Thursday, August 6, 2009

Efaktura - how not to do it

My bank has this wonderful feature called "efaktura" - where a company can send me its bill through the bank, I can click it and approve it - all without a single paper being harmed, seemingly to the benefit of all.
But when I logged on to my bank today, I had 6 "eFaktura" waiting, and I quailed.

Why?

Because of what it entails.....

  1. Click the "eFaktura" button. Get a list.
  2. Click the name of the payee. This brings up a popup with the actual bill; checking what you're billed for is usually a good idea.
  3. Click the triangle next to the payee and choose "approve". This brings up a window where I can (among other things) choose which account to pay from. So far, so good.
  4. Click "Approve". Get an error message because the payment date is in the past.
  5. Experiment with the calendar widget until you get to choose "tomorrow". ("ASAP" and "Today" are not options.) Hit "Approve" again.
  6. Wait for the Java applet to start. This brings you a review.
  7. Hit "Next".
  8. Enter your password. (You may also be asked for your ID number and one-time password; the choice seems to be random.)
  9. Get to the "confirmation" screen. There's no link going back to the list of "eFaktura", so you have to go back to "start" and find the "eFaktura" button again.
Oh, and remember to close the popup window.

This is stupid. If I could loop through 2-5 for all my "eFaktura", and then go through 6-9 once, like I do for my regular bills, I would be less disgusted. If the error message for "The payment date is in the past" showed a button for "pay ASAP", I'd feel that the person designing this MIGHT have thought about the user.

As it is, I'm unhappy.