What's the appeal with first direct?

mrmajika

alanq wrote: »

Fair enough especially if dialling from a mobile but bear in mind that is the Leeds number and that First Direct also has a call centre in Hamilton Scotland so you might have a longer wait for your call to be answered (10 seconds instead of 5?)

I use this number all the time and get routed to both Leeds and Hamilton in equal measure. I get the impression it works in the exact same way as the 0845 number.

JuicyJesus

mrmajika wrote: »

I use this number all the time and get routed to both Leeds and Hamilton in equal measure. I get the impression it works in the exact same way as the 0845 number.

Every 0845 or 0800 number has a corresponding standard number. The international number quoted by banks and other companies is often just that number made public. Except for NatWest, because apparently they haven't get got the message that calls from abroad to 0845 numbers are ludicrously expensive, as part of their campaign to be absolute muppets in every area.

MoneySaverLog

mrmajika wrote: »

I use this number all the time and get routed to both Leeds and Hamilton in equal measure. I get the impression it works in the exact same way as the 0845 number.

Not quite cause when you ring the 0113 number you get a operator asking for a ID code instead of postcode. So they know which number you came through on.

Agree about each non geo number being routed through to a standard number though most companies never give this out as it's a money spinner for the likes of sky

Hazzanet

MoneySaverLog wrote: »

Not quite cause when you ring the 0113 number you get a operator asking for a ID code instead of postcode. So they know which number you came through on.

Agree about each non geo number being routed through to a standard number though most companies never give this out as it's a money spinner for the likes of sky

Could be a VoIP system. Our system at work is VoIP and I can tell whether you dialled me via switchboard, direct, our 0845 number or via the standard 01... number.

In fact, where I worked previously, calls for three companies were handled by the one switchboard operator, and depending on the number you called, the operator would answer "Thank you for calling Company A", "Good afternoon, Company B" or "Welcome to Company C".

All rather clever.

alanq

I made a rare call to First Direct last weekend and cannot fault the service. Immediate answer by a very nice lady who did everything that was required.

I am less pleased with the online service. I tried a few times to submit a secure message with negative feedback about unclear Ts&Cs. On each occasion I got a message to "Please try later". Eventually the message did get accepted. Now when I log in to internet banking I can see that there has been a reply. However I cannot see what the reply is as I am once again being asked to "Please try later" to read it!