Avoid First Direct!!

Suzy_Hastings

If they don't even have the infrastructure in place to open new accounts, what confidence would you have in them being able to manage a current account??!

I logged on last night, went through the MSE link and completed all the First Direct on-line forms. All was progressing fine - was taken through to the 'final review' section of the application process during which I pressed the 'edit' key on one section - up came an error message advising me "We're experiencing technical difficulties at the moment. We are sorry for any inconvenience this causes", and giving me a reference number and telephone number to call. So I did... only to be told that that the new account department closes at 9pm. I specifically asked whether I needed to reapply but the woman assured me, twice, that all my details had been saved, she'd checked with her supervisor, and my account was annotated as progressing. She asked that I phone back in the morning but I said that I'd be working... No problem she said, as long as I phoned before the department closes, all would be fine.

So today, when I got home from work, I phoned. The lady who answered the phone said that my application wouldn't have been marked as 'progressing', that all the data would have been lost (although she found me when I gave her my name, date of birth, etc.??!!), she didn't want the reference number as it was just the error code and she could tell from the word "Ooops" that I'd been 'timed out' (which I hadn't as that only happens after 10 minutes inactivity according to their website and I doubt there had been 10 seconds inactivity at any point!!), and that I would have to start right from the beginning. I then asked to speak to a supervisor who told me that the customer service people last night had got it wrong, and that I would have to start right from scratch. He told me that the new customer department actually closes at 10pm and not 9pm, and gave the impression that the night time shift weren't really that knowledgeable... so much for 24/7 customer service pledge!!! The reference number I'd been given apparently wasn't an error code, it was so they could find me if a search using my name and date of birth was unsuccessful! So surely my details have been stored on their systems then??! He then slipped out that my account was annotated as 'progressing' - when I picked him up on this, he said that it didn't mean a thing and I would have to start from scratch.

So bang goes the £125 transfer bonus as it had gone 5pm before I'd even left work, nevermind by the time I got home. Shabby, shabby, shabby!! What a big fat waste of my time and effort. Feel very frustrated and very stressed.

meer53

Maybe not leave it to the last minute next time ?

There's no guarantee that they would have opened an account for you anyway so surely it would have been better to apply giving yourself time to see if you were successful ?

Drp8713

To be fair, they do seem to have a few IT issues.


They had one when I opened the account for a few days I couldn't get into online banking.


Was not happy, until they gave me £10 to cover my phone calls trying to sort it and then sent me a bottle of wine.


Since then all is forgiven, all good, and the app does the job.

Thrugelmir

Suzy_Hastings wrote: »

So bang goes the £125 transfer bonus as it had gone 5pm before I'd even left work, nevermind by the time I got home. Shabby, shabby, shabby!! What a big fat waste of my time and effort. Feel very frustrated and very stressed.

How often do you work after 9 pm at night ? That's if your Company even offers the service to customers.

Suzy_Hastings

I didn't leave my application until the last moment - I applied the day before the deadline; First Direct experienced an IT issue, I phoned them as instructed and was told to phone back the next day, which I did.
And First Direct shouldn't make a feature of their 24/7 customer service if they can't provide it. To say that the night time staff aren't in possession of all the facts seems a weird thing for them to say in mitigation...

Suzy_Hastings

Thrugelmir wrote: »

How often do you work after 9 pm at night ? That's if your Company even offers the service to customers.

And not that it's any of your concern but I work for a Hospice, for people who are approaching their end of life, it's 24/7/365 and the Hospice does nothing other than offer support to its "customers"'.

Suzy_Hastings

meer53 wrote: »

Maybe not leave it to the last minute next time ?

There's no guarantee that they would have opened an account for you anyway so surely it would have been better to apply giving yourself time to see if you were successful ?

... due to their IT issues, I couldn't even finish the application form process - but they still have my details! I specifically asked yesterday if I should just re-complete the form and was told "no", but I was, according to the customer folk today, incorrectly advised. Apparently no 'credit search' would have been done as I hadn't had the opportunity to press the final 'apply' button.

meer53

Suzy_Hastings wrote: »

I didn't leave my application until the last moment - I applied the day before the deadline; First Direct experienced an IT issue, I phoned them as instructed and was told to phone back the next day, which I did.
And First Direct shouldn't make a feature of their 24/7 customer service if they can't provide it. To say that the night time staff aren't in possession of all the facts seems a weird thing for them to say in mitigation...

I would call applying for a bank account and expecting it all to go through the day before a deadline is pretty much last minute.

To expect every department to be open 24/7 is a tad unrealistic really.

MABLE

Suzy_Hastings wrote: »

If they don't even have the infrastructure in place to open new accounts, what confidence would you have in them being able to manage a current account??!

I logged on last night, went through the MSE link and completed all the First Direct on-line forms. All was progressing fine - was taken through to the 'final review' section of the application process during which I pressed the 'edit' key on one section - up came an error message advising me "We're experiencing technical difficulties at the moment. We are sorry for any inconvenience this causes", and giving me a reference number and telephone number to call. So I did... only to be told that that the new account department closes at 9pm. I specifically asked whether I needed to reapply but the woman assured me, twice, that all my details had been saved, she'd checked with her supervisor, and my account was annotated as progressing. She asked that I phone back in the morning but I said that I'd be working... No problem she said, as long as I phoned before the department closes, all would be fine.

So today, when I got home from work, I phoned. The lady who answered the phone said that my application wouldn't have been marked as 'progressing', that all the data would have been lost (although she found me when I gave her my name, date of birth, etc.??!!), she didn't want the reference number as it was just the error code and she could tell from the word "Ooops" that I'd been 'timed out' (which I hadn't as that only happens after 10 minutes inactivity according to their website and I doubt there had been 10 seconds inactivity at any point!!), and that I would have to start right from the beginning. I then asked to speak to a supervisor who told me that the customer service people last night had got it wrong, and that I would have to start right from scratch. He told me that the new customer department actually closes at 10pm and not 9pm, and gave the impression that the night time shift weren't really that knowledgeable... so much for 24/7 customer service pledge!!! The reference number I'd been given apparently wasn't an error code, it was so they could find me if a search using my name and date of birth was unsuccessful! So surely my details have been stored on their systems then??! He then slipped out that my account was annotated as 'progressing' - when I picked him up on this, he said that it didn't mean a thing and I would have to start from scratch.

So bang goes the £125 transfer bonus as it had gone 5pm before I'd even left work, nevermind by the time I got home. Shabby, shabby, shabby!! What a big fat waste of my time and effort. Feel very frustrated and very stressed.

Been there, done that. I hate this bank with a passion. Bloody nightmare!!!!!!!!!!!!:mad:

Archi_Bald

Gosh, is it the heat? We seem to see a spade of angry "avoid this bank" and "avoid that bank" in the last couple of days.

Whilst I appreciate it can be a tad annoying if something doesn't work as expected, such things do happen, in all walks of life. Nobody is perfect, and IT systems occasionally do have issues.

The £125 offer for FD via MSE has been available for months, so applying yesterday was leaving it to the last minute. There is still a £100 offer, and a £125 one will no doubt come along at some stage again.

Life goes on, the world keeps turning.

Suzy_Hastings

meer53 wrote: »

I would call applying for a bank account and expecting it all to go through the day before a deadline is pretty much last minute.

To expect every department to be open 24/7 is a tad unrealistic really.

The tag line on their website is
[FONT=&quot]"Online and telephone banking 24 7 365 | first direct[/FONT]
We're here to help 24 7 365"


And if the deadline was 5pm on 31st July, THAT is the deadline. I was just trying to complete the application form, not expecting a decision!


My point in my initial post was that I was told that my application was saved and annotated as progressing and that I was NOT to re-complete the form, and the next day I was told that team didn't know what they were talking about, that my details hadn't been saved (although they insisted on me going through 'security' by providing personal information), and that I would have to start from the beginning again. I was perfectly happy with the information the lady gave me yesterday, until I was told today by someone else that it was rubbish.