Internet Banking and Discrimination against Macintosh Users :-(

[Mind Management™]

OF INTEREST TO ALL MAC-USERS WHO ARE LIMITED BY SEVERAL PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS BEING WINDOWS DEPENDENT

I find it extremely difficult to understand why one of the world's largest banking institution does not have an internet banking site which is technically savvy in all the popular browsers as well as the popular operating systems like Windows, linux and Macintosh.

For the past 3-4 days I had been unsuccessfully attempting to access www.onlinesbi.com to activate my internet banking account but kept on failing since the website itself was not opening, nor was there any alert message mentioning the restrictions or requirements in terms of the operating system. I kept on attributing it to internet access problems.

I used the latest versions of Firefox, Chrome, Explorer, Flock, Safari, Opera, Mozilla, Camino, but no luck :-(

Today it struck me that perhaps your website is enabled only for Windows and got my old Windows laptop to test my theory out. Hey presto.. it worked :-)

My concerns are simple :

• Worldwide there is a considerable population of Apple Macintosh users.. why are they being discriminated against?
• All the other financial websites like ICICIBANK, AXISBANK, HDFCBANK, MUTUAL FUNDS, CITIBANK etc work wonderfully well on both  the operating systems viz Windows and Mac OS Snow Leopard... why not State Bank of India?

I think it is high time the SBI authorities take cognizance of this major limitation and do the necessary technical trouble-shooting to make internet banking accessible to all.

ANKUR GUPTA

PS : I am marking a copy of this to the Apple Macintosh Users in India who may also be facing a similar issue

--
 www.mindmanagement.in  www.myownmindmovie.com  www.mind-management.blogspot.com/  www.artindia.com
_____________________________________________________________________________
EMAIL ETIQUETTE : Please delete details of all previous senders before forwarding/sending again.

[Vishal Sheth]

I'm on mac with Safari and Crome. I'm able to oen the site onlinesbi.com and have had no problems. Clean your browser cache and check. Restart the machine then check. It should get through. I've been using this since more than a year now. You should not be facing any problem.

Vishal Sheth

--
IMUG Users website: www.imug.in

[gupta...@gmail.com]

Hi ankur,

It is indeed a shame that mac users are left out. I bank with syndicate bank and have never had issues logging in. www.syndicatebank.in . And state bank of india is indeed the biggest bank in the country. Hope they take this message seriously and make amends to their website.

Regards,
Vinit

Sent on my BlackBerry® from Vodafone Essar

---

From: Mind Management™ <mindman...@gmail.com>

Sender: imug-...@googlegroups.com

Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:48:05 +0530

To: <imug-...@googlegroups.com>

ReplyTo: imug-...@googlegroups.com

Subject: [imug-users] Internet Banking and Discrimination against Macintosh Users :-(

[Vishal Sheth]

I'm using SBI banking since more than a year from MAC.

Vishal Sheth

[GAURAV MEHTA]

Still there are lot of websites are designed by considering the Internet explorer as a only browser.

I think Indian Railway website has same issue.I think Apple need to more aggressive on this part. Popularity of Safari on windows may help also.

Gaurav

[mitesh nayakpara]

I CAN OPEN A PAGE  www.onlinesbi.com  on my mac.

well indeed there is a problem in accessing some of the government sites, which government should consider the matters.

mitesh nayakpara

Shreeji Pharmatech

Plot no-8012,

Opp. LA Pharmaceuticals,

Nr. Vinzol Crossing,

Phase-2, GIDC, Vatva,

Ahmedabad-382445.

Gujarat - India

Ph.: +91 79 29295155

        +91 79 40084414,15

Fax : +91 79 40084413

mail:mit...@shreejipharmatech.com

[Swapna Eleswarapu]

I've been using my SBI online a/c ever since I got my iBook in 2006 with no problems on Firefox. In fact, it's HDFC (Bank and Securities) websites that we've had problems with.

But yes, I closed my Andhra Bank a/c because it was Firefox unfriendly.

Swapna

[Nitesh Bhatia]

Website meant for windows :D that's funny !

You need to understand difference between a web browser (like IE,
Safari) and Operating System (Windows, Mac). A browser is a gateway to
internet hosted on any operating system. It doesn't matters whether
its Windows or Mac or iOS or Android !! Functionality of a website is
limited to scope of browser only. You can expect dissimilarities
between IE and Safari Versions of site. If you are not able to login
to sbi site or any other site check your internet connection
settings.

If you are using any company/private proxy then check settings of your
"HTTPS" connection. Usually banking site operates over Secure Gateway
(HTTPS).

--nitesh

On Jul 23, 2:25 pm, Swapna Eleswarapu <swapna.eleswar...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Mind Management™]

I had documented my experiences and yes I certainly understand the differences between an operating system and a browser :-)

My two books on Internet "Internet for Doctors" and "Exploring the Internet Odyssey 2001" published in 2000 were bestsellers selling over 20,000 copies each and I am a committed Apple Mac user since the SE days of mid 1980s.

Theories aside, I believe this forum is a sharing platform for practical and real-life issues faced by Mac users.

I am also aware of the Banking Secure Gateways and have been advising Citibank as well as ICICI in the past, though State Bank of India and Bank of India have only recently been in my "fishing net".

Since you have taken your valuable time to offer gyaan... I am choosing to share yet another mail sent 10 months back to Bank of India wherein I received a personal call from their Internet Banking Head "agreeing" with me and promising to set things right "soon"

Even today several sites are not savvy with popular Mac browsers and I think we all need to take cognizance of that and be assertive and affirmative in helping evolve our internet experiences in terms of usage on the Mac OS rather than get limited by only the Windows...

Here's the text of the Bank of India note...
_____________________________________________________________________________
From: General Operations Department (HO)
Sent: Saturday, October 24, 2009 9:21 AM
To: Headoffice CSD; Centralized Operations Department; Starconnect
Subject: FW: RELATIONSHIPS BEYOND BANKING?....SOMETHING TO PONDER UPON
 
 
Head Office
BANK OF INDIA
STAR HOUSE
C - 5, "G" Block,
Bandra Kurla Complex,
Bandra (East),
Mumbai 400 051.
Ph: . 022-66684444

Email: HeadOff...@bankofindia.co.in
I HAVE A LOT OF NEGATIVE FEEDBACK TO GIVE YOU BUT I DO TRUST THAT IN LINE WITH YOUR "RELATIONSHIPS BEYOND BANKING" YOU WOULD PAY HEED TO THIS CUSTOMER'S FEEDBACK.
 
I WOULD LIKE YOU TO REALLY UNDERSTAND THE FOCUS OF MY COMMUNICATION AND NOT SIMPLY IGNORE IT AS THE RAMBLINGS OF AN IRATE CUSTOMER. I CAN CLAIM IMPECCABLE CREDENTIALS IN COMMUNICATING THE BELOWMENTIONED EXPERIENCES SINCE I KNOW THE INTERNET THOUROUGHLY HAVING WRITTEN AND SUCCESSFULLY SOLD OVER 20,000 COPIES OF MY BEST-SELLER INTERNET BOOKS WAY BACK IN 2000.. SUBSEQUENTLY HAVING PLAYED THE ROLE OF "MYSTERY SHOPPER" DURING WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT OF 3 NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL BANKS AND ONLINE-SHARE TRADING ORGANIZATIONS.
 
I AM INVESTING MY TIME AND ENERGIES IN THIS COMMUNICATION ONLY IN THE LARGER INTERESTS OF THE INDIAN ONLINE BANKING USER AND TRUST YOU WOULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
 
THIS REFERS TO YOUR CORPORATE ACCOUNT

• For a long time I tried your customer care number 40919191 and was unable to get through the menu roster choices... I spent several hours put together over a number of days.
• Finally as a last resort I tried the landline and your menus worked!
• This means that through the mobile none of your options work and hence the customer is limited and unaware why he is not able to get through, unless that itself is the specific intention of the customer care number to get as few calls as possible :-(
• You have restricted the use of your star Connect services only to Windows and that too only to Internet Explorer. This is extremely unfair since I am a Mac user and have tried your wesite through several other popular browsers like Firefox, Mozilla, Opera, Safari, Flock, Chrome and none of them are compatible. This is surprising since I have been an active online banking user since the past 6 years and experienced the interfaces of Citibank, icicibank, hdfcbank and not faced any of these problems anywhere :-(
• I was forced to open an account with your bank only to be able to pay Service Tax and VAT. The moment I initiated Internet Banking I had to wait for almost 10 days with three separate mailers from you and then again register online and then print out a communication, sign it and PHYSICALLY send it to your branch and again wait for 3 more days before being empowered to access my online account :-(
• Having gone through this onerous exercise, I finally decided today to initiate the payment of my Service Tax through your interface so having filled in the necessary details at nsdl I was finally directed to your online link but surprise surprise... I was once again unable to do so because I was prompted to first empower the bank to pay the taxes on my behalf and for that was asked to follow the following instructions:
•  Approval for the tax payment can done by logging on Internet Banking and clicking on ' Pay Tax ' and then ' Payment Approvals ' under Indirect Tax Payment.
• Unfortunately no such "Payments Approval" appears in the menu. Only the following appears -
• Indirect Tax Payment 
• View Payments Made
• Regenerate Challan
• So back against the wall
• And again back to the Customer Care Number, where your call centre executive smugly asks me to take scren shots of whatever problems I am facing and email them to boi.eco...@bankofindia.co.in. I requested him that why should I as an aggrieved customer be doing all this homework when a simpler solution is for a Relationship executive to simply listen to me.. note down the issues and then revert within a day or two. I was told that this was the decision and policy of the bank and nothing more can be expected. FULL STOP!!!

So here I am... a desperate non-voluntary user of your internet banking having to spend my time on the keyboard pouring my heart out with little expectation of anything really happening.. perhaps just a vent for me to air my frustrations
_____________________________________________________________________________

• Internet Banking and Discrimination against Macintosh Users :-( [1 Update]

 Topic: Internet Banking and Discrimination against Macintosh Users :-(

Nitesh Bhatia <niteshb...@gmail.com> Jul 25 04:15AM -0700 ^

 
Website meant for windows :D that's funny !
 
You need to understand difference between a web browser (like IE,
Safari) and Operating System (Windows, Mac). A browser is a gateway to
internet hosted on any operating system. It doesn't matters whether
its Windows or Mac or iOS or Android !! Functionality of a website is
limited to scope of browser only. You can expect dissimilarities
between IE and Safari Versions of site. If you are not able to login
to sbi site or any other site check your internet connection
settings.
 
If you are using any company/private proxy then check settings of your
"HTTPS" connection. Usually banking site operates over Secure Gateway
(HTTPS).
 
--nitesh
 
On Jul 23, 2:25 pm, Swapna Eleswarapu <swapna.eleswar...@gmail.com>
wrote: