“Been a customer for 40 years now cannot get to my account for over a month. Because online banking will not recognise my username. App does not work. Now cannot pay my bills and there is no means of contacting the bank as they never answer the phone. Someone at the top has ruined the best bank in the UK. Now having to resort to legal action to obtain access to my money.
Someone at the top needs to be fired.”
“Been a customer for ages due to quality of service ..alas it's no more .. two bit bank with high levels of arrogance that it is now no longer worthy of .. really shame time to go they have gone from best to worse but still believe worth their salt .. in denial I'm leaving”
“First Direct now have a policy to keep customers waiting 45mins before answering.This has been introduced to bull clients into using its online services only”
“After enjoying a loyal 30 years of grade A1 top banking just horrified to experience the rank bottom customer service now offered by First Direct. Customers need to speak to people when problems arise. End of. Self destruction of the highest order. Some gigantic blunders at Board level. It may be too late to turn it around. I can see the demise already. And an absolute tragedy.”
“Scam victim late 2020. Refusing to refund all the money because "it was partly my fault". FD's service then was nothing short of shambolic; only 3 staff provided positive customer service. FD deals with account fraud, combined department (HSBC, FD AND M&S) card fraud. Then approved fraudulent loan. As it was online application, they didn't need to check with me as the supposed applicant. Really! Their online systems and employee vetting are "robust". Absolute rubbish!! Asked FOS to investigate. Waste of time, they sided with FD. Report states they located some of the money at their parent company but don't know how much and when it will be recovered. This is the 21st century FD. Your reputation is tarnished, stop living on previous glory. CEO's email address in public domain so another opportunity to voice your feelings. Now actively looking for new bank, to move when saver account matures. I've had enough....”
“FD has long ceased to be the excellent service it used to be/have. For a year now the telephone message will say "more phone calls than usual". Th banking app has many birthing problems. FD is now one of the shabbiest services in a telephone bank imaginable”
“For some reason the wait on the phone has gone through the roof in the past month. I tried several times this week, and waited close to 40 mins and had to give up. So I thought I would try during the England-Ukraine match, when few people could call, and it worked. After a 25 mins wait I heard the same friendly voice I am used to since 2001 (yes, I am a customer for 20 yrs), had excellent service who managed to reset my App in 2 mins. Very efficient and friendly as ever. Just the long wait was frustrating. They must be honest and transparent with their customers as to the reason for the long wait, and get it sorted asap.”
“Happy customer for 20 + years WHAT THE HELL HAS GONE WRONG!!
Hours on phone with constant frustration of rubbish messages as to why no one is answering the phone
Definitely time to change!!”
“Do not use this bank. You setup a telephone banking password and they ask you for it and you give them exactly what you setup and they say it's incorrect then they put you on hold for 20 minutes while they ask you every single question under the sky including what time you pooped in the morning and showered then it's still not good enough for them and they disable your app just because you called and didn't answer the questions they have the incorrect answers for. Avoid!!”
“I had to call First Direct Customer Service on Thursday evening and I was shocked at their poor customer service, as I rarely call them due to their app. The customer service has gone downhill, what a shame. I waited ages for someone to answer and when she answered she couldn’t help me with a simple request to pay someone I have paid previously. What’s’ happens or changed at 1st Direct? I always said you had the best customer service, but not anymore?”
“Utterly incompetent
Texted me saying they had tried to call me - spoilers! - they hadn't.
Finally got through to them after 4 attaempts (and being hung up on once) Only for them to try and argue with me that they had tried to call despite my phone never ringing and showing no missed calls.
Don't bother. They don't deserve your money”
“As one of the 'original members' when it first opened I used to have nothing but praise for it as being a quick efficient and polite 365 telephone service with good products.
Over time it has deteriorated and with their mobile banking the telephone side is very poor - they are always experiencing 'higher than expected calls' -but rather than address this they seem to just expect customers to wait for ages. Today was the worst so far as I tried to organise an important large payment which had to be done through them on the phone -4 calls and loads of tie wasted either to be answered or get through to the right department - despite being told which one is needed.
Incompetence and understaffed is not a good picture. I'm right off them of late.....perhaps need to change but to who??”
“Mobile app is terrible
Online banking is terrible
Help line has atleast a half an hour hold time.
If you don't want to smash your phone or laptop each time you try and do any thing please use another bank”
“I have been with First Direct for over 30 years and because of their appalling customer service over the past 3 years and particularly recently I have decided to transfer my money to another bank.
I have recently been charged twice for one purchase I made which was over £2,500, hence over £5,000 has been charged to my account by First Direct and First Direct Customer Service tell me there is nothing they can do about it. The company I bought the item from, Apple, categorically stated that they have only charged me once and having advised First Direct of that fact 4 days ago the charge is still sitting on my account. I was promised a call back 4 days ago and to date nothing has transpired.
The Customer Service agent today continually interrupted me.”
“I have held my account with First Direct for over 25 years and in the early days remember thinking how forward looking and efficient a bank it was, that communication and connectivity was excellent. What a shame that it has become a bureaucratic pile of departments that are unable to speak to each other, and incapable of doing something as simple as issuing a bank card.
You haven’t just slipped down the rankings from 1st place to 3rd place (Which Magazine), you have lost complete control of what you are doing day to day and that it is customer satisfaction and ability to problem solve for customers that you have given up.”
“Having bad experiences with other banks I moved to First Direct about 8 years ago and I am never one to leave reviews. But their customer service every time are the friendliest and most helpful people I've spoken to on the phone in any company. I've had dozens and dozens of calls with them now and each time the advisors are always very polite, friendly and clear and helpful in the way that they speak. The app and online banking security levels make me feel safe with my banking.”
“1st Direct used to set the bar for other banks to achieve. I used to happily tell people it was as close to premier banking as possible. I'm sad to say this standard has truly dropped away. 30 minutes for people to pick up, calls lost during conversation and poor line quality. Staff are still nice and friendly but this is all that is left. This is a real shame.... time to switch.”
