“Appalling, aggessive customer service. Currently trying to close an online savings account with them. I waited for an hour on their chat for a representative, who said the account would be closed in 6 working days. It wasn't, so I logged on again and waited another hour to talk to a representative.
The rep said that she doesn't understand why the account isn't closed, but can't do anything about it within the limitations of their chat system. She told me to phone FirstDirect customer service. I have already tried that, but told the rep that I opened the account online and I don't know my telephone password. He threatened to block my account. I asked my husband to come and help me, and the rep said he had to leave the room or the conversation would be terminated and my account would be blocked. By this time I was almost in tears and I'm too nervous to phone them again.
So to date I still haven't closed my account. I tried to lodge a complaint with FirstDirect but they wouldn't pass me to their complaints department without a telephone password, and again threatened to block my account. I'm very upset and don't know what to do.”
“Worst bank. I have an excellent credit rating and my loan was rejected and not even an alternative option was presented or offered. Now there is a hard credit check in my report.”
“Ghastly, incompetent service. Takes ages to get through to have call answered. You are then passed on to someone else.. long wait ghastly music. They cannot deal with the query so passed to another person...long wait because we are busy. More ghastly music. Person cannot answer query so will send answer through second class post. We ahve tried 5 times to go through this awfu process using 4 different activatation codes and many hours on the phone. Only to be told at 5th attempt there was a problem First Direct end and they will sort it and send yet another activation code by second class post that make take up to 10 days. Unbeleivably incompetent. Steer well clear. Often peopl at the other end have strong Scottish accents and make it very difficult to follow a conversation. However, they are always very polite and apologetic for the poor service.”
“I’ve been with first direct for 25 years but I would advise everyone to give them a wide berth. Charming people who asked for all your details then keep passing you on to someone else who asks you the same questions the previous person asked ending up after a long time the line goes dead and like me who has a payasyougo phone you have gone through a fortune on your phone and end up changing your bank to one that can avctually help you. I can only give no stars for first direct.”
“Apart from the whole process being painful, I didn't even receive the £175 offer - I scanned the code, installed and opened the app - nothing - they are just trying to lure new customers in without honouring their offer!
A scam, con and zero stars for you lot!”
“If I could give FirstDirect no stars I would. I phoned them with a question about my online savings account with them. Because I've never used telephone banking with them, I don't know my telephone banking password and they couldn't complete security. I understood that, but trying to resolve the issue with them was like dealing with robots. I'm not actually sure whether I was talking to real people. Instead of having a conversation with me about the issue, they just kept repeating their policies to me. I think they were reading their responses from a computer screen. I was having trouble understanding what they were saying so I passed the phone to my husband and asked him to find out what they needed from me. They refused to talk to him and even refused to talk to me until I confirmed that I was on my own. They then asked me to confirm that I wasn't recording our phone call.... why would I do that?!!
In the end I was so distressed I put the phone down without resolving the issue. The whole thing was a farce.”
“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.”
