The Great First Direct Incentive Con

JohnWill1970

If transferring to First Direct don't make the same mistake I did or like myself you'll end up very disappointed.:(

I thought you only needed to switch a couple of direct debits & standing orders plus pay a minimum of £1000 a month into the account to qualify.

THIS IS NOT THE CASE

I've just been told after having the account for five months that I won't be receiving the incentive as I transferred the direct debits myself rather than let them do it. I cannot for the life of me see why this should make any difference. When speaking to them I was not made aware. Had they made it clear that this was essential I'd obviously have done it that way. My partner is in the same situation.

To add insult to injury I also dod not qualify for the £100 if I switch out of the account within 6 months because I'm not happy with it - clearly I am not!

BE WARNED

Caladan

I understand your frustration - but read the small print...?

Took me around 1 minute to find this on the First Direct website -

Switch your banking to us we'll give you £125**
£250 free of overdraft interest
beautifully designed Internet Banking service
real people to answer your calls, 24 hours a day, seven days a week
our Easyswitch service makes moving your Current account easier
comes with our satisfaction guarantee - if you're not happy we'll give you £100.***

** Open a 1st Account then transfer your banking using our Easyswitch service (transferring at least two Direct Debits and/or standing orders) and salary/income of at least £1,000 per month to your 1st Account within three months of your account opening and we will add £125 to your account. This offer is only available for people who haven't previously held any account with first direct and is limited to one payment per joint relationship.

If you did your application entirely over the phone they should have made you aware of this of course - If not you have cause for complaint.

If you did the app online, well, the information was there for you to read.

Edit: I will admit that the phrasing of the quote I've copied is somewhat misleading, it almost suggests that transferring 2 DD/SOs IS the easyswitch service.

JohnWill1970

Yes it's easy to find the wording when you look for it just as I did after being informed that I would't receive the incentive. I just think it should have been made a little clearer that using them to switch your DDs for you was a must.

It's my mistake & I'm aware of it, but that doesn't alter anything.

Caladan

JohnWill1970 wrote: »

Yes it's easy to find the wording when you look for it just as I did after being informed that I would't receive the incentive. I just think it should have been made a little clearer that using them to switch your DDs for you was a must.

It's my mistake & I'm aware of it, but that doesn't alter anything.

True, and you're certainly not the first to fall foul of this rule, with First Direct or otherwise.

From the banks perspective however, if you don't use their switching service you are considerably less likely to actually use them as your main bank and may therefore just be 'switching' a couple of direct debits for the sake of gaining the incentive. Nothing wrong with that actually being the case but it means the bank gets nothing out of opening the account for you, hence the rule being in place.

I disagree with you using the word con however, it's not a con, it's terms and conditions, two very different different things.

KTF

It says on the page where you apply for the account that you have to use the switching service:

https://www2.firstdirect.com/1/2/banking/current-account

** Open a 1st Account then transfer your banking using our Easyswitch service (transferring at least two Direct Debits and/or standing orders) and salary/income of at least £1,000 per month to your 1st Account within three months of your account opening and we will add £125 to your account. This offer is only available for people who haven't previously held any account with first direct and is limited to one payment per joint relationship.

Seems no-one take responsibility these days and just looks to blame someone else?

Archi_Bald

JohnWill1970 wrote: »

It's my mistake & I'm aware of it, but that doesn't alter anything.

Perhaps you should alter the title of your thread because there's no "con" involved, is there?

JuicyJesus

Archi_Bald wrote: »

Perhaps you should alter the title of your thread because there's no "con" involved, is there?

o4u's wise words, as quoted in my signature, prove themselves truer every day.

Hominu

Caladan wrote: »

beautifully designed Internet Banking service

Objection!

Archi_Bald

Hominu wrote: »

Objection!

And objection from me, too - though to be fair, caladan just quoted the FD website

John1993_2

JohnWill1970 wrote: »

Yes it's easy to find the wording when you look for it just as I did after being informed that I would't receive the incentive. I just think it should have been made a little clearer that using them to switch your DDs for you was a must.

It's my mistake & I'm aware of it, but that doesn't alter anything.

It makes it a lie for you to suggest that there is a con. They were open and honest, you were stupid. Why pretend that they conned you?

pqrdef

AFAIK switching bonuses are all the same. There's never any actual form or button or tick-box to indicate explicitly that you're applying for the incentive.

This means that if you don't qualify for any reason, or don't do what's necessary to qualify, they don't tell you. They just put their innocent face on and go ahead with opening the account etc as if they're completely unaware that the switching bonus is what you're after. You don't find out you're not getting it until it's too late.

But in the OP's case, FD have got a simple choice. They can pay the £100 and keep the customer, or not pay it and lose the customer. If they prefer the latter, it suggests that some of their staff have forgotten why they do the £100 bonus.

Talk of T&Cs is completely inappropriate here. They don't have to pay incentives, but customers don't owe them anything either.

I like it when the checkout operator says, there's a bogof on this, and sends somebody to the aisle to fetch me a freebie. They don't have to. But offers have a purpose, and service has a purpose. At the end of the day, they want me to feel I did the right thing by going there. People don't want to do business with the sort of firm where you have to be on your guard all the time and read all the small print.