Ampersands are fun

We have issues with &, but it is still being fun with the confirmation of payee stuff.

People trying to pay us using the name :-

ANDREWS&ARNOLD LTD

Are told that we are not an exact match, but that we are :-

ANDREWS ARNOLD LIMITED trading as ANDREWS ARNOLD LTD

This is wrong!

We are in fact (on companies house) :-

ANDREWS & ARNOLD LIMITED

Why is this an issue?

There are a couple of issues :-

• It is wrong, but does that really matter?
• It confuses people trying to pay us, thinking something is wrong.
• It encourages people to ignore warnings
• Someone could register ANDREWS ARNOLD LTD, which means the bank are claiming we are in fact a different company.

(Oh look, company 12972728 is ANDREWS ARNOLD LIMITED now)

The real issue?

For me, this is an annoyance which I would really like fixed, but I know mistakes happen. I know all about XML, and ampersands, and protocols, so I do understand.

If the issue is with pay.uk and the confirmation of payee system, then they should fix it. If the issue is the bank, then they should fix it.

What I really really dislike is being lied to, and people making up crap excuses.

Clear this is happening.

I am not happy.

The excuse...

The confirmation of payee system only allows letters and numbers. Special characters like & are replaced with a space.

Well, maybe, but maybe not. It is possible that for matching this happens, but if that is true, then ANDREWS&ARNOLD LTD becomes ANDREWS ARNOLD LTD, which is exactly the trading name reported back as the near match. So if that was true it would be an exact match!

Also, when paying Barclays, we see a near match reported as :-

So clearly Barclays are able to send an &

What needs to happen.

1. Don't make up excuses or blame other people. That pisses me off.
2. Fix checking, clearly (however pay.uk passes it on) ANDREWS&ARNOLD LTD should match ANDREWS & ARNOLD LIMITED. So allow it to.
3. Match LIMITED to LTD (as companies house does) rather than listing a separate trading name with LTD
4. Send the right name back on a near match, i.e. ANDREWS & ARNOLD LTD

(OK we are changing name from LIMITED to LTD to avoid the trading as crap)