Wespac Bank has denied it is still floundering from a pre-Easter technical fault that has lasted nine days, saying recent congestion to an online banking tool is a -completely separate" issue.

ZDNet Australia reader Terry Jacobs today claimed the Westpac DeskBank system - which is used by medium sized organisations to process payments such as payroll online - has been down for nine days.

-Several companies that I have dealt with are in negotiations with other banks to move their accounts as they cannot be refused access to such a critical application," he said.

A Westpac spokesperson was adamant that DeskBank has not been down since March 28, when ComputerWorld reported it suffered a technical glitch that saw thousands of customers awaiting welfare payments.

-Before Easter...we had a problem with a very large file which caused a delay in processing of some transactions," the spokesperson told ZDNet Australia. It was fixed within the day, she added. The spokesperson went on to say the transaction banking tool suffered a few problems on Wednesday and -some customers have been experiencing some congestion". However, it's a -completely separate" issue caused by a hardware problem and end-of-month congestion, she stressed.

When pushed to give further details, however, Jacobs said DeskBank access had been unavailable since Thursday last week. -It has been consistent, not intermittent. Our financial manager has been in contact with the bank on daily basis," he said. -Westpac are definitely aware of the problem and every time we call them we are told that 'they have meaning to call to inform us of the problem', although we are told the same thing on a daily basis."

According to Jacobs, the business he works for does 50-plus Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) transactions on a daily basis. Also all tax payments must be made via EFT otherwise the company incurs penalties from the Australian Tax Office. The alternative, he said, is to fax the required transactions and have them processed manually, "which defeats the point of having the online EFT," he said.

"We are currently in discussions with ANZ & NAB to see what alternative products they have and will move our 20-plus accounts with AU$2 million-plus to a competitor," he said. -We told Westpac of our decision via e-mail...but they have not even responded."

Westpac said it was in the process of implementing a fix for the problem. -Any people who are experiencing problems we ask them to call us ASAP," the spokesperson said.

-We apologise to customers," she said. -We can totally understand the frustration."

She could give no estimated time by which the problem would be solved.

Copyright © 2009 CBS Interactive, a CBS Company. All Rights Reserved.
ZDNET is a registered service mark of CBS Interactive. ZDNET Logo is a service mark of CBS Interactive.