Bill payments blanked out by Barclays online

Updated A leading advocate for e-commerce in the UK feels let down by online banking after Barclays lost some of his account details after a site redesign last week.

Simon Moores, chairman the Research Group, and advisor to the e-envoy and government on e-commerce, was left hanging on the telephone after Barclays wiped information concerning payees from his account.

Moores said one of the reasons he opted for electronic banking was convenience in paying bills, but the redesign resulted in the account details of all but 10 records on his payee list disappearing.

"They lost the payee information and I had to retype everything in," said Moores. "I trusted them to look after my information online and they lost it."

Help desk staff told Moores he'd have to ring up his gardener to get the man's banking details and then re-enter them online himslef. They said they couldn't process this payment request over the phone.

Barclays was involved in a security incident last year, since when Moores has spoken in favour of electronic banking and backed up his convictions by using an online account.

Moores said Barclays had not compromised security this time around but had "lost the plot by losing records". He also criticised the speed of the service.

A Barclays spokeswoman confirmed that "some of our customers can't view details of bank payments they have saved" and apologised for any inconvenience caused because of this. She added that the bank's developers are working to recover this information but wasn't able to put a timetable on when, or if, these records would be restored.

According to Barclays 100 of its 1.2 million online banking customers are affected by the issue. Customers with any queries on the matter can call Barclays on (0845) 600 2323. ®

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