Disaster Switching to First Direct

RedHead123_2

Have a gripe list as long as my arm as to why I am not happy with the switching service with First Direct. A surprise as MSE has raved about their customer service! The long and the short of it, they did not switch me over from Lloyds on my switch date due to lack of information and poor communication, poor set up on the website not making all the loops and hoops clear. I asked for compensation for the three hours of my working week I lost and the supervisor just sneered at me and questioned me when I told her how much I earn per hour (in fact I under-estimated it so as not to appear greedy!) She flat refused despite accepting that her team were at fault. Suffice to say I cancelled the switch which was offered for a future date. Don't want anything to do with them now.

jonesMUFCforever

What exactly went wrong?

I presume you initiated the switch so some time spent on the application must be expected?

meer53

So you didn't complete the switch ? What took 3 hours ? Seems a bit silly to lose £150 if you don't have to. You can always close the account once you've been paid. Compensation is only paid if an error has been made, were there any errors ?

NectarCollector

I don't understand why you took time off work, you start the switch online for the bonus, then get asked to make a phone call to a 24hour helpline to complete the switch, you could have called at 9pm in the evening or whenever you got home from work. No need to have lost any pay therefore they have no obligation to compensate anything. It was you that chose to make a phonecall instead of going to work.

(I switched to them in Feb - no problems at all)

eskbanker

RedHead123 wrote: »

Have a gripe list as long as my arm as to why I am not happy with the switching service with First Direct.

[...]

Suffice to say I cancelled the switch which was offered for a future date. Don't want anything to do with them now.

Should have stuck with it, got the switching incentive and then also claimed the £100 dissatisfied customer service guarantee payment on the way out too!

NectarCollector

eskbanker wrote: »

Should have stuck with it, got the switching incentive and then also claimed the £100 dissatisfied customer service guarantee payment on the way out too!

Only if she put up with their customer service for 6 months first

SuperAllyB

Having just watched BBC News reporting on Brussels aftermath, flooding repairs and the brutal murder of a 15 year old girl in Clydebank, I think the use of the word disaster in the title may be slightly melodramatic.

diamonds

Ask for a copy of the call.


I was ill late last year and a bank member of staff was so rude to me when the local authority wanted a 3 month printout, I explained I had no or desire for a printer at home and she was acting like I was a complete annoyance wanting a branch stamped copy of MY bank a/c statement for a government dept as they requested.

She in a vulgar tone as a supposed security question said 'what benefit is your ONLY credit' to which I replied well this month its xxx but before that and the month before and the month before and ongoing I had no benefit payment.


She actually gave me a evil look for politely correcting her judgements, the branch has a new renovation and I can stand side by side with staff at their pc...as she logged in to my accounts her eyes lit up in horror in front of me when she saw my combined accounts was probably twice her monthly salary and I don't know if I got Jekyll or Hyde at that point but overtly nice was a understatement from the cow she just was and tried to back track.


When she asked overly nice continuing to pretend was there anything else - I asked for a manager.


Made the complaint, told the manager if he had any doubts to myself he should talk to the staff at my local branch who knew me well, and I personally knew one of his branch staff and his regional HR manager who could both account for myself as a non customer.


Received a call, they spoke to staff member who denied, they reviewed CCTV and everything about her body language was on camera - even the moment I reported she had panic as she logged into my account. Branch manager assured me he believed me 100% as the evidence backed my claims and not her 'version' as she put it. Offered a £25 compo to which I said no please invest it in her training and this was about principle not money.


SO almost a week later I walk into my local small (posh) branch and guess who was there, yup the 25 yr old idiot - when she saw me she had words with the teller at the next window covering her mouth (but again body language - dont look before nor after whispering about someone, she did both!) when the queue came to me going to her window I approached and nice as day and said hi I just need to deposit this xxx cash in - "Colin will do that for you at the next window Mr Diamonds" and gave me a big smile and shouted next.


Now I was going to make a complaint later, Colin (not the real name) paid in my cash and I left.

On Monday I got a letter from the bank closing my branch.



Anyway long story shortened - HR at head office transferred her from the town branch to my local because they knew it was closing, apparently a previous complaint was about her manner to people she thought were below her - from a fellow staff member.


Always report bad customer care, dont be so british and pull that stiff upper lip out your bum, your failure to do so just makes poor customer care the norm.

meer53

diamonds wrote: »

Ask for a copy of the call.


I was ill late last year and a bank member of staff was so rude to me when the local authority wanted a 3 month printout, I explained I had no or desire for a printer at home and she was acting like I was a complete annoyance wanting a branch stamped copy of MY bank a/c statement for a government dept as they requested.

She in a vulgar tone as a supposed security question said 'what benefit is your ONLY credit' to which I replied well this month its xxx but before that and the month before and the month before and ongoing I had no benefit payment.


She actually gave me a evil look for politely correcting her judgements, the branch has a new renovation and I can stand side by side with staff at their pc...as she logged in to my accounts her eyes lit up in horror in front of me when she saw my combined accounts was probably twice her monthly salary and I don't know if I got Jekyll or Hyde at that point but overtly nice was a understatement from the cow she just was and tried to back track.


When she asked overly nice continuing to pretend was there anything else - I asked for a manager.


Made the complaint, told the manager if he had any doubts to myself he should talk to the staff at my local branch who knew me well, and I personally knew one of his branch staff and his regional HR manager who could both account for myself as a non customer.


Received a call, they spoke to staff member who denied, they reviewed CCTV and everything about her body language was on camera - even the moment I reported she had panic as she logged into my account. Branch manager assured me he believed me 100% as the evidence backed my claims and not her 'version' as she put it. Offered a £25 compo to which I said no please invest it in her training and this was about principle not money.


SO almost a week later I walk into my local small (posh) branch and guess who was there, yup the 25 yr old idiot - when she saw me she had words with the teller at the next window covering her mouth (but again body language - dont look before nor after whispering about someone, she did both!) when the queue came to me going to her window I approached and nice as day and said hi I just need to deposit this xxx cash in - "Colin will do that for you at the next window Mr Diamonds" and gave me a big smile and shouted next.


Now I was going to make a complaint later, Colin (not the real name) paid in my cash and I left.

On Monday I got a letter from the bank closing my branch.



Anyway long story shortened - HR at head office transferred her from the town branch to my local because they knew it was closing, apparently a previous complaint was about her manner to people she thought were below her - from a fellow staff member.


Always report bad customer care, dont be so british and pull that stiff upper lip out your bum, your failure to do so just makes poor customer care the norm.

You sound like you'd get on with the OP. What does your post have to do with switching to First Direct ? The OP's post doesn't explain what First Direct have done wrong. As they refused to offer any compensation i'd guess they thought they hadn't done anything wrong. Maybe the OP had misunderstood how the switch works ?

FYI, bank staff are rarely impressed with how much people earn. Despite what you may think.

jaydeeuk1

First direct didn't switch my account either, did all the online info, but the account I wanted to switch didn't have my full name so come switch day it didn't go through. Asked if I could switch my other account, but was then told no as I wasn't a new customer anymore...

Anyway, main reason I wanted to switch was for the regular saver, set it up, paid £300 in and setup a regular £300 a month thereafter. After a couple of months I noticed that my saver account still says £300 despite £900 being paid in at that point. Customer services were clueless, took a few phone calls to discover which black hole it was going to, assured me I'll get my interest due but I'm doubting that.

Im sure on the whole they're very good, but I'll probably switch it elsewhere after the regular saver finished and get a switch bonus (Halifax switched fine, setup HTB isa no problem either)

colsten

jaydeeuk1 wrote: »

....but I'll probably switch it elsewhere after the regular saver finished and get a switch bonus (Halifax switched fine, setup HTB isa no problem either)

Why wait? Can't you just open a second FD account and switch that one?

BTW, I am into my 6th FD RS, never had any probs. Whatever happened with yours must be some freak exception.