Premium Bond prizes (Rant) (again): payment via BACS?????
Allan wrote:
This morning [snip]
Well, NS&I have to be complemented on the speed of their reply, and it's
reasonably comprehensive:
==================
We have investigated amalgamating prize warrants and continue to look
for options. Unfortunately at this time our systems do not have the
capability to collate all the prizes into one envelope. The prizes are
grouped by value and Bond number not customer name.
Not all customers are lucky enough to win multiple prizes or indeed on a
frequent basis. As some customers may not be as familiar with winning a
prize the 'congratulations' slip is to inform our customers exactly what
has been sent to them. It also contains important information on what
they needto do with the warrant to claim their prize. It would be
unfair for us to assume that customers would automatically recognise the
warrant as a prize and know what to do with the warrant.
Under the Association of Payment and Clearing Services (APACS)
guidelines we are unable to print anything on the reverse of the
warrant. We do make use of the counterfoil by printing the customers
name and address and winning Bond number details. We do not have
control over the quality of paper, therefore printing on the reverse may
impact the visibility of the name and address. To avoid this we print
separate 'congratulations' slips to communicate important information to
our customers.
We do appreciate that it is frustrating to see identical envelopes
arriving every month, but I hope this information helps clarify the
reasons for our methods. We continue to look at efficiencies in our
business.
I understand your frustrations regarding not having your prize wins paid
by BACS, however there are currently 23 million Premium Bond customers
so making any changes becomes far more complex.
As part of our review of our IT systems NS&I is looking at providing
additional options including the option to have Premium Bond prizes
automatically paid to bank accounts but significant changes to the IT
systems are required.
A major review of our IT systems is taking place over the next few years
but at this point in time I am unable to provide any further information.
==================
|