MSE News: First Direct tops our service poll

ValiantSon

telemarks wrote: »

What you say is true. But ..
... consider that this MSE poll has a far bigger sample size than many of those political polls, that get elicit fantastical rhetoric across all media every 5 years.
Which type of poll has more value?

The way opinion polling works is quite different. It does use a statistically valid model. The issue with opinion polls is whether or not people have been honest in their answers, rather than whether the answers given are statistically valid.

The way MSE polls work doesn't account for difference in response rates, or for people voting more than once.

eskbanker

telemarks wrote: »

What you say is true. But ..
... consider that this MSE poll has a far bigger sample size than many of those political polls, that get elicit fantastical rhetoric across all media every 5 years.
Which type of poll has more value?

Given their inaccuracy, political opinion polls have been pretty widely discredited as well over the past few years, but at least they have some sort of scientific approach in terms of sample selection.

The MSE polls are effectively more akin to the likes of TripAdvisor or TrustPilot or TV reality shows, where anyone with whatever agenda can say what they like however often they choose to do so.

redux

eskbanker wrote: »

OMG! First Direct topping an MSE banking poll, who'd have imagined that?

* awaits shocking revelations about the arboreal defecatory habits of ursine mammals *

colsten wrote: »

This happens when an entire Customer Service Centre casts their votes for their Service. #ItsNotRocketScience

It's about as surprising as the mobile network giffgaff winning all sorts of publicly voted awards after asking the thousands of people on their support forum to vote for them

minislim

eskbanker wrote: »

The poll specifically asks about customer service and explicitly states "Ignore rates or any other products" so isn't an effective measure of overall satisfaction with products or branch network.

It isn't really an effective measure of anything much, given the disparity between voter population by bank and the respective customer bases, so First Direct attracted almost as many votes as Lloyds and HSBC combined for example, i.e. their loyal band of devotees distorts the true picture....

erm not what i read. you only "Ignore rates or any other products, and service if it's more than six months old."

in my eyes rate and other products offered are classed as part of customer service.

eschaton

They might have great customer service but they still live in the dark ages.

I want to close my FD credit card but still have an outstanding balance after my next direct debit, as I've been making one purchase per month on the card as I needed the direct debit.

I wanted to pay via my First Account so I messaged them to find out if it was possible. They set it up for me to do but then said that I need to phone them still for the first payment.

eskbanker

minislim wrote: »

erm not what i read. you only "Ignore rates or any other products, and service if it's more than six months old."

in my eyes rate and other products offered are classed as part of customer service.

The punctuation is significant here, so the comma means that the reference to six months only applies to service, not to rates or products, which are clearly not 'customer service' as such.

If you're still confused, the context within which that quote appears makes it perfectly clear:

Every six months we ask for your help to track the quality of customer service provided by banks. By comparing your answers with last time, we can see which have got better or worse.

So, please vote based on CUSTOMER SERVICE for your main CURRENT account over the last SIX MONTHS. Ignore rates or any other products, and service if it's more than six months old.

colsten

One basic problem with the MSE poll is that there is no definition of "customer service", and even if there were, all those taking part in the polls will still have their own, often sub-conscious, definition of what it is. Furthermore, those who act upon this kind of surveys, be the surveys from MSE or Which? or other organisations, will have yet another definition. I have long stopped participating in the surveys, and I have been ignoring them for the purposes of selecting which bank to open accounts with - mainly because there were/are reasons for having accounts with just about all of them.

eskbanker

colsten wrote: »

One basic problem with the MSE poll is that there is no definition of "customer service", and even if there were, all those taking part in the polls will still have their own, often sub-conscious, definition of what it is. Furthermore, those who act upon this kind of surveys, be the surveys from MSE or Which? or other organisations, will have yet another definition.

....as evidenced by the poster above whose own personal definition is clearly at odds with that envisaged by MSE when asking the question in the first place.

Roll on 15 August, when banks will be obliged to publish performance against meaningful and objective customer service metrics!

I_am_spartacus

Great Bank.

eschaton

I_am_spartacus wrote: »

Great Bank.

In what way?

Great online banking?

Simplistic?

Great interest rates?