I and 500,000 other Barclays customers have been sent the new device that aims to stop online banking fraud. The device named “PinSentry” I supposed to allow me to: “Use their online bank account to set up payments to new third party accounts will begin using PINsentry devices. The devices will be used together with the customer’s normal debit card and its PIN, to authenticate their identity at log in and for making certain payments. This will replace the need for passcodes and memorable words.”
What Barclays didn’t tell you is that it is as big as one of those scientific calculators, it requires you to have it whenever you log in and you physically need to put your card into into the device each time you want to log into your online banking. Quite plainly, it makes less sense than your nan trying to explain you what the TCP/IP stack is.
HSBC did it well with their keyring, it has one button and generates a keycode without the use of your card. With PinSentry, how you are meant to use your online bank account when you are on the move is beyond me, you are at work and you suddenly wop out a massive calculator just to authenticate your online session? I wouldn’t be surprised if people thought you were trying to clone a card you just found.
Luckily, Flipper over at Faulty Flipper has exactly the same sentiments and has attracted the interests of other like minded individuals. VW on the comments of Flipper’s blog has one way to get you out of using this awful system:
# VW Says:
September 27th, 2007 at 8:23 pmI have also recently received one of these inconvenient PINSentry devices, but have just now called Barclays and managed to get them to make the login portal NOT require me to use the PINSentry. I will have full functionality by logging in the old way, except I will need the PINSentry to pay a “non-standard†payee for the first time. I will not need the PINSentry to pay “standard†payees nor to pay non-standard payees who I have paid before.
Here is what you need to do to get them to make this change (note that only the Conventry Helpdesk team can do it):
1. Call the Online Banking Helpdesk on 0845 600 2323 or 02476 842063.
2. Press option 1 for the PINSentry Helpdesk. Then Hold.
3. When someone answers, ask whether you are speaking to the Conventry Helpdesk or the Mumbai Helpdesk. If you are speaking to neither, ask whether you can be transferred to the Conventry Online Banking Helpdesk to change your PINSentry online setup. They will probably say they are not able to transfer you to Conventry, in which case ask if you can be transferred to Mumbai please, then return to the beginning of this step. If you are speaking to the Mumbai Helpdesk, ask to be transferred to the Conventry Online Banking Helpdesk to change your PINSentry online setup. Don’t take no for an answer.
4. Once you are speaking to Conventry, explain that you have received the PINSentry device but don’t want to use it for online banking because you logon from many places including when on-the-move, and it is really impractical to lug the PINSentry around everywhere. They should tell you that they will alter your account so that you don’t need it to login or perform most actions, with the exception of setting up a new “non-standard†payee. They should do it on-the-spot. If you have any trouble, you could try asking for Sanj - she did it for me without fuss.
Note that even if you don’t do this, you will still be able to logon to online banking without your PINSentry, but you won’t be able to do anything except view your accounts - see http://www.barclays.co.uk/pinsentry/questions_noflash.html#q20
Source: VW on Faulty Flipper
Hacking of the device has already started, it’s not destructive….yet. Have a look: http://www.mrg9999.com/pub/psm/
Update - 20/12/07
I know this adds a little more wording to the mix but an Anonymous manager working at one of the Barclays call centres took the time to answer some of the questions raised on this article. He writes:
I am a manager at one of the Barclays call centres (but I’m not telling yuo which one for fear of reprisals from my boss!) and we are just has hacked off at this whole system as you, our customers are.
I would ask you to try and be as patient as you can be with the advisors you speak to on the phone. At the end of the day, they have had no say whatsoever in the implementation of this stupid service and there is nothing they can do to opt you out, cancel your accounts etc. What I would ask you to do however is log it as a formal complaint, and insist that it is a formal complaint.
If logged as a formal complaint it HAS to be escalated to Retail Banking Customer Relations and you must be given a complaint reference number and response (if if it is just to say the complaint is received) within 5 working days. You may not get the complaint resolved to your satisfaction (i.e. they aren’t going to be able to opt you out of PINSentry) but the more customers that do this, the more likely John Varley, Deanna Oppenheimer and all the other top level management are to sit up and take notice.
Plus each escalated complaint costs Barclays at least £40 in man hours, telephone calls, compensation etc so it’ll hit them where it hurts.
Just to clarify a few things mentioned in some of the other posts:
1. Card machines cost £6 each to get another one (this is the base cost and no profit is made from this)
2. ALL Barclays customers now have to pay for a second card machine (Premier included)
3. The policy (for the moment at least) is set in stone - there is no opt out. This has always been the case for Premier clients but since the 26/11/07 this has also been the case for Retail customers too.
4. We are dealing with incredible amounts of calls regarding PINSentry at our call centres, which is impacting a level of service we are able to give to non-PINSentry related calls so people are queueing longer and longer to get through. Because of the incompetence of the offshore operation we are then having to wait 20+ minutes in a queue to get through to Online Banking help desk to get a problem fixed which should only take a few seconds. If you think verifying yourselves as Barclays customers is hard with Mumbai, I’d welcome a job swap with you for a day to show you how hard it is to inform them that we are staff coming through on a customers behalf!
5. If you live abroad and you haven’t received your PINSentry machine yet, this is because we are unable to ship them abroad at this stage. What we are trying to do to get around this is ship them to a UK address (your mum’s, your best friend, whoever you as a customer trust) and then get them to FedEx it to whereever you are in the world. Barclays will then refund you the cost of the FedEx for you to pass on to whoever it is that has sent it abroad for you.
I hope this helps any of you! If you have any questions, please stick them on here and I will do my best to answer them ASAP.
Update: 11/01/08
The Register has covered the technical problems this device has caused. You can read the article by clicking here. To view other customers comments on this, click here.
There is also a Facebook Group for people who hate the device….click here to view.
Natwest Card Reader
Whilst we haven’t received any complaints about the Natwest card reader, I feel obligated to post this here too. At work we have been given a new reader to authenticate any transactions made from the business account. This works the exact same way as the Barclays PinSentry does and has caused just as much controversy.
Over on Jez McKean’s blog, he has a post similar to this one detailing the woes of using the Natwest card reader. Take a look.
Conclusion
Im not sure this is a long term solution but it could help for the short term. I have decided to add a petition to the bottom of this post, maybe if we can drum up enough support, we can get Barclays to drop the scheme. If you know of people who maybe interested, please send them the link!
Our Petition Is Now Closed!
We had received over 250 signatures against using the PinSentry system. The only reason it was closed was due to a fault caused by a site upgrade. If anyone has a good idea as to how we can use these signatures to impact the current banking system, please leave a comment.
