On line woes… Is there help from the companies?

I 'googled' and it brought up this...

Dedicated Support Phone Lines
Many banks (NatWest, Lloyds, Santander) have specific, often 7-day-a-week, helplines for older or vulnerable customers.

Carer/Companion Cards
These allow a trusted person to make purchases on behalf of the customer without sharing a main PIN.

Cash Delivery
For those unable to visit a branch or ATM, services exist to have cash delivered securely.

Voice ID
Banks like HSBC and Lloyds offer voice recognition as a password to remove the need to remember PINs.

In-Branch Assistance
Support for completing forms, private meeting rooms, and longer appointment times.

Also - NATWEST. ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND, LLOYDS BANK - all offer an 'over-70s dedicated 'phone line...

Hope this might help! Sorry you had such a negative experience with an obviously unsympathetic clerk after having to travel some distance. Maybe one day this individual will need a helping hand in an area in which she's not 'up-to-speed' - let's hope help is more generously offered, eh!

All you need to be able to pay a bill online, or in person, is the exact name of the business account, the sort code and account number.

I am concerned that the business you say you need to pay £1,900 to hasn’t furnished you with this data.

Did you ever have an invoice? It is the company’s responsibilty to furnish this not the bank’s responsibility to find it. If you had an invoice and lost it, the business should supply another. Have you sent them an email to request this?

However, any customer wanting to pay a large bill with no documentation should raise a red flag with the bank, but the most they might have done is to freeze your account, which I am guessing you would not have been happy about.

Cf the publicity about the woman targetted in the Rolex scam (recent thread here). She went along to the bank branch saying she was buying expensive watches for her son and grandson from a local jewellers not far from the bank. The business name she gave the bank along with the sort code and account number (on the jeweller’s own stationery) were valid so the bank paid the invoice. She subsequently claimed they should not have done.

The same day, she went to another bank trying to withdraw money to buy a car but had no paperwork so that bank declined the transaction and froze her account.

You seem to be suggesting that the bank find out who the money should be paid to. But that is not the bank's job. To my knowledge there is no central database of business accounts. In any event some traders use personal accounts. All banks can do is to match an account name with the sort code and account number it is given.

You are perfectly at liberty to change banks but you would have received the same response from all of them. They would not have been able to move money for you without the account name, sort code and account number.

Have a look at their invoice to see whether their bank details are on the invoice.

If not, reply to the final demand email and ask the company for their account name, account number and sort code for you to make the payment.

Your bank will not be able to provide you with such details.

Thank you for your comments.
Dickens, I did try to phone but the number I found on google search was only for phone banking customers.
I will look again.
Yes, I have paid bills on line before and am usually ok with it.
However this one particulars company had changed their bank and new bank details needed to be input before I could make my payment..
The bank I belong to, their system will not allow you to add a new company. They have to do it in the first instance. This is something a customer cannot do.
Yes, I fully appreciate the banks duty of care with customers paying out large sums.
I thanked the clerk in being diligent and fully questioning me.