switching account to first direct have a hard think

PJWMAX wrote: »

I recently decided to switch my current account to first direct, bad move.
I've yet to receive my free gift my account switched 27th August, no reply to emails asking where is my gift that's worth £150.
They didn't switch all my direct debits over and i missed 2 payments so now my credit ratting has gone from excellent to good it did go down to poor at one point which i ended having to sort out. When i spoke the bank on the phone they just said sorry.
If you are thinking of switching accounts make sure they do set up all your direct debits.

Your post doesn't really help anyone thinking of switching to FD. It just comes across as a bit of a grumble.

What would help is if you said where the free gift incentive had fallen down. For example...

1. Did you get the email from FD with the registration details for their partner's website?
2. Did you get the 2nd email with the redemption code for their partner's website?
3. Did all that work as per how they say it will on the FD website?
4. Did they use the CASS or carry out a partial switch? ie did they send you a list of DDs from the old bank for you to OK or not?
5. Have you credited the account with £1,000, not including any balance transferred on switch date?

And for the follow up...

1. Did you know FD will reimburse all your costs associated with the failed switch (interest incurred/lost, telephone calls spent dealing with the matter, reasonable time expended)? You should do, if you read the guarantee.
2. Did you know FD will work with your creditors to remove all negative credit history resulting from the failed switch of your DDs? Granted, they don't (prominently) publish that.

So what do you do?...

1. Raise a formal complaint for the failure to deliver/facilitate delivery of the free gift.
2. Raise a second formal complaint on the costs incurred and credit history damage.