First Direct tops latest official banking league table - MSE News

colsten

Tildaplum said:

Hey Alexia: define customer service.

customer service

noun

noun: customer service; plural noun: customer services

1. the assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or services.

FD have, and always have had, excellent customer service. Don't take my word for it - just look at the polls.

.Siri says



I rest my case. And will continue not to give a four x about any of the CS polls.

born_again

And in the latest news Joe Gordon is stepping down....

pafpcg

colsten said:

Highland76 said:

The Institute of Customer Service (UKICS) also lists FD very high up in the charts (# 2) in their January 2020 report. Pretty impressive by FD to beat the likes of Amazon UK for customer satisfaction.

It's getting ever more ridiculous. Why would anyone compare - undefined - "Customer Service" of a bank with - undefined - "Customer Service" of an online or bricks & mortar retail outfit, or a car and motorbike dealer?

I'd also query the customer base of First Direct in comparison with other banks.  If First Direct is much more selective about its customers than other banks (recall how picky HSBC is about who gets its Advance current account), then the results could be skewed - older, wealthier, more accommodating customers perhaps?  How many First Direct customers have more than one current account and is the First Direct account the main account? (With access to multiple accounts, a failure in one account is less problematic than if it's the only account.)

PS:  I too only opened a First Direct account for the incentives and stay only for the regular saver.

colsten

That's a very valid point. Some people need, or want, more support, others less. That will almost certainly colour how those different people assess the support they got / didn't get / didn't choose to get.

born_again

It's all down to the people that vote.
TBH. I bet that a good % that say good customer service on any bank, have not actually had cause to speak to them.

ZeroSum

FD service isn't great purely down to how much of a faff on it is opening an account, setting up the online banking, and re-setting it all up on a new phone.

Pretty much every other bank is fairly straight forward by comparison. And I think this a part of the reason they really NEED to give that little extra support on the phones, cos they'd be hammered otherwise. 

boo_star

ZeroSum said:

FD service isn't great purely down to how much of a faff on it is opening an account, setting up the online banking, and re-setting it all up on a new phone.

Pretty much every other bank is fairly straight forward by comparison. And I think this a part of the reason they really NEED to give that little extra support on the phones, cos they'd be hammered otherwise. 

Their customer service is awful.

I'd be switching out tomorrow if they weren't going to pay me £100 for sticking around for 6 months.

Seriously, they're f**ing awful.

Amoux

They don't get my vote. It's actually probably the worst bank experience imho.

I remember setting up an account in the first place was extremely long-winded and old-fashioned. I remember having to call them up to verify my details and was asked some other inane questions. Before that I encountered other hurdles and long waiting times which is just a pain in the !!!!!!. Seriously, compare this process with the more modern app-based banks like Starling and Monzo and you notice the difference immediately.

Until recently their online banking was something that looked like from the 90s. Some people seemed to like it, but I thought it was awful and outdated. Then they had a good idea to freshen it up but somehow botched it up and made it even clunkier to use. Their mobile app equally looks rubbish and has caused me nothing but problems as I cannot set up two-factor authentication no matter what I try, and I can't be arsed to call them up as it should just work like every other banking app in exisitence. 

Then we move onto the account itself. No interest, not much of a regular savings account either. So from a product point of view they are not particular competitive either. 

bedlington1959

Hi recently i changed banks to First Direct whilst i have no problem with there customer service [very nice professional customer service] except for one  piece of wrong information which i will come to ?? you have to have numerous codes and passwords to gain access to your account also i was informed you only need to generate a security code once on your phone to access your account on a p c wrong !!!!  if you want to do your banking solely on your p c /Laptop you have to get your phone and generate a code every single time also for any transaction you do you have to generate a code via your phone then go back to your p c , i was even told that they are trying to promote the use of there app for phone banking which is not what i wanted as i like to do my banking from my  p c /Laptop, i have needed to gain access to my new  account with first Direct  four times since switching and four times i have had to call them ????? I am beginning to think wrong move and cant see me staying with them for a long period of time.