Question to Ex Firstdirect customers

eslick

Want to change our FD account because of the recent changes, to be honest dont agree with them scrapping the interest on the accounts even if it was a small amount, use the account for bills that go out through out the month and dont want to have to transfer money all of the time. Changing for a matter of principle.

So question is if you left FD recently does the other banks customer service and online banking match that of FD. Heard stories through moneysaving and else where that A&L add extra days to online transactions and their customer service is poor even if they do have the highest interest rates.

An excellent rate would be good, but as we have been with FD and got very little interest cutomer service is more important.

Any thoughts

anniecave

I've been using Lloyds TSB for the last year. I do almost all of my banking over the internet anyway. The only time when I really needed any "human intervention" was to dispute a direct debit, and I did that in my branch. I recall phoning up a few times, and the customer service over the phone was quite good overall, but sometimes I had to spend a while in a call queue.

I used alliance and leicester for a while before that, and I got fed up of them as their website never seemed to be working and I'd phone up instead and members of staff would tell me they'd done something (like set up a payee) and they'd set it up on a screen they could see but not on the online banking system that I was trying to use..... helpful....

If you're looking for customer service, in my experience first direct are the best, so if you want to move away from them then you'll probably have to accept less....

baby_frogmella

Hi

I banked with First Direct for over 10 years but finally ditched them earlier in the year and opened a Nationwide Flexaccount so that i could take advantage of their free overseas cash withdrawals (i travel abroad on business a lot). In my view Nationwide's customer service matches that of First Direct, you can speak to a live operator 24 hrs/7 days a week/365 days a year on 01793-656789 (yep like FD they answer within 2 rings!) and their products also offer better value for money than FD.They pay up to 4.25% interest on the flexaccount but this is paid annually (31/12). As of yet, i have never had the need to go into my local branch, everything has always been done through internet banking or over the phone if i've had any issues with them.

Hope this helps

anandp

Glad I found this thread cos Nationwide was the one alternative I was thinking of, in terms of switching from FD to them.

Its the 4.25% interest on the current account that helps because my only funds in there would be funds that are awaiting Direct Debit collections, and therefore in this time, I want to be earning decent interest.

All the rest always disappears into better savings accounts anyway.

Idealling I'd like more Nationwide flexaccount customers to note their satisfaction with the customer service and online banking facilities....
Anyone?

Alfie_E

anandp wrote: »

Idealling I'd like more Nationwide flexaccount customers to note their satisfaction with the customer service and online banking facilities....

See What do you think of your bank? The web-version of that Guardian article seems to be missing the graph that appeared in print. I have reproduced it below.

My own experience agrees with this. Nationwide might not have the best interest rates for any type of product these days, but they do have some of the best customer service. Abbey aren’t just the worst, they’re in a whole different league of their own.

starlet10

I have a current account with both. Never had to phone Nationwide so don't know what their phone service is like.

I like Nationwide's online banking more because it is more user friendly than FD's, so most things can be done without having to contact customer services. The advantage of FD is that they respond quickly to queries and instructions, although Nationwide's response time is quite good too.

If my payroll department at work wasn't so inefficient :mad: at changing my bank details for my salary to be paid into, I would have moved completely to Nationwide because they have products with better rates and features.

Miss_Behaving

I set up an A&L premier direct in order to get the incentive/good interest rate but I've just this minute closed it as, in my experience, the customer service is poor.

I typed the wrong password in this morning and quite rightly access to the account was blocked. I then held for 10 minutes on an 0870 number (couldn't find an alterative and they wouldn't/couldn't transfer me when I tried the freephone) to be taken through security by some dopey woman who when I said I couldn't remember the last time I logged on suggested I log on and check for her!!! When I patiently reiterated that the purpose of my call was to unblock my account, she put me on hold for another 5 minutes whilst she found out what to do next:mad:

Closing the account was equally painful but at least I did it using the freephone number.