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This caused an embarrassing moment for us this morning when buying groceries with a queue waiting behind. Since it was only two items, the clerk was kind enough

by reledi 10y ago

This caused an embarrassing moment for us this morning when buying groceries with a queue waiting behind. Since it was only two items, the clerk was kind enough to let me pay later. Would have really appreciated a push notification as soon as the issue occurred -- they sent one a few hours too late. If you're running a critical service, please make sure you have an appropriate and working notification strategy for major failures.

ci5er 10y ago
Monzo was your only payment instrument? If so, they weren't the only fail today.
- reledi 10y ago
  No it wasn't. I couldn't remember the pin from my other card off the top of my head because I've been using Monzo for many months. I've learned from my mistake, I hope Monzo has too.
  - ci5er 10y ago
    Ah. I hate it when that happens. Hopefully Monzo will keep up their end of the deal in the future!
    - user5994461 10y ago
      No reason to think that now that there is overwhelming evidence of the opposite.
      - OJFord 10y ago
        > No reason to think [Monzo systems will be available in the future] now that there is overwhelming evidence of the opposite. What would that be then? This outage is not Monzo's, but the processor's, affecting any card issuer that users it - a function Monzo has stated [0] it will do for itself without a third-party when it offers full current accounts later this year. Calling this Monzo's failing is like complaining that Trello went down earlier in the week (due to the S3 outage). It's perhaps even less fair, since I imagine using multiple AWS regions is easier and more common practice than using multiple card payments processors. (Though I am just speculating on the latter point.) [0] - https://monzo.com/blog/2017/03/05/outage/ https://monzo.com/blog/2017/03/05/outage/
        user5994461 10y ago
        So you are saying that my credit cards and current accounts should be held to the same standards as an average todo-list app? No offense but I am gonna stay with my current bank ;)
        OJFord 10y ago
        > I am gonna stay with my current bank When Monzo is actually capable of replacing your present bank, i.e. it offers current accounts, this issue won't exist. > current accounts should be held to the same standards as an average todo-list app? If your present bank used the same card payments processor, it would be experiencing the same outage. That's my point, not that it doesn't require more stringent certification than Trello. > So you are saying that my credit cards and There's no credit cards and the company's stated no plans to ever offer any, preferring to instead ask What problem makes you seek a credit card, and rethink what a modern solution looks like. > No offense ... ;) Why would I take offence? I'm just a user, no skin off my back if you're not ;)
  - dtjohnnymonkey 10y ago
    one trick for remembering pins is to decide a number that acts like an encryption key for all your cards. Then calculate the PIN by adding the key to four digits on the card. Then you only have to remember the key.
    - njs12345 10y ago
      Is there anything really wrong with sharing a PIN for all your cards? What sort of attack does this make easier? Maybe if someone sees you entering a PIN for one of your cards and then steals your wallet?
- jon-wood 10y ago
  I went out this morning with only my Monzo card because I've gone and lost the card for my actual bank account. Glad the first thing I did was get cash for the bus otherwise I'd have had real problems, as it was I just had to cut things short and come home. I had a very upset three year old as I discovered this when I went to pay for a Happy Meal, but otherwise no harm done (and he got one for dinner instead!)
jhuckestein 10y ago
CTO at Monzo here. We are really sorry about that. One of the things we have learned from this incident is to proactively reach out to all customers as early as possible, even if it means alarming a large number of people. We did tweet about the incident and updated our statuspage the moment we discovered it, but we didn't proactively message all customers until a few hours later.
evgen 10y ago
Almost had the same problem a few minutes ago. Waiting in the queue at Boots and planning to pay with my Monzo card when I decide to check HN while waiting. The fact that this item was front page enabled me to get out of the queue and find my wife who had a different card and avoid a problem... (Oh and quick note to Jonas, the iOS app did not push any notifications whatsoever...)
- BillinghamJ 10y ago
  The notifications were sent via Intercom. Do you always get a notification from customer support when they reply? It's the same system, so if not there is likely some issue which needs to be resolved.
  - evgen 10y ago
    Can't recall ever getting a customer support notification, but do get notifications on spend and other expected events.

by reledi 10y ago

ci5er 10y ago

Monzo was your only payment instrument? If so, they weren't the only fail today.

reledi 10y ago
No it wasn't. I couldn't remember the pin from my other card off the top of my head because I've been using Monzo for many months. I've learned from my mistake, I hope Monzo has too.
- ci5er 10y ago
  Ah. I hate it when that happens. Hopefully Monzo will keep up their end of the deal in the future!
  - user5994461 10y ago
    No reason to think that now that there is overwhelming evidence of the opposite.
    - OJFord 10y ago
      > No reason to think [Monzo systems will be available in the future] now that there is overwhelming evidence of the opposite. What would that be then? This outage is not Monzo's, but the processor's, affecting any card issuer that users it - a function Monzo has stated [0] it will do for itself without a third-party when it offers full current accounts later this year. Calling this Monzo's failing is like complaining that Trello went down earlier in the week (due to the S3 outage). It's perhaps even less fair, since I imagine using multiple AWS regions is easier and more common practice than using multiple card payments processors. (Though I am just speculating on the latter point.) [0] - https://monzo.com/blog/2017/03/05/outage/ https://monzo.com/blog/2017/03/05/outage/
      - user5994461 10y ago
        So you are saying that my credit cards and current accounts should be held to the same standards as an average todo-list app? No offense but I am gonna stay with my current bank ;)
        OJFord 10y ago
        > I am gonna stay with my current bank When Monzo is actually capable of replacing your present bank, i.e. it offers current accounts, this issue won't exist. > current accounts should be held to the same standards as an average todo-list app? If your present bank used the same card payments processor, it would be experiencing the same outage. That's my point, not that it doesn't require more stringent certification than Trello. > So you are saying that my credit cards and There's no credit cards and the company's stated no plans to ever offer any, preferring to instead ask What problem makes you seek a credit card, and rethink what a modern solution looks like. > No offense ... ;) Why would I take offence? I'm just a user, no skin off my back if you're not ;)
- dtjohnnymonkey 10y ago
  one trick for remembering pins is to decide a number that acts like an encryption key for all your cards. Then calculate the PIN by adding the key to four digits on the card. Then you only have to remember the key.
  - njs12345 10y ago
    Is there anything really wrong with sharing a PIN for all your cards? What sort of attack does this make easier? Maybe if someone sees you entering a PIN for one of your cards and then steals your wallet?
jon-wood 10y ago
I went out this morning with only my Monzo card because I've gone and lost the card for my actual bank account. Glad the first thing I did was get cash for the bus otherwise I'd have had real problems, as it was I just had to cut things short and come home. I had a very upset three year old as I discovered this when I went to pay for a Happy Meal, but otherwise no harm done (and he got one for dinner instead!)

jhuckestein 10y ago

CTO at Monzo here. We are really sorry about that. One of the things we have learned from this incident is to proactively reach out to all customers as early as possible, even if it means alarming a large number of people. We did tweet about the incident and updated our statuspage the moment we discovered it, but we didn't proactively message all customers until a few hours later.

evgen 10y ago

Almost had the same problem a few minutes ago. Waiting in the queue at Boots and planning to pay with my Monzo card when I decide to check HN while waiting. The fact that this item was front page enabled me to get out of the queue and find my wife who had a different card and avoid a problem... (Oh and quick note to Jonas, the iOS app did not push any notifications whatsoever...)

BillinghamJ 10y ago
The notifications were sent via Intercom. Do you always get a notification from customer support when they reply? It's the same system, so if not there is likely some issue which needs to be resolved.
- evgen 10y ago
  Can't recall ever getting a customer support notification, but do get notifications on spend and other expected events.