Went to open an account with them.
Going through the process - they don't warn you that you will need XY&Z documents before you start. You have to send your debit payment over BEFORE you upload your documents.
Did that, then pootled off to find my passport, which wasn't where I thought it was. By the time I got back to my laptop, I'd been booted out of the site. They sent me a link to upload the documents. All good, so I thought.
Eventually was sent a NS&I number. Used it to log in. Shows my balance as zero. I rang them. Yes we can see that you've paid in (not inconsiderable sum) but we need to verify your documents.
Same thing today. Rang back to talk to someone - got through to a human after an awful battle with their chat virtual assistant ( which is a thread in itself) - to be given a breezy ' well yes we can see we have the money but we need to verify your documents.'
WHY CAN'T I ALSO SEE THAT YOU HAVE MY MONEY??
Apparently they are running over a week behind in 'verifying documents.' Are they doing it by post? I would have thought that passports and driving licenses could be checked automatically in less than a day ( weekends notwithstanding). Have they literally got staff calling the DVLA and cross checking details over the phone?
They have tens of thousands of pounds of my money. To say I'm pissed off and worried is an understatement.
You should be able to register for an account and have your credentials checked before you can deposit money, not the other way around.
What happens if for some reason my driving license or passport don't 'check out' ? Do they just keep my money??
I'm tempted to just reverse the transaction with my bank and give it up as a bad job rather than have to go through this massively arcane process should I want to release my money in the future ( e.g for a house sale).
Please tell me to calm down and that my money will eventually turn up!