First Direct - 100GBP for leaving

antallen

Hi all,

Back in June08 the first direct £100 for joining and another £100 for leaving was in the weekly e-mail. I joined, paid in my £1500 each month, and now I've asked to leave but they are refusing to pay me the second £100 because I didn't complete a bank account transfer form and move my standing orders etc. This is a condition of the offer at the moment, but I read the T&C back then but I'm sure it wasn't there back in June.

Anyone else any experience of this? Anyone got the T&C or even an offer pamphlet from last June?

Thanks
Ant

rb10

I don't know what the T&Cs were in June, but according to this taken in February: http://web.archive.org/web/20080209172441/www.firstdirect.com/1st-account/overview.shtml , you had to do this to get the £100 leaving bonus

Here's how our Service Guarantee works. If you are a new customer we'll pay £100 per customer or joint relationship if you close your 1st Account within 12 months of opening it, as long as a salary or income of £1500 or more has been paid into that account for at least 6 months, and you haven't previously banked with first direct. We'll pay the £100 into your 1st Account prior to its closure. All accounts with first direct have to be closed and your 1st Account transferred to another bank/building society.

No mention of standing orders etc in that bit, although it may be elsewhere, I don't know.

staffie1

Hi Ant - just out of interest, why do you want to leave First Direct? I'm thinking of joining, so would love to know what's put you off (unless of course you're just after the £100)

antallen

staffie1 wrote: »

Hi Ant - just out of interest, why do you want to leave First Direct? I'm thinking of joining, so would love to know what's put you off (unless of course you're just after the £100)

To be honest I'm only leaving for the £100, and I only joined for the first £100. That said, they do like printing on cardboard which I think is a waste, you don't get a VISA debit card, only maestro, their text message updates arrive at 7am which is annoying at the weekends when I want a lie in, and their online banking keeps asking me which account I'm using when there's only 1 to choose from. Only minor issues really. Their service is pretty damn good as they always answer the phone personally within 2 rings. Unless you're trying to leave that is - then they're much less helpful.

VfM4meplse

First Direct offer excelent service so why anyone would want to leave them beats me.

antallen

rb10 wrote: »

I don't know what the T&Cs were in June, but according to this taken in February: http://web.archive.org/web/20080209172441/www.firstdirect.com/1st-account/overview.shtml , you had to do this to get the £100 leaving bonus
No mention of standing orders etc in that bit, although it may be elsewhere, I don't know.

That is exactly how I recall it.

Does anyone have this on paper? Or a scan or photocopy? I need some hard evidence.

Ant

YorkshireBoy

Did you pay in exactly £1,500 each month (by BACS transfer for example), or did you mandate your income (salary/benefits/pension etc) as per the original offer T&C's?

On the subject of T&C's, if you use the forum search tool (top right of your screen) you'll find the threads and T&C's posted at the time you took the offer up.

mitchec1

antallen wrote: »

To be honest I'm only leaving for the £100, and I only joined for the first £100. That said, they do like printing on cardboard which I think is a waste, you don't get a VISA debit card, only maestro, their text message updates arrive at 7am which is annoying at the weekends when I want a lie in, and their online banking keeps asking me which account I'm using when there's only 1 to choose from. Only minor issues really. Their service is pretty damn good as they always answer the phone personally within 2 rings. Unless you're trying to leave that is - then they're much less helpful.

A couple of points to add on this you can change all statements and notifications with the exception of mortgages charges to an electronic statement and FD are changing over to Visa debit card this year (the picture has already changed)

antallen

Oh, one thing worth noting. Tonight whilst on the phone to them they deleted a message which they'd sent through the secure messaging facility. That message stated that I didn't qualify for the £100 for not having my salary paid DIRECTLY into their account. On the phone they said that this wasn't the issue, and they deleted the message they'd sent to destroy the evidence!

YorkshireBoy

antallen wrote: »

Oh, one thing worth noting. Tonight whilst on the phone to them they deleted a message which they'd sent through the secure messaging facility. That message stated that I didn't qualify for the £100 for not having my salary paid DIRECTLY into their account. On the phone they said that this wasn't the issue, and they deleted the message they'd sent to destroy the evidence!

I've now closed my FD account (after pocketing the leaving present) but I seem to remember FD secure messages are automatically deleted after you've read them. Anyone else confirm?

mitchec1

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

I've now closed my FD account (after pocketing the leaving present) but I seem to remember FD secure messages are automatically deleted after you've read them. Anyone else confirm?

Yep thats what happens with mine