£100 for closing first direct account?

mab3000

Sounds like you had a much easier experience of closing your FD account and getting the £100 "goodbye" payment than I did. When I called up to inform them I wanted to leave, and get the £100 payment, first of all the person on the phone denied that the goodbye payment was a thing, to which I then referred to what I saw online when I opened the account which was the same as what I had in front of me during the phone call.

They then said I need to have a reason why I was leaving to qualify for the £100 goodbye payment, which I said was because of their poor mobile and online banking services (which I do believe they are very poor, I'm surprised they came out on top with the latest customer satisfaction survey results). They then logged this as a complaint and told me that I would receive the goodbye payment 28 days after the account is closed.

28 days passed and no payment was made (they did not ask me for any account details for this payment to be paid to initially, so I assumed I was going to receive a cheque). I called them back up, they apologised and said that there was a delay with the team processing payments, but asked to take some account details for the payment to be made (they said take them again, but I know they didn't take them initially). They then said it should be with me in the next few days. A few hours later, it was in my account.

BeckyAP

mab3000 wrote: »

Sounds like you had a much easier experience of closing your FD account and getting the £100 "goodbye" payment than I did. When I called up to inform them I wanted to leave, and get the £100 payment, first of all the person on the phone denied that the goodbye payment was a thing, to which I then referred to what I saw online when I opened the account which was the same as what I had in front of me during the phone call.

They then said I need to have a reason why I was leaving to qualify for the £100 goodbye payment, which I said was because of their poor mobile and online banking services (which I do believe they are very poor, I'm surprised they came out on top with the latest customer satisfaction survey results). They then logged this as a complaint and told me that I would receive the goodbye payment 28 days after the account is closed.

28 days passed and no payment was made (they did not ask me for any account details for this payment to be paid to initially, so I assumed I was going to receive a cheque). I called them back up, they apologised and said that there was a delay with the team processing payments, but asked to take some account details for the payment to be made (they said take them again, but I know they didn't take them initially). They then said it should be with me in the next few days. A few hours later, it was in my account.

I raised a complaint online but wasn't sure that was going to go through given my online banking was then closed.
Rang them Tuesday and the woman said that it was all fine, not sure why I hadn't recieved the money and the only thing they can do now is send a cheque.
Fine - no urgent need for the money but I asked for a call back to confirm that it had been actioned/posted etc.
No call or cheque yet so will see what happens over the weekend and perhaps give them a ring again....

BeckyAP

^^ Update for anyone else switching out - a credit of £100 was paid into my account on Friday!

PSMcG_2

Hi,
I lodged a complaint with 12 months indicating that I was dissatisfied and would be switching but didn't get around to leaving until 24 months. I contacted First Direct chat who indicated that to get the 100 pound farewell gift, you need to leave within 12 months. Can anyone else confirm as the First Diredt website itself doesn't indicate you need to leave within the first 12 months:
Thanks.

ischris85

PSMcG_2 said:

Hi,
I lodged a complaint with 12 months indicating that I was dissatisfied and would be switching but didn't get around to leaving until 24 months. I contacted First Direct chat who indicated that to get the 100 pound farewell gift, you need to leave within 12 months. Can anyone else confirm as the First Diredt website itself doesn't indicate you need to leave within the first 12 months:
Thanks.

Terms of the £100 for leaving here: https://www1.firstdirect.com/banking/switching-bank-accounts/

mab3000

PSMcG_2 said:

Hi,
I lodged a complaint with 12 months indicating that I was dissatisfied and would be switching but didn't get around to leaving until 24 months. I contacted First Direct chat who indicated that to get the 100 pound farewell gift, you need to leave within 12 months. Can anyone else confirm as the First Diredt website itself doesn't indicate you need to leave within the first 12 months:
Thanks.

I remember their website very clear about leaving within 12 months when I applied for the account and subsequently when I told them I was leaving the same information was on the website 

born_again

radoslaff said:

beefturnmail wrote: »

If you have savings it's worth keeping open for the 5% Reg Saver - you can earn much more than £100 long term

Of course you can always re-open the current account a few months after closing it and use the benefits of the 5% Reg Saver again.

Do not expect to be taken back on as a customer after taking the £100 leaving.
Clearly you were not happy, so they will not have you back....

PSMcG_2

Thanks, I know about the link to the terms on the main website. That is what confuses me now as it doesn't indicate that you need to leave within 12 months anywhere that I can see in the terms on their website. So was just wondering if anyone had left after the 12 months was up and got the 100 pounds.

ischris85

PSMcG_2 said:

Thanks, I know about the link to the terms on the main website. That is what confuses me now as it doesn't indicate that you need to leave within 12 months anywhere that I can see in the terms on their website. So was just wondering if anyone had left after the 12 months was up and got the 100 pounds.

Did you meet the below criteria?
To qualify, you must have paid at least £1,000 a month into your account for six months and not have banked with us before, as well as switched to us initially using the Current Account Switch Service.

PSMcG_2

ischris85 said:

PSMcG_2 said:

Thanks, I know about the link to the terms on the main website. That is what confuses me now as it doesn't indicate that you need to leave within 12 months anywhere that I can see in the terms on their website. So was just wondering if anyone had left after the 12 months was up and got the 100 pounds.

Did you meet the below criteria?
To qualify, you must have paid at least £1,000 a month into your account for six months and not have banked with us before, as well as switched to us initially using the Current Account Switch Service.

Yes, I did.