Normally I would say no to push notifications from apps. However, for something important like not being able to use my card, it would be great to get that as a push notification right away.
I think it’s critical to know if I won’t be able to access my money, and I don’t want to find out by having my card declined somewhere. The best way to ensure users know there is an outage is not just having an in-app notification, but to have the extra step of a push notification that will be visible as soon as someone looks at their phone.
There was a push notification/message to let me know that it would not work for the rest of the day, but this was hours after the outage happened. This needs to happen as soon as an outage occurs.
That’s also worth doing in case you end up travelling with your card & need to receive the notification while you don’t have a data connection.
This notification was sent via Intercom & I expect Monzo don’t send these for every alert because they want to avoid being swamped with questions from users who end up not being impacted by the issue.
But I’m sure they can (& will) get push notifications set up
I think Monzo should opt user in for statuspage.io updates automatically, during onboarding process (with option to opt out via settings).
I received text 10:19am, small delay is ok, but I can hardly think that most people on Monzo is opted in for them. I was opted in, got text and my perception of this outage is completely different than OP’s.
In other words, it needs to be functionality within Monzo, one you can hardly miss, not something optional, spreading via forum posts.
Whilst the outage is an inconvenience, remember Monzo is in it’s infancy and things like this are to be expected. They’re in a BETA status after all. I received notification via SMS, as I do whenever there’s an issue. How many other banks are so open and honest whenever they have an issue? My current bank, NatWest, are forever having system problems and I only ever know about them if I’ve proactively looked it up online, or seen it on the news. They certainly don’t message me. Keep up the good work!
I know it’s beta, which is why I’m giving feedback. I think it’s an improvement they can have going forward.
You’re right, in general other banks aren’t open and transparent at all really, but I think that’s a bit irrelevant. Monzo is actively trying to be different from traditional banking, and want to do things in better ways for their users. I think they are already a big improvement from regular banking, but that’s no reason to stop improving the experience.
Yes, that’s something I was thinking as well. I saw that in the in app notification but did not know about it at all previously. It would be good to have that at least as part of the signup process!
I interpreted beanhead’s comment as a reminder of the progress that’s already been made, rather than a criticism of your post / idea which definitely is still valid, despite those benefits. I’m sure that wasn’t the intention
Hey @katbow I completely agree with you - this morning we didn’t tell enough people quickly enough that there were problems
This week we’re going to be having so many postmortem meetings to work out what went wrong both technically and in terms of our messaging. We know that some people have signed up for the statuspage alerts , but we need to make sure that everyone gets the message if there’s a major change to the service.
There’s an interesting balance though, a couple of weeks ago we had an outage which lasted about 20 minutes, and while some customers were affected, many didn’t even notice. We want to make sure that we can provide information without overwhelming people with noise, and becoming ‘the boy that cries wolf’
I’d love to hear your thoughts, would you like to receive notifications every time or just for ones which exceed a certain duration?
I would like to always know when Monzo is not working, as soon as fault is confirmed by Monzo people. If it can be combined with estimated fix time - even better.
When outage affects only one type of payments (lke contactless recently), notifying customer seems to be most handy - if I know that contactless is dead, I can pay in other way. But I need to know about it before I try to pay ;), this works better for users, rather than trial&error.
In today’s case, I appreciate that Monzo couldn’t have known how long it will take. but due to severity (all payment methods), all users should have been notified immediately. Potentially, users could have been trying with Monzo at least twice, contactless + then chip/pin, only to fail twice, then switch to alternative card… Hopefully, someone was not trying to use Revolut next, because that would have been even more stressful. And then take out Loot card…
I would like all 3 methods of payment as notification setting with option to notify me via text or via notification on my phone.
For example, I wouldn’t care much if magstripe payments are dead as I never use them. If I were to go to a country where it’s popular, I’d turn notifications on. I would prefer sms notifications when I’m travelling, but app notifications (appearing as notification, not a yellow warning in-app) would work for me when I’m in UK.
Settings panel would allow me to set alerts exactly as I want them. I don’t think there’s one solution that would fit all users either, because even one solution wouldn’t be enough for myself - I know that I’d like different settings depending if I’m travelling or not.
That’s really interesting, thanks @AvishaiI especially like being able to split it by payment method. We might even be able to smart about the methods people use…
I’m going to take these (and anything else people want to suggest ) forward to our product teams so hopefully next time we can do better
Luckily these outsges are rare, but when they hit all hell breaks loose. I’m hoping they continue to be rare, but I do not want a push notification everytime it happens. Smart notifications could be perfect though
This is my first week with Monozo, when the notification came through in the morning I was very impressed. I have experienced lots of outages over the last few years with RBS. One of the reasons I am looking to move, the first thing I know of that outage is either while I am waiting to pay for something or when its on the news a few hours later.
I liked the fact I got a message, I could plan my day to get money from another card, with no issues.
Great job guys! Keep up the great work!
In terms of answering the questions, I think getting push notifications for all outages would be great certainly in the early days, maybe as time goes by and you can use analysis to and trigger points, to figure what are the most useful messages to push. Till you have that data more is better, if people can then opted out if they need at least we have that choice.
I think we need to remember that it wasn’t actually Monzo’s fault though it was the 3rd party that they have to use as they don’t have the full license. I think that is a really important take away
I don’t think anyone has or is blaming Monzo. These things happen. Given that, as already (and very helpfully suggested) a push notification so that I don’t need to open the app to be aware of existing issues would be great.
It’s important to keep in mind Monzo is ultimately accountable, regardless of where the problem actually occurred. When other banks or companies have issues, we as the customers/users don’t tend to see a difference between a contracted third party and the company itself - our business relationships are with Monzo directly…
Having said that, I’m impressed by Monzo’s transparency and handling of the situation (given it was effectively out of their hands).
I do like the idea of customizable notification settings either by function (as mentioned by @Avishai) or perhaps by the effective impact; for example:
if only a subset of users are impacted, the entire customer base might not need to know
if transactions or certain functions are delayed rather than down, notify differently for that
I love that we’re discussing how best our bank can send us push notifications of system interruptions.
If all payment methods are not working, I would want a push notification as soon as Monzo knows about it. It seems better, in my opinion, to have as a default setting, and users could opt out if they don’t want the notification (i.e. only want in-app or text status notifications).
, but we need to make sure that everyone gets the message if there’s a major change to the service.
And then take out Loot card… 
I especially like being able to split it by payment method. We might even be able to smart about the methods people use…
) forward to our product teams so hopefully next time we can do better 
