Problems with the probate website

[peter]

I was in contact again with the Press Office this morning and at his request sent the Duty Officer an email outlining the issues (and providing a link to this forum discussion). Hopefully I'll get a response soon.

As I hadn't heard anything I phoned again just before 5pm and spoke to a lady, who confirmed that my email had been received, She seemed to think that explaining that it was a technical problem that was being sorted out by the developers was sufficient, but I stressed that what people really needed to know right now is that they aren't going to lose the money they've spent.

 

[Margaret]

I too have had issues - initially I got a message saying Account not found - in the end I just reset my password and was able to login successfully. Earlier today I got the HTTP/1.1404 message but that issue appears to have been resolved.

My main problem now it that the link (or tab) for "My Wills" is missing, meaning that I am unable to download a pending Will. I've already paid for it, received the email that it is available for download however, the site then was undergoing maintenance preventing me from accessing it.

Needless to say, no contact telephone number and emails go unanswered. It would have been helpful if the site had a message stating whether or not the maintenance had been completed!

 

[CarolB08]

Oh wow and I thought I was the only one having issues, I changed both my password and then my email only to find that both the original and the replacement email were not recognised, I have in turn had all the messages that other members have encountered. So I started again with a new account and so far (fingers crossed) I can access the site and check on my order that is my reorder. I have discovered that their magnification used for the site is set to high, and if after logging in (if you can) and reaching the screen that gives you the option to change email and password you scroll up the page the my orders and my account buttons are there and useable. I do hope they get this all sorted out soon.

 

[KevinStortford]

Just to add myself to the list of account holders who have had orders for wills placed before the site went down and now cannot access their account. 3 wills ordered 21/01/22 and 2 ordered 23/01/22. Delivery emails for two of the 21/01 received 24/01/22 and for one of the 23/01 on 25/01/22. No reply/acknowledgement to feedback email sent 07/02/22.

"I have/had(?) an existing account on the probate search service with several wills requested shortly before it went offline and delivery notified while it has been offline. Attempts to sign in are being met by account not found. There is no issue with entering the password incorrectly as it is unique and stored. "

 

[AngelaC]

I have discovered that their magnification used for the site is set to high, and if after logging in (if you can) and reaching the screen that gives you the option to change email and password you scroll up the page the my orders and my account buttons are there and useable. I do hope they get this all sorted out soon.

It does look as if, when I go into MyAccount and have the option to change email and password, there might be something hidden under the big black banner at the top but I certainly can't scroll any further up the page and there are only the MyAccount, Help and Logout buttons available. Is this because I haven't (dared) place any new orders?

 

[uncle024]

Had this reply from HMCTS yesterday.
We are sorry to hear about your issues with accessing our website.

We are currently ironing out some of the issues which are currently stopping the system running efficiently as it should be. And we are in the process of working through these at the moment.

We understand how frustrating this is, and we will keep the disruption down to a minimum.

Please keep trying to access the website as it will be fixed as quickly as possible.

If you have had a previous account with our previous website. Then please use the email address you used to register before. As this will preserve your orders when transferring over to the new system.

If you haven’t already, then please click on the “forgot password” link in order to create a new password for the new website.

Please note, if you register with a new email address then your previous orders will not be transferred across as they are associated with your original registered email address.

In the meantime, if there are any orders outstanding, then please get back to us with as much information as you can, so we can investigate these for you.

Thank you for your ongoing patience.

 

[John L]

It isn't just the business with old accounts etc, that is a problem.

I have found several cases where I know (and can check on Ancestry) that an entry exists in the NPC, but the new search returns "No hits" for that name and the correct year.

It seems as though there are vast swathes of the NPC which are not seen by the search engine.

John Liddle
Backwell, North Somerset

 

[AngelaC]

"Then please use the email address you used to register before. As this will preserve your orders when transferring over to the new system."

This may be the intention but it is emphatically not true!

 

[John L]

"Then please use the email address you used to register before. As this will preserve your orders when transferring over to the new system."

This may be the intention but it is emphatically not true!

Absolutely, nor are items in your basket for intended purchse or your purchase history transferred.

Oh the wonderful benefits of contracting government services out to people like Iron Mountain!

John Liddle
Backwell, North Somerset

 

[KevinStortford]

I've gone through the forgot password process and created a new one as per the advice given to Uncle024 and all I'm getting when I log into my account is a screen headed

Service
Search for a will or probate
Manage account
Email address xxxxx Change
Password xxxxx Change

Whatever I do, including logging out, loops back to that screen and it still happens when I try an alternative browser and on a tablet rather than my desk top

 

[peter]

"I have/had(?) an existing account on the probate search service with several wills requested shortly before it went offline and delivery notified while it has been offline. Attempts to sign in are being met by account not found. There is no issue with entering the password incorrectly as it is unique and stored. "

Have you reset your password? It's not a question of whether you entered it correctly, it's whether it is sufficiently secure.

"Then please use the email address you used to register before. As this will preserve your orders when transferring over to the new system."

This may be the intention but it is emphatically not true!

You don't know that. The fact you can't see your orders doesn't mean that the data hasn't been carried across to the new system - I can't see the order I've placed on the new system.

 

[KevinStortford]

Have you reset your password? It's not a question of whether you entered it correctly, it's whether it is sufficiently secure..

As per the post I was probably typing at the same time as yours. I generally use the Chrome suggested strong passwords so yes they will meet the secure criteria but I've also tried with a simpler directly entered one that covers the basics and still getting the same outcome. One thing that does strike me is what it is showing on the password line has only 6 asterisks. If that's one asterisk per character it's not enough for any version of my password. It's why I tried a second browser, and then second machine, to make sure it's not a cache issue at my end.

 

[John L]

The fact you can't see your orders doesn't mean that the data hasn't been carried across to the new system - I can't see the order I've placed on the new system.

The point at issue is that the information is not visible to the user - whether it has been transferred or not.

The far more serious aspect for me is that the search is failing to find known entries in the NPC.

As it stands, the website is not fit for purpose and is unusable.

Whoever signed it off and said "Let's go live" should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.

 

[JennieL]

I too have lost 2 wills that were delivered shortly before the old site went down. Despite resetting my password to access my original account I’ve got no history, and the two unviewed wills are nowhere to be found. I’ve queried this through the feedback link, sending them my order number and asked them to either add the wills my my account or refund the cost … I’m currently awaiting a response on that.

Has anyone worked out how to order a pre-1996 will? I can search for older wills and view the scanned pages, but there doesn’t seem to be any way to order a copy.

I ordered two post-1996 wills this week - one was delivered instantly, which was impressive. The second order (placed today) is ‘pending’ with no timescale shown, but hopefully that will appear in the prompt timeframe we’ve become used to.

 

[peter]

I generally use the Chrome suggested strong passwords so yes they will meet the secure criteria

But have you actually checked what the criteria are, or simply assumed that the Chrome suggestions will meet them? I had no problem logging-in once I changed my password and made sure it met the criteria.

One thing that does strike me is what it is showing on the password line has only 6 asterisks. If that's one asterisk per character it's not enough for any version of my password.

It's also too short to meet the criteria.

The point at issue is that the information is not visible to the user - whether it has been transferred or not.

If you want the problems to be fixed as soon as possible be more precise. The Probate Service and/or their contractors are probably following this discussion.

Has anyone worked out how to order a pre-1996 will?

I ordered one today. It was a little confusing but I got there in the end - a panel opened up on the right hand side of the page, but I can't remember the precise sequence of events.

I did run into a problem with the folio number. It wouldn't accept a blank entry, even though the Help information said that there might not be one, so I typed 'none' in the box.

 

[peter]

As it stands, the website is not fit for purpose and is unusable.

But several of us have been able to order wills - there are many problems but it's not totally unusable.

 

[Tim Powys-Lybbe]

I was in contact again with the Press Office this morning and at his request sent the Duty Officer an email outlining the issues (and providing a link to this forum discussion). Hopefully I'll get a response soon.

My experience of launching updates on a system is that this was mismanaged in the extreme. They should have first of all set up a parallel site, then tested it themselves, then invited Beta testers to test it too. Instead they did not tell us what they were doing, gave us false information that it would be restored in a day or two and then failed to restore. Eventually they did not even give us a date to get it right and it still is not right.

All this indicates a major failure which was unexpected and caught them unprepared. Did their computer systems crahs badly? Have they been hacked? Or have they merely got incompetent staff who don't know how to manage a computer centre? In the wider world we have seen Pepsico suffer a major computer problem which hit their business for four weeks and now KP Foods have just announced they have been hacked and held to ransom and cannot supply their customers. These are serious problems that indicate the computer professionals are either not competent or not given the resources they asked for. Then the business gets hit badly.

I suspect it will be some time before we find out what went wrong with Iron Mountain: they will be too embarrassed to reveal it now.

Tim

 

[peter]

Then the business gets hit badly.

They have a monopoly and the cost of wills is only £1.50, a fraction of what it was 20 years ago - it's perhaps unsurprising that some of the personnel involved are not as competent as the people you'd want programming missile control systems. What I find most surprising, however, is that the Press Office isn't being more proactive - it won't be long before the mainstream media pick up on this.

More information on the Who Do You Think You Are? magazine blog.

 

[JennieL]

I ordered one today. It was a little confusing but I got there in the end - a panel opened up on the right hand side of the page, but I can't remember the precise sequence of events.

I did run into a problem with the folio number. It wouldn't accept a blank entry, even though the Help information said that there might not be one, so I typed 'none' in the box.

Thanks, so it is possible. I’ll try again after the weekend, perhaps with a different browser.

 

[peter]

Thanks, so it is possible. I’ll try again after the weekend, perhaps with a different browser.

I used Chrome. But I don't think it's a browser issue - from what I remember I did something counter-intuitive that brought up the ordering panel.