FirstSave - Not a good start!

sammyboy999

For those of you thinking of setting up an account with FirstSave, take a look at this letter that I've just had to send to them;

I am writing to you to express my extreme concerns with regards to the opening of my FirstSave account.
Please find enclosed with this letter the envelope which you sent to me containing the confirmation of the set-up of my direct debit instruction dated 19th January. You will note the ‘Revenue Protection’ sticker on the envelope stating that the ‘Deficient Postage’ was 24p and the ‘Handling Fee’ was £1. You will also note that there is no stamp or frank mark on the envelope. In other words, you sent this letter to me without paying for the postage!
At great inconvenience to myself, I had to attend my local Royal Mail sorting office for the privilege of paying to collect this letter.
This oversight on the part of FirstSave is of great concern to me. I am not sure that I can entrust my hard earned cash to an institution that is unable to ensure something as simple as paying for its own postage.
Bearing in mind that FirstSave is new to the UK, I am sure that you will agree that potential customers are, as yet, unsure as to the reliability of your service. The advice given by moneysavingexpert.com is as follows;
‘Until its proved itself, if you’re going to open it, I’d only open the account with £100, then if there are any delays you’re minimizing potential down time. Once it is up and running, it would be prudent not to put any more than the protected £35,000 limit in it.’
I have posted a copy of this letter on the moneysavingexpert.com forums and I hope that you can provide a satisfactory response to this letter that I can also post to the forum. I am extremely unhappy with your service and will close my account with you if I do not receive a timely and satisfactory reply.

[EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com?subject=Reporting%20post%20http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=8223737"][/EMAIL]

Calchas

Power to the consumers!

Consumer revenge! :T

Moneysavingexpert! :A

Paul_Herring

Hmm. My confirmation of DD arrived without a problem. Sounds like someone in their post office screwed up.

nilrem_2

sammyboy999 wrote: »

You will note the ‘Revenue Protection’ sticker on the envelope stating that the ‘Deficient Postage’ was 24p and the ‘Handling Fee’ was £1. You will also note that there is no stamp or frank mark on the envelope. In other words, you sent this letter to me without paying for the postage!
At great inconvenience to myself, I had to attend my local Royal Mail sorting office for the privilege of paying to collect this letter.
This oversight on the part of FirstSave is of great concern to me. I am not sure that I can entrust my hard earned cash to an institution that is unable to ensure something as simple as paying for its own postage.

It is annoying to you but this could happen to any one sending out mail, don't you feel that saying it is of 'great concern' is exaggerating the problem just a little bit?

firsttimetom

This does annoy me, expecially as I run a mail order business and people have done this to me (my local accountant also did this).

However, I have put a stamp on 100% of the items I have sent and I have probably had 5 or so people say there was no stamp on their item, but there was when it left me, so it either fell off or someone took it off.

I guess these things happen

sammyboy999

nilrem wrote: »

It is annoying to you but this could happen to any one sending out mail, don't you feel that saying it is of 'great concern' is exaggerating the problem just a little bit?

In 30 years, I have never been in the situation where I have had to pay to receive a letter. It isn't a big deal in itself, but you're missing the point. If they are incapable of putting a stamp on to an envelope, what other things might they mess up? It's hardly good PR for a new bank is it?

KTF

The back end is run by Newcastle BS (same as Icesave) so technically its their fault rather than FBN Bank.

bristolleedsfan

sammyboy999 wrote: »

In 30 years, I have never been in the situation where I have had to pay to receive a letter. It isn't a big deal in itself, but you're missing the point. If they are incapable of putting a stamp on to an envelope, what other things might they mess up? It's hardly good PR for a new bank is it?

U are assuming that they didnt put a stamp on the envelope.

Items ive sent have arrived with no stamp, they either come off in transit like another poster mentioned or posties take them off. ( might seem incredible but a postie on another forum did post once to say if he delivers mail and sees stamp is not franked he removes it and uses it himself)

Im sure you will get a reply stating that they stamp items and offering u some recompense for the apparent inconvenience caused. ( if so u can post the experience for a third time in complaint successes. :rotfl: )

Liz_the_Whizz

It seems highly unlikely that an actual stamp will have been affixed on the envelope at any stage - when did anyone last see a stamp on mail from a bank? Surely they all frank these days.

It's even less likely that First Save (or Newcastle BS) are trying to avoid paying postal charges. Just a technical glitch.

An unfortunate start. We Icesavers will be watching from the sidelines;) .

Paul_Herring

Liz_the_Whizz wrote: »

We Icesavers will be watching from the sidelines

This one isn't.

Incidentally, their website appears to be using the same software as IceSave. Even the account numbers look similar, to the extent that when I got the DD confirmation through, I thought !!!!!!?? (I didn't see the company header, just the account number and thought 'I haven't opened a new account with IceSave yet...')

Took me a good 5 minutes to figure out what I was missing

nilrem_2

sammyboy999 wrote: »

In 30 years, I have never been in the situation where I have had to pay to receive a letter. It isn't a big deal in itself, but you're missing the point. If they are incapable of putting a stamp on to an envelope, what other things might they mess up? It's hardly good PR for a new bank is it?

If lot's of people posted here complaining that they had to pay postage on stuff received from Firstsave then I agree it would indicate incompetence but they have not and others have said that they received their info without problem so I really don't think I am missing the point, TBH it just seems like a simple accident or error that could happen to anything within the postal system.

FWIW I am not supporting Firstsave I know nowt about them but I just feel you have over reacted to a mistake that could happen to any one of us.