Business account name not passing security checks

#1

My clients have been unable and/or unwilling to pay me via my Tide business account because their banks cannot security name check my account.

I have been chasing a missing client payment since the end of November - messaging Tide to find out where the payment is and asking them to check that there isn’t an issue with the account name - only to be told, on repeat, that I need ‘to check if the client has entered the correct account details’ despite confirming that they had several times.

My client finally got the payment returned to her by NatWest a couple of days ago and tried sending it again, but the name on the transfer still couldn’t be security checked, so she wouldn’t send it. Understandable; I wouldn’t either.

So I tried sending a payment from my own personal (Nationwide) account and got a similar message - a clear warning stating that if I chose to continue the payment could ‘go to the wrong account and I may not get [my] money back’.

I sent another message to Tide (to the same person I’ve been dealing with throughout) telling them that some sort of glitch the name on the account was - as I had suspected - causing the issue. I even attached a screen grab of my screen to show what the issue was.

The ridiculous response was: ‘can you confirm the client has entered the correct details’ (oh for god’s sake) and best of all: ‘just tell them to ignore the red message and send it anyway’.

Great. That makes me look so professional. When I invoice I can just say: “Yeah, it’s OK clients, you can send me hundreds of pounds; don’t worry about THE BIG RED WARNING MESSAGE your bank has flashed up on your screen; the money will get to me, and if it doesn’t you’ll get it back a few weeks later (probably)”

This is not acceptable in any way, shape or form. Your Customer Service completely omitted to check that the name might be causing an issue despite me, from the start, giving it as the main possible reason for the issue.

I was asked the same question again and again, with no proactive problem solving on offer.

And when I did work it out for myself I got a frankly ludicrous suggestion.

Sorry, Tide, nice idea but if you can’t provide basic banking and customer service, I’m off.

#2

Hello @AmandaSparkGardens,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention and sorry for the inconvenience you have experienced with our services.

We can see that you have been in touch with our team and they confirmed that the issue is related to the newly enrolled Confirmation of Payee service. They have provided you with all of the information regarding the matter.

We have located the delays and the confusion caused initially and this will be raised for a review to our dedicated analyst team.

Please let us know if you need any further assistance.

Regards,
Borislav

#3

Hi.

No, they didn’t confirm it was down to the Confirmation of Payee service - I had to find that out for myself and tell them. The information they provided was of no help at all.

The fact that my clients are expected to ‘over rule’ the advice message their online banking system gives them when they try to pay me, is not acceptable. My business name should pass these security checks.

When I pay other businesses I don’t have this problem, so Tide does really need to sort it out. It already looked really dodgy coming up as ‘Prepay Technologies’, but not passing a security name check makes me look like an amateur outfit.