I doubt it. The U.K. operation is, for now, quite independent and based in Scotland, which is likely where their engineers are located who carry out this maintenance. Was a very bizarre time and I can’t fathom a logical reason for why. 6 hour long maintenance like that is something I’d start at midnight to finish by 6am. Though it would depend if I’m planning for any potential delays. For maintenance that long over night, it’s better to start a little bit earlier than finish a little bit later. Most of the U.K. are early birds, not night owls.
1 Like
Clearly everyone’s financial circumstances are different and you of course have your own specific problem here and if you deem it that serious, then as much as is your right to do so and with no disprespect intended, there’s little point in complaining, just move on and bank elsewhere that doesn’t cause you so much hardship.
For me, this is just not something that causes me any particular issues. I’m not moving money around all the time and I certainly have had no need to move any money around on an Easter weekend. As mentioned above, other banks have maintenance downtimes and clearly it affects some banks more than others.
This maintenance thing with Chase might just be temporary stuff in the initial startup phase of the bank. It’s not even been a year, they’re still finding their feet in the U.K. digital market, there’s bound to be stuff they need to change/improve. It’s something I’m personally prepared to put up with. If this type of thing is still an issue in 12 or 18 months time, maybe it might have a detrimental effect on more people.
3 Likes
To be absolutely fair, there’s not a single one of us here who know what the complexities are of what they’ve had to deal with/upgrade. We can all sit back and have a rant because that’s the easy thing to do. I suspect Chase would rather the maintenance period didn’t take that long, but there it’s been. As I said above, if it’s a deal breaker, folks should just move on and bank elsewhere. I’m personally staying put.
2 Likes
There - FTFY 
2 Likes
Maybe, and hopefully! Personally I’m not convinced though. Their approach with maintenance has been more in tune with the way traditional banks do things than what the upstarts went through. I think it’s just part and parcel of the approach they’ve decided to take. It’s not necessarily a bad or a good thing, just different. And if it’s the case it means the backend is a vastly simpler setup which will have a wonderous long term influence on day to day reliability. We won’t see the sort of issues Monzling do, and certainly not at the same frequency.
We can make some educated assumptions! I’ve got experience with what Barclays do, and it’s something I still deal with now on a weekly basis, and it’s largely all fairly standard stuff, and mostly automated. Though of course, it does actually depend on what you’re actually doing, but mostly it’s just defragging databases and backing stuff up, optimising, and installing software updates for whatever software your service relies on. It’s largely automated, and to oversimplify it, not that much different than installing a new iOS update, which takes your phone down for a bit.
Whether you’re a game studio providing a live service video game, an ISP providing Internet, or a bank providing online banking, the maintenance and downtime they all go through is for largely similar reasons. Almost always related to the management of databases and updating software. Though of course I have no knowledge of the way Chase work internally, and I could be completely wrong.
And there’s my point 
I just don’t get it to be honest. So people are finding things out now they don’t like and which doesn’t suit their own particular circumstances. Best thing, move on, don’t whinge, there’s plenty of other banks out there all equally keen to have your money.
It’s like me with FD. So I opened an account with them, O.k, admittedly for the £150 which they paid me. Unfortunately since opening the account, I’ve not been able to even use the debit card! I can’t use it online for anything, not even to pay for my M&S credit card which is part of the same bloody banking group! Apparently, my card is locked and I need to contact the bank, and yet I can still quite happily move money in and out of the account, my wages get paid into it. But guess what? I’ll be binning the account, I don’t want to contact Customer Services, I’ve had to do that once already when I opened the account just to log into their infernal web based browser. There, I’ve had a rant about FD, but I’ll be dumping them anyway 
2 Likes
Same!
I mean Chase had their first instance of planned downtime very soon after launching. That should have been the red flag there and then if planned maintenance isn’t something you’re willing to put up with anymore.
Personally as I’ve gotten older, the reliability of technology has grown even more frustrating when things just stop working, and I’ve grown a real distaste for the ship now fix later approach because of it. I’ll gladly take a little bit of planned maintenance if it means avoiding unpredictable frustrations later on.
2 Likes
Hilarious how tribal and fanboyish some people are over a flipping bank!
1 Like
Well there you go! That’s why the Monzo forum exists isn’t it?
1 Like
For a number of those hours I was tucked up in bed rather than trying to move money between accounts. Clearly we all live and work differently, but a few hours of scheduled downtime (advertised days in advance) doesn’t bother me.
Earning between £10 and £15 each month on cashback and interest will keep me with Chase too. It’s not like I’m doing things differently or spending more.
Incidentally, I did a transfer this morning in to Chase and received my in-app notification in 7 seconds (I counted them!). Still not instantly like some others, but defo quicker. Not that I care really… as long as the money makes it I’m happy.
6 Likes
In principle I agree that financial institutions shouldn’t have any downtime at all, because we’re likely bound to be abroad at some point so “overnight” maintenance could also be “middle of the day while I’m getting lunch” maintenance
But if it is to be, it best be planned. Starling when they were having major problems of unplanned downtime (as their payment processor was not coping handling Curve, Revolut & Starling at once) were getting complaints each period of downtime.
They never contested my complaint, paid £30/time; even acknowledging I never used the card, but could need to in an emergency
And in most cases satisfied customers do not leave reviews except for stars that are just a tap away.
Majority of people who genuinely leave reviews are unhappy about something. So that gives a seemingly “wrong” impression.
Look at the reviews on Trust pilot. You may never tale out a product if you first visit them.
2 Likes
The team to rush to Church early morning. 
You can literally buy reviews and you can lie on TP etc with no recourse for a business
E.g. where I used to work someone said “the staff coughed into his hand and proceeded to prepare food”
Uh, you can’t see into our kitchen and of course the sink for hand washing is back there; you can’t possibly know that
1 Like
And some inviting people promising them vouchers.
Anyone here on a Huawei phone and updated to EMUI12 yet?
Keep holding off in case any of my banking apps, mainly Chase though, have any conflict issues with it.
As neither Starling or Monzo (though Monzo is irrelevant to me anyway) currently offer an in house credit card and no real sense of when they might, I think Chase could really get one up on both banks by introducing their own credit card. I realise their U.S business is separate from the U.K. but I wonder just how quickly they could introduce their own credit card here.
I would absolutely apply for a Chase credit card if one were available and offered. It would just give me one more excuse to bin a couple of accounts.
4 Likes
Depends. Unless they are trying to buy market share, any rewards offered on UK credit cards will probably not be particularly exciting.
Avios, and I’d be in there like a shot