Target--have not been able to connect for months

nvorsanger · December 11, 2020, 6:23pm

Update on Target? I have checked the table and it is a known problem, but the ETA keeps shifting. I have not been able to link my account for 2 months–if I try a refresh, I get a message that it can’t be done b/c of technical issues there.

Target has been a long-term problem for me. I’ve previously (& repeatedly) had to reset the account in a very cumbersome way (entering data at Tiller, being sent to Target, entering it there, being locked out of my account, having to reset all the info at Target, then back to Tiller). It had seemed to be working OK for a while, until this latest problem. Thank you.

heather · December 11, 2020, 6:24pm

Hi @nvorsanger we don’t have any more information about Target than what’s on the Outage Dashboard.

At this point you might want to just consider manually tracking or just not using that card.

Smitty · December 16, 2020, 6:40pm

Yeah, same issue here. It’s pretty maddening considering Target is one of the largest retailers around and I’m sure many people make use of their Red Card to save 5% on their purchases there.

I’m disappointed Yodlee hasn’t made this more of a priority to get fixed. I have no desire to manually track or import transactions – that’s why I signed up for Tiller in the first place! – to automate that kind of work for me.

@heather Given how long the outage has lasted, are we at risk that when it starts working again, it won’t be able to pull the full history of transactions it has missed so far? I know, for example, when I started using Tiller that the initial imports only went back 1-2 months. Will the same apply to Target? Also, if I manually import/track that account, I assume I may have to delete what will become duplicate transactions, once it starts working again?

nvorsanger · December 17, 2020, 3:35pm

Coming back to echo @Smitty. Not sure where the issue lies (maybe it’s on Target’s end?), but this problem largely negates the purpose of my having Tiller in the first place. I buy a lot from Target, and I assume lots of other Tiller users do too, since it is such a huge retailer. I am not planning to change my shopping habits to make it easier to use my spreadsheet.

The other suggestion was to enter Target purchases manually, but if I do that, what is the point of Tiller? I am already entering split transactions manually because I’m not willing to sign the very broad permissions Tiller recently started requiring. So it’s really frustrating and disappointing.

heather · December 17, 2020, 3:54pm

@nvorsanger and @Smitty, I totally hear you both on this and I know it’s a pain.

I will check in with our technical account manager at Yodlee to see if he has any insight into why Target has been on the outage list for so long and when we might find it working again.

There is the potential for gaps in the Target data at this point due to how long it has been out so manually adding the transacitons probably make sense, even though it’s a pain and does negate Tiller’s usefulness for that specific institution.

Do either of you know whether Target updated or significantly changed their website around the time the outage started in mid-October? That is the most common cause of an outage.

They might also be updating or have updated the site’s infrastructure to make it more secure and Yodlee is playing catch up to get it working with the updates. If they recently started requiring two factor authentication Yodlee has to build that into the login flow on their side too.

nvorsanger · December 18, 2020, 9:38pm

Thank you, Heather. I can’t recall noticing any changes to the site. I am on the main site to browse or shop a lot. I just signed into my credit card account with no problem and with no changes that I noticed, but it’s possible there have been some and I just didn’t realize.

Sorry, that doesn’t really tell you anything, I know.

stuart · December 20, 2020, 2:03am

Here’s a bit of info from another Yodlee customer, although the ETA for a fix is already past.

+1 that these issues take away from Tillers usefulness. I used to have one place to look for all upcoming bills (and if paid).

Adam_B · December 21, 2020, 5:21pm

Heavy Red Card user here – especially during Christmas! I do hope this can get fixed soon. Just a guess, but perhaps their devs are swamped with keeping up with the holiday shopping crush, that’s apparently massive this year, due to COVID lockdowns. I’m hoping that early in the new year it gets fixed. Any updates that Tiller employees hear of would be great – even if it doesn’t speed up the solution. It’s like being stuck on the tarmac – learning why doesn’t fix the problem, but it’s nice to know. Happy Holidays, all!

krista · December 21, 2020, 6:44pm

Hi @Adam_B! It looks like Yodlee’s revised ETA for a fix with Target cards is 12/25. We’re working to make that update available on our Outage Dashboard too.

What we have learned from Yodlee that they are needing to work directly with Target to get this fixed. I think your hunch is likely true-- with the online shopping crush this month, my guess (pure speculation) is that the fix with Yodlee might not be a super high priority for Target’s devs at the moment.

That’s what we know at this point. So while we do expect this connection will be repaired, I know the downtime (and the timing of it!) is super inconvenient and we’re sorry about that.

brian3 · January 4, 2021, 6:17pm

Looks like the date has been picked out till 1/31

nvorsanger · January 4, 2021, 8:35pm

Thank you @brian3 for the update. This is so frustrating. I do a huge amount of shopping at Target (more than from any other vendor, by far). Not having those transactions feed into my spreadsheet means that Tiller is no longer very useful for me. I am now missing months of transactions, so I have a big catch-up job on my hands, whether they eventually make it into my Tiller sheet or I categorize them separately (which again, would basically negate the purpose of my paying for Tiller in the first place). I will wait till 1/31 and reevaluate. I will be so happy if this finally gets resolved!

stuart · January 7, 2021, 6:58pm

ETA is suspicious as the Last Updated column still shows 12/2. However, on 12/2 the ETA was 12/25. So I guess the ETA is just a kick the can random date.
I think “No ETA” would be a more accurate representation.

heather · January 12, 2021, 11:03pm

Hi @stuart, thanks for pointing that out. It appears something is amiss with the script that updates that outage sheet and not updating the last updated date in some cases. The last update we received was on 1/1 which updated the ETA to 1/31.

Thanks for your patience on this one, folks. We know it’s a pain and we’re monitoring closely. The update from our technical account manager at Yodlee indicates that they are waiting on Target and need to work with them directly but Target has not been responsive in coordinating a meeting with their teams.

So, if you, as customers, try to put pressure on Target, perhaps that helps - otherwise we’ll let you know when we know or hear more.

mmgalliv · January 27, 2021, 5:30am

Even when we get the Target feed working what will keep us from having to manually split out transactions? The Amazon import is great but there is no option I am aware of for Target. Everything is currently getting lumped into Misc. Expense which is not helping me actually understand where my money is going. And to reiterate the fact the we have tiller due to automation, if not for that we would be doing it manually anyways without paying for it. I am not saying that tiller hasn’t been incredibly useful to me but missing Target is a Huge deal.