“One of the early FD customers. Phone answered by a human within 3 Rings. Very friendly staff who did what you asked them to. Now? I've waited well over 3 minutes before call gets through to a human.
Very very disappointed at what they have become - yet they claim to be top online bank!! The others must be absolutely awful then. Would not recommend First Direct to anyone.”
“FIRST DIRECT BANK WORST LOGGED ONTO MY APP NOTICE MY BALANCE WAS NOT THERE ONLY MY SAVING SO RANG CUSTOMERS SERVICE THEY NOT GOT CLUE NO ANSWERS WHAT GONE OFF ETC SO I AM UNABLE TO SEE BALANCE OR MOVE MONEY NOW THEY LEFT ME OVER 24 HOURS WITH OUT MONEY WHICH I NEED TO LIVE ON LOG COMPLAINT AFTER COMPLAINT GOT NO WHERE NEALY SPOKEN TO EVERY IN THEY BANK STILL NO ANSWER FIND IT FUNNY NOW THEY BLOCKED ME FROM MOVING MONEY TO ANOTHER ACCOUNT ALSO THEY WONT GIVE ME BALANCE OR OWT EVEY TIME I RING UP TO GET ANSWER THEY JUST KEEP BLOCKING MAKING EXCUSES SIMPLE FIRST DIRECT I WANT MY MONEY TO LIVE ON ONCE THIS SORTED OUT YOU CAN SHOVE YOUR BANK I MOVER SOME ELSE BE WARNED ABOUT THIS BANK”
“My eldery, vulnrable mum, has been a victim of fraud. Thousands. As soon as it happened she phoned her bank-First Direct. She discussed what had happened. They then emailed her stating there is nothing they could do and would not be refunding the money. My mum was distraught. I drove for an hour to be present with my mum to log a complaint. I was asked to email in all the details, which I did and was told we would hear something in 3/5 days. This was a month ago and depaite continuously ringing and posting on social media, First Direct have still not got back to her. She is struggling mentally with what has happened and the stress, anxiety and depression this has caused is unbearable, First Direct have been made aware of her state but yet do not care at all. She has been a loyal customer for over 50 years and never once made a complaint. The treatment of my mum is absolutely shocking and to read that other banks including Santander are refunding their victim of fraud customers (some of which lost a hell of a lot more then my mum) is just sticking the knife in even more.
We will go to the Ombudsman, the press and will continue to post on social media daily till this is resolved.”
“Took. Nearly 4 months to get my accounts closed. Had thousand of pounds and shares communicating with them is abysmal the poor services unbelievable should be closed repeat SHOULD BE CLOSED TOTALLY”
“Customer service is second to none. Anytime I call them there are just happy, polite and get me sorted straight away.
Call back service if they are busy is super too.”
“Everythings wrong with first direct. And they don’t even come and back themselves up. Customer service is terrible, whenever you call you’re sat there for hours on hold, no information about anything. Their own representatives are liars and cheats. Dont care when they put peoples lives on the line. Don’t use first direct!!”
“Joined First Direct from its set up and the service and people were exceptional. Very poor now, never get through to speak to an advisor” always we a very busy at the moment” even at 4am! When you do finally get through the competence level is low as is the interest for delivering the attitude that customers rightly championed in the past. Nationwide is my preferred choice now but to unwind decades with FD is difficult. It is no coincidence that all this changed when working from home was introduced so can’t see this changing. Needless to say I will not be championing them in the future.”
“Useless for communication. My passport is 5yrs out of date
but I’m supposed to have spent more than £104 inDubai.
If this leaves my account, good bye First Direct.
They were good once, but not now.
Anonymous”
“Denying technical problems is both ignorant & arrogant, especially when an agent previously agreed the issue!
What use to be a good bank is now mediocre at best, largely due to the people employed these days. Still living on past ratings is the attitude of fools. Those days are gone! Customers matter, stop treating us like idiots!”
“Cash isa available in app all year then dissappears..apparently because you don't pay into it every year it becomes dormant so first direct remove it from your accounts so you have to re-activate it by post..unbelievable tedious and boring and yes it's in the small print..just because you've not paid into your isa account for the current year(disgusting interest rates)..your not allowed to see what money you do have in your account...rant over.”
“I was cheated by first direct. They promised me 125 for joining them. However they have never given my this money.
Don't believe them!!!
first direct”
“Tried to switch a joint account to a fuss free first direct account. Not fuss free needs three passwords for Internet and three different pass words for telephone banking. You cannot switch a joint account on line. Apparently they want you to set up two accounts and then join them together. Decided not to switch as building society I was with for over 20 years was much more customer friendly. First direct has ruined my credit score by not deleting there hard search and calling me wilful. According to trustpilot other potential customers have had the same problems. The CEO and his team were no use. It certainly was not fuss free, quite the opposite. 69% bad feedback on trustpilot.”
“I was a loyal customer of FD for over 30 years but recently received the most appalling customer service and sadly have moved banks. Their people first and continous PR about excellent customer service are just empty words and promises. Just treated like a number and FD didn't even say they were sorry to see me go after 30 years. Clearly loyal customers mean nothing to them.”
“Used to be known for great service - now it’s only scraping ok service. When things go wrong - there’s no ownership and conflicting information given. First direct is a good bank, until things go wrong”
“Impossible to contact them by phone. Web chat is ineffective and usually have to wait for a live person to chat for 10 min plus. I have had problems with contactless not working sporadically, and fraud issues supposedly. Impossible to contact fraud department to speak with them when alerted, takes at least half an hour of hanging on. They used to be fantastic bank, as I have been with them for well over 15 years, however, they are now absolutely dreadful and to be avoided.”
“As someone who helped launch FD in 1989 and worked in Customer Services for 15 years, I was always very proud of the standard of Customer Services the Bank achieved and maintained. Yesterday all that changed as I needed to speak to the Visa team about a transaction that had appeared on my account even though the order in question had been cancelled within I hour of being placed. I was appalled at the patronising, condescending and domineering way the people I spoke to spoke to me. They were all as thick as two short planks but thought they knew it all. They told me that unless I could provide proof that the order had been cancelled, they wouldn’t refund the money. As the order had been cancelled verbally I had no proof and it seems that the fact that I am a totally honest person of impeccable character with a long history of honest dealing, that was not good enough for them, my word carried no weight at all.
I told them to cancel the DD so the payment couldn’t be taken and cancelled the card. The stupid woman said in a really clever tone of voice that leaving the amount unpaid would damage my credit rating which I know to be untrue. Today I rang the retailer and asked them if they would issue a refund or whatever it is they do when an order is cancelled and they immediately agreed to do so. Had I been advised to do that when I first rang to stop the payment, I could have saved myself all the hassle but no one ever suggested doing it. It is such a shame to see such a rapid decline in standards which can only be due to poor recruitment and/or poor training. It is to be hoped that the company soon realises that they have a massive problem in these areas and even their most loyal customers are getting fed up of being insulted and treated like nuisances. The current policy on Visa refunds is actually benefitting the scammers and fraudsters who plague us daily and FD customers face an uphill struggle in trying to get their money back without the benefit of having the Bank working for them as oppose to working against them. It’s a scandal that needs resolving quickly.”
“I’ve been with FD since their beginning. They were great until a few years ago when they upgraded their security features and website and it’s difficult to use. I never used to get locked out of my account but do now. Today I can’t spend £3.50 on a train ticket because they insist this needs a one time code which their system won’t send. Utterly rubbish service.”
