MSE News: First Direct comes top, while Barclays gets the wooden spoon...

Hazzanet

smifffy1989 wrote: »

I must be the only person who has actually left First Direct.!

Nope; left them about 9 months ago myself,

Archi_Bald

I won't leave them as long as they still have a good interest rate on their Regular Saver. But I have no need for any of their other products, and only keep the current account and a normal savings accounts out of necessity. Only money that goes through the current account is the monthly £300 for the Regular Saver.

I do everything online so don't have a need to call them, however friendly / efficient etc they might seem.

TheEffect

Oddly, I left First Direct for Barclays. About the only good thing First Direct have going for them is their call center. Their internet banking, mobile apps, and products (bar one) are rubbish.

Barclays now have the 'call us' feature within the app, which puts you through to their UK call center, and it already knows who you are so no security information required. Their internet banking and app are probably the best available, and there's branches everywhere should you need one. Sure their telephone banking probably isn't as great as First Direct, but as you can do mostly everything online, you shouldn't need to call them much. Whenever I've called them, they've been able to sort the problem/query with relative ease.

colsten

TheEffect wrote: »

Their internet banking and app are probably the best available

See, I positively dislike Barclays internet banking - I much prefer Nationwide, Lloyds (+appendices), Santander. Just shows that different people have different likes.

Barclays are usually quite adventurous when it comes to deploying new technology but when it comes to value for money for anyone with a bit of cash to put away, they are even worse than FD as Barclays don't even have one outstanding product.

For anyone in need of an overdraft, Barclays are also bottom, alongside Halifax and Santander.

Only positive I can think about for Barclays is that they didn't need a UK tax payer bailout. Of course, that didn't stop them taking the lead in the Libor fixing scandal, and participating in the PPI quagmire.

codeX

colsten wrote:

See, I positively dislike Barclays internet banking - I much prefer Nationwide, Lloyds (+appendices), Santander. Just shows that different people have different likes

I agree about the Barclays online banking (hate that cluttered menu) and it often crashes my Firefox. But their mobile app is excellent; one of the best I've seen.

NationWide Online banking and the App was a pleasant surprise. Well designed, big/clear fonts etc.

Santander online banking is okay. But I think their mobile app's interface is one of the worst out there; it looks like a placeholder for a webpage.

Bloomberg

codeX wrote: »

I agree about the Barclays online banking (hate that cluttered menu) and it often crashes my Firefox. But their mobile app is excellent; one of the best I've seen.

NationWide Online banking and the App was a pleasant surprise. Well designed, big/clear fonts etc.

Santander online banking is okay. But I think their mobile app's interface is one of the worst out there; it looks like a placeholder for a webpage.

I would agree that the Barclays mobile banking app is the proper goods, far better than any other I have used. Their iPad app is also top notch. I seldom log into the on line site but don't think that it is any worse than the others I have used, in fact I quite like it. The ability to rename accounts and other customising features make it quite appealing.



I am somewhat surprised that Barclays have finished bottom of the pile in the survey. In general I have found them to be very helpful.

joe_mcclaine

Hazzanet wrote: »

Nope; left them about 9 months ago myself,

Me n'all.

Back to Santander.

anoncol

Barclay call centre is a nightmare to understand.