Double Trouble

A couple of months ago, HSBC Canada upgraded their website so it looked just like the one back in the UK. I facetiously remarked on twitter "I bet they introduce secure keys next". I wasn't a fan of my UK account having one since the first one became intermittently faulty almost instantly and it's a bit of a pain to have to get another one ordered from 4400 miles away. At least over here, we didn't have one.

And then when I was at the bank last Monday seeing the lovely Silvia to invest my savings that I transferred over here ten days ago, she mentioned (when she wasn't being interrupted by instant messenger messages from her boyfriend) that I'd need one, and that as of the 17th of the month I'd have to use one. Lo and behold, the 17th is here, and it needed activating. So now I have two of them. At least if the one on the left fails, I only have to go into town to get another.

Progress

About two months ago, I had a letter delivered to Mum and Dad's from HSBC about their new security key and how it would make things more, erm, secure. It's an incredibly incovenient size: "put it on your keyring" - er no, thanks - and looks like it's been knocked out of some factory in the far east [looks on back] "made in China". Go figure. Without it, you can't access your interweb banking. So Mum and Dad sent it to me and Canada Post somehow managed - in some sort of miracle - to get it here inside five days. I think I've used it three times in the month/six weeks that I've had it (once to set up and twice to use) and now, when I want to transfer some money across, the thing has died.

There was no need for it in the first place, and now I can't access my accounts at all! I suppose I'll have to apply for another, and have all the same palaver. I'll be thinking pretty hard about closing all my accounts with them on the other side of the pond when I'm next over there (since becoming a permanent resident would mean me transferring all my money over here anyway). What a shower.

Edit. After pressing and holding the button repeatedly over the course of an hour-and-a-half, it has suddenly spluttered back into life. All the vented spleen above stands, though. It's a pointless, crappy thing.