Worst Bank / Building Society TV advert

veryintrigued

And now the Wizard of Oz nonsense from Halifax.

Whoever gets paid for the rights to use these films/characters must be laughing all the way to the bank.

As must the Market Research firms who've advised these banks that the general public take more notice of companies/products if a really lame 'mash up' of them generates more business.

northwalesd

Sorry to resurrect an old(ish) thread but that smug t-wat on the First Direct advert is really squeezing my pips.

veryintrigued

northwalesd wrote: »

Sorry to resurrect an old(ish) thread but that smug t-wat on the First Direct advert is really squeezing my pips.

Love this post.

Thank you

Jlawson118

northwalesd wrote: »

Sorry to resurrect an old(ish) thread but that smug t-wat on the First Direct advert is really squeezing my pips.

When I saw this just pop up in the threads, I honestly just thought the same! It's just overly cheesy. My all time favourite advert was always the one they did with the Beatboxing Bird. It was humerous but got to the point.

How has it gone from that, to what they're doing now? I don't even think First Direct's customer service is even all that any more.

jonesMUFCforever

Jlawson118 wrote: »

When I saw this just pop up in the threads, I honestly just thought the same! It's just overly cheesy. My all time favourite advert was always the one they did with the Beatboxing Bird. It was numerous but got to the point.

How has it gone from that, to what they're doing now? I don't even think First Direct's customer service is even all that any more.

....But it is though isn't it?
That's why they are number one.
If I was their PR company I would make the most of it too - like every branch of every bank has the poster showing the league tables!

Jlawson118

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

....But it is though isn't it?
That's why they are number one.
If I was their PR company I would make the most of it too - like every branch of every bank has the poster showing the league tables!

It's definitely better than the service some of the other banks offer. "Press 1. Press 2" etc, does get quite annoying. It's great with FD that you can get straight through to somebody. Well I say straight through, if I'm not stuck on hold!

Four years ago when I joined, they were great. But the matter of a month ago when I wanted to switch my secure key to my new phone, I didn't get any of the text messages, it took me two days of being on hold to customer services for 40 minutes before I could even speak to somebody, and when I finally got through, I was talked down to like it was my fault. Despite my mobile number not changing over the last few years.

Tried to get a mortgage through them back in September too and was talked down to. In the end I just took my business elsewhere.

Like I posted on another thread around a month ago. First Direct were once ahead of their game. These days, apart from the 'ease' of customer service (as they are still easier to get through to than other banks), they're not really much different to any other bank. If anything they're a bit behind these days.

veryintrigued

The Nationwide ones are still terrible.

'We eat together' - Jesus Wept

JuicyJesus

Jlawson118 wrote: »

...when I finally got through, I was talked down to like it was my fault. Despite my mobile number not changing over the last few years.

Tried to get a mortgage through them back in September too and was talked down to. In the end I just took my business elsewhere.

Same experience here, as I've said before. They seem to think they're amazing and you should be grateful for being allowed to bank with them, rather than them being grateful for your custom.

anotheruser

There is a current trend of marketeers making awful adverts in the effort to create "media noise" about the brand.
The problem with this is what is the gain? People will talk a out the brand but not in a good way. It'll make the company a laughing stock.

It's slowly going but some branding companies still insist on this.

Cant stand Nationwide or Halifax adverts. They don't show professionality and don't make me want to open an account with them. So what's the point in them? What's their aim?

Jlawson118

JuicyJesus wrote: »

Same experience here, as I've said before. They seem to think they're amazing and you should be grateful for being allowed to bank with them, rather than them being grateful for your custom.

I found a nice apartment in the village that I live in and wanted to buy it. Being 22, I wasn't sure where I went to next, and phoned First Direct as I do consider them to be my main bank. So the lady went through the mortgage quote with me. But she was talking really down to me the whole time.

But she seemed to be getting really clever with me regarding my income and outgoings. I understand that they have to be very careful with these kind of applications. She was going through my last few months worth of statements, and I'd done the odd transfer to my Club Lloyds accounts for my credit card bills.
An example such as;
£4.80 - AMEX
£0.20 - Save The Change (into a savings account)

And she was asking me "What does save the change mean?" I explained that to her I rounded up my purchases and save the money that builds up, long-term. She seemed to sarcastically just reply "okay then.." Like it wasn't obvious what I was doing though.

Two months prior, it was my birthday, and I'd had little transfers from my mum or grandma and she was asking me who they were and why they were sending me money.

And then I was explaining to her about some difficulties I'd had regarding my health and things and I'd cut my hours down at work from 40 hours to 25 for around a month whilst I got things sorted. She didn't quite believe me when I told her I could provide my employment contract, six months worth of wage slips etc, as well as whilst she was going through all my statements, she could see my full time wage coming through!

After all of this for over an hour, she offered me just short of £85,000. Which is how much the apartment was going to be anyway. She told me they required my last four weeks worth of wage slips (I'm paid weekly) But after that service I really didn't want to continue with the application. I'd explained to her that my last two weeks were SSP, and two weeks before that were at 25 - 30 hours. Could I provide supporting evidence such as a doctor's letter or provide proof of previous week's wage slips, every week for about six months, at 40 hours? She said no :eek:

Somebody else made an offer on this apartment anyway, but I found a much nicer one for £15,000 more, but it comes with furniture and it's perfect. I therefore spoke to a mortgage broker and he found me a mortgage with Halifax. He was able to get me this with one week's wage slip at 40 hours when I returned to work, and as much as his fees were expensive, I didn't mind paying them because he made things so much more easier for me than First Direct did!

In conclusion:
To cut my long story shorter, First Direct claim to have the best customer service and always meet their customer's needs, they clearly weren't interested in my business at this time as they were unable to consider my health needs. After struggling with stress and depression for the last year after losing my grandad and still picking up the pieces at home helping my mum and grandma out, I just needed those few weeks off work to try and get my head straight. I understand that they didn't want me to struggle financially if I wasn't working full time and so they need to know every income and outgoing. But I was able to prove that it was only for the sake of a few weeks and they weren't interested.

And then it just annoyed me all the more when I had that trouble with my secure key and it took me three days to get through to somebody! Like I said, First Direct were once ahead of their time, but now it's like they don't care for their customers at all. I posted on another thread a few days ago saying when Metro Bank branch out over the country more, it wouldn't surprise me if they take over First Direct on the polls!