AllanB

We are due to start our half-life in Portugal in a month or so and I am starting to feel "what am I in for?".

Our builder is desperately trying to finish my house to a stage where I can at least move in and the guys at BPI Bank are trying to make sure he doesn't.

It is now 11 days since I tried to transfer his latest payment, a simple domestic transfer, but nothing works and now everything has gone quiet with the people at Lousa and the bank's technical department.

Now don't get me wrong, British and Thai give us grief from time to time for sure, but at least they stay in contact and 9 times out of 10 it gets sorted, if not immediately, then in a few hours, so is the "the Portuguese style"?

This is about as frustrating as a one legged man at an arse kicking contest!

...are all banks the same out there?

GeniB

No ! all banks are not the same. Just like anywhere else you can get glitches.

I would check all the details of the transfer first,especially the name and details of the builder if it is going directly to him.A misspelled word,a wrong number etc can cause havoc

It was the Carnival holiday here this last week..maybe that plays a role.

Otherwise you have to be patient. Portuguese work to their own rhythm.if all of the above has checked out. Keep ringing the Bank

AllanB

All details were entered the last time we made a transfer which went through okay. The problem this time was that the system didn't SMS my phone here like they did last time. It all worked once and now it doesn't.

My point is not that things went wrong, shit does happen, it is the fact they are just ignoring me.

How long does the carnival go on and does the bank close for the duration?

Red Eric

Do you have internet access to your account and if so, does it show the transfer as having been made and your balance reduced accordingly?

Carnaval is 1 day and not a bank holiday.

AllanB

No the transfer did not go through.

Called the woman today and she is blaming their outsourced technical department.

Jackie67

Carnival is a bank holiday.it was reinstated this year

Red Eric

Not so. It never has been a national holiday although shops and businesses etc may well close for the day or the afternoon. The government decides each year on whether it will give what's known as a "point of tolerance" to public sector workers.

There was a move by a couple of the political parties to make this year's Carnaval an obligatory holiday for all but it was voted down.

Red Eric

So if it didn't go through, what's stopping you from initiating it again?

You didn't answer the question about internet access.

peterfc

Hi

Why not get the builders bank details Iban etc and transfer direct to him???

Peter

GeniB

Hmmm Carnival starts on the Friday before ash Wednesday in some places. However the big parade like Loule is on the Tuesday before.It's all individual so maybe the bank employee dealing with your transfer was on holiday...Just a stab in the dark here. They certainly shouldn't be ignoring you. How are you communicating? by email? or by telephone? I would always do the latter. They don't go by the general etiquette of emails here. i.e. reply within 24hrs..

I would go with direct transfer to the builder. You want your house completing.He wants his money. It's a no brainer I would have thought..

RichardHenshall

My bank sends a code by SMS to authorise/complete online transfers over a certain amount. If the code isn't entered the transaction lapses as the instruction is incomplete. There may be an error with their record of an overseas mobile number or the international code, perhaps. My bank's transfer instruction offers the opportunity to receive a voice call, in lieu, in the event of not receiving the SMS, so the transfer can be completed. Does yours? It will be much easier to complete an online transaction that way than to initiate one by phone/email/other.