceeded to write the bank a passionate email – all the way to the top. You don’t want to mess with @kzamri. He knows people, very important people.
I, on the hand was told the site was under maintenance, please try again AFTER office hours. Say what? Actually it’s the best line I’ve heard in a while. If something goes wrong, the bank will be closed all weekend and there’s nothing you can do but wait for it to reopen on Monday. It’s an awesome excuse to buy time.
RHB FAIL
- Dear RHB, if your site is down for maintenance, please take it down. Go back to the old system or put up a message to tell customers the site is under maintenance and have an idea when it will be up again. Your customers can be reasonable if they’re not kept in the dark.
- It’s also a good idea to keep Friday trouble-free. If you launch something new during the week, when you run into trouble and still can’t fix it by Thursday, have a plan b, like switch back to the old and familiar.
- Let your customers know what to expect before you change something as important as your internet banking site. A sudden change like this can reduce trust and confidence in your bank.
- I also hope you got rid of that tedious security feature customers have to go through to edit information in their account. You have no idea how painful it is to wait for an sms PIN and then trying to enter a ridiculous, finger-twisting, series of numbers from a card that has to be physically picked up from the bank first. The sms PIN request doesn’t even work half the time. Securing transactions online should be the bank’s job, not the customers’.
Online Banking with RHB wasn’t as simple or convenient as you say it is. Hope to see some real improvements from the new site, I guess by Monday.
