“Awful, awful. outsourcing calls
Rang for a simple transaction receipt as not able to help in the chat advised to ring up. Huge mistake! Failed voice recognition so blocked all access to my account. Been on hold for over 30 minutes. This was supposed to be a simple thing to do. Will seriously reconsider banking with them if they don't get there act together and sort out basic features and their awful voice recognition that does not work. Awful experience”
“Pointless having a bank account that you can't get an app for on your phone. I can't update the app on my phone as First Direct have deemed my perfectly adequate phone too old. Cost cutting to annoy customers.”
“Rubbish app - poor design and sign up process. Total joke how much effort it takes to open an account with this lot. No wonder the likes of Chase are doing well as their on boarding is simple, straight forward and secure.”
“If you forget your online banking login details, don't call up. You will not have access to your app as they will lock you out! Is that really the best way around customer service?!”
“I set up an account recently and then attempted to switch from my old co op account. Impossible! First of all when I tried to convert my account from sole to joint I was told 'no problem we can do it over the phone' and then when attempting this I was told we have to set up a whole new account jointly. Life's too short. A week later I tried again via the app which said to call if I want to switch from my joint account with co op to sole acc with FD. NOOO can't do that either. So realising they are as useless as my previous bank I told them to close account as I now have no intention of using them. Of course they said they couldn't do that either. You really couldn't make it up! So don't be fooled by these 'best bank' reviews. They really are completely useless. I'll stick with Co op. That's how bad First Direct are. Goodbye.”
“FD has forgotten about cheques. They used to have a paying-in machine (Portsmouth branch anyway) that worked perfectly. Now the local branch is closed and the nearest is about 10-12 miles round trip away plus parking. I arrived there at 16.31 - HSBC bank just closed with no letter box. Sent cheque by overnight Royal Mail (£6.35), plus another 10 miles or so round trip travel. That was last week. Kindly, FD reimbursed me £20 for my troubles. So today my £300 should be in sight, right? Well no, because although we agree that the cheque arrived on Friday morning of last week, on-one knows where it is nor when it will be cleared. The nice Scottish lady on the 'phone said it could take 14 days. But that was the trick the banks used to play when I first opened my an account 60 years ago; surely cheque processing has progressed since then. Not at FD it hasn't. So come on, FD get a grip; being an optimist I hope to have some news tomorrow. But the news for anyone processing cheques through FD is: beware!”
“Been with FD 12Y+
Bank accounts, savings, sending money abroad - faultless and first rate service throughout. The reviews about poor service are ridiculous in my opinion. Every interaction I have ever had has been first class, and its still a free service. Brilliant.
Staff uber helpful, knowledgeable and friendly. 10/10 thank you.”
“My cards were stolen. They told me they were issued. Would i not have phoned 5 days later to ask, i would never have known they werent!
Guess what 6 days later still no issue. Its caused an IT error apparently. They dont know when they can fix it BEFORE they issue the cards. Their solution is for me to arrange cash collection by appointment to a bank..
They expect me to operate a bank account without any cards! Am going to go to another bank and get £200. Am also considering moving the Joint account too, as I cant even access that. They used to be good. But they are done.”
“Banked with them for 20 years
They used to be fantastic
Now their systems are only average
But their customer service has dropped from the best, to one of the worst”
“We have been happy with FD for a few years, but yesterday and today has changed my opinion. My husband is profoundly deaf and when I tried to call on his behalf, with him sitting next to me and happy to answer questions if I repeated them (lip reading), they refused to help. We didn’t want info, or any transactions, just to warn them that his computer may have been hacked, so could they keep an eye on his account. I asked if they could send a 3rd party mandate, (as other banks do), so that he could authorise me to speak on his behalf, but they told me he needed to give me Power of Attorney!! Not only did they not help, they told me they were blocking his account as my call and his inability to get through security had compromised it. We were told to go into the City today with ID, phone, cards etc to an HSBC branch to validate his identity, then call again. We did that today and after validating his ID I called from the branch phone line. They kept me on the phone for over 50 minutes and still refused to discuss anything unless he could talk on the phone. They suggested a 3rd party text relay service and offered to send a form to us, but said they were leaving his account blocked until they could talk to him on the phone!! We came home and switched both of our accounts to another bank! I am disgusted at the lack of support, understanding and accessibility. We are both so upset. We wasted hours, paid for parking and fuel and all for nothing. We will never use First Direct again.”
“I have today with regret cancelled the renewal of two car insurance
policies with First Direct.
The prices I was given on both policies was high in my opinion
I have quickly been able to save £150
The service in my option has been poor.Firstly getting through to
anyone involves an unacceptably long waiting time
When eventually I got through the person I spoke to did not seem
at all friendly(I am not a sensitive soul),and appeared to have no interest in any chat about Price”
“They dishonoured a tax rebate cheque from abroad that it had taken me a year to get, because I didn’t write my name on the back. Why didn’t they just send it back? Same amount of admin involved! Now I learn that it may take 8 weeks to answer my complaint! I can’t get the cheque reissued so it has cost me 993 euros.”
“Used overdrsft with them for years- now suddenly they don’t want me to keep using it. They say it’s because they are a responsible lender. Well that means for about 14 years thry were irresponsible in issuing four figure overdrafts. New rules now mean they are suddenly trying to present themselves as a responsible lender and threatening to close my account if I don’t clear overdraft.
Like / yes - cost of living crises??? Ever heard of it?
Furthermore their mobile / internet banking is constantly not working properly
Stay away from this bank. Nat West are far more efficient and really are a responsible lender
Only sorry I gave one star but not possible to give zero stars!”
“Dreadful customer service over security issues. The customer is a 'scammer' until they verify their identity. Age and disabilities aren't considered. Even their complaints page won't operate, conveniently; for them.”
“What has happened to First Direct service? I've been banking with them for well over ten years and service has been great. Contact number clearly visible on their website and always got through to a super helpful (normally Scottish) lady or gentleman.
Now the number isn't as obvious, and the service has been outsourced to non-English speakers. Shocking service, especially as this was a suspected fraud so I was really stressed. And this was the fraudline!
Bad decline in service and I'll be looking elsewhere.”
“I have a review of the reviews. How can some people rave about the customer service while others are being cheated. There is a disconnect between these two extremes. Right now I will look elsewhere.”
“Lied to, messed about. Given an account via their online process but can't open joint account online. Then lied to about changing it to a joint account and doing the application over the phone with the most condescending and patronising person I have ever dealt with we were told we can't have a joint account because you are a business, which we are not.
They clearly have useless processes, very unprofessional staff and are just unbelievably bad”
