First Direct sorry for text mess First Direct has apologised to customers who received text messages which included transactions from other customers' accounts this morning. The bank was working on systems overnight which led to the problems this morning. A spokeswoman for First Direct said only subscribers to text banking were affected. She said: "We're …
From the very beginning, when they were a "phone bank". Mind you, I never opt for those text banking or paperless options they and other financial institutions are always pushing. Their one mis-step was when they decided to charge people for the classic account, unless they were also using another FD product, like their VISA card. I was, so I am still with them, but the wife bailed.
Alas I've been with FD for 3 years and in that time they managed to send a £4,000 payment to the WRONG account (which they admitted was entirely their fault, they typed the wrong number) which meant my credit card, far from being paid off in full, was actually maxed out.
Which meant when I was in teh US for a holiday, my card was rejected.
Called the card provider, discovered no money had gone to them; called FD who after 1 hour of toing and froing and passing me round departments admitted what they'd done and then told me *I* had to call the credit card company and get them to rectify the mistake, then hung up.
As I only had access to a mobile phone at this time (being as I was on holiday) it cost me over £100 in telephone calls to get it resolved, FD didn't want to know, their only comment was "Mistakes happen, you have had it fixed, what's your problem?".
What a wonderful company :-(
Amazing isn't it, that there's at least one service that actually does what it's supposed to, and generally does it well? I've been with FD almost since they started and this is the first time I can remember hearing of them screwing up.
Their interest rates are in the can at present, but I too am prepared to take a (small) cash hit to know that I can ring 24/7 and immediately get a human - and usually quite a cheerful human - answering the phone in good English.
I had a customer using our e commerce platform who had a client with a bank statement showing a transaction which claimed it had gone through our system for an odd amount.
The first direct statement clearly showed it as a transaction via my client. FD blamed us so we spent a good six hours chasing down every transaction the clients client had made with 4 different FD cards and it wasnt there.
Eventually FD admitted they had put the wrong payment reference on the amount and it was a totally seperate transaction from someone entirely different. But they only did this once presented with all the evidence otherwise they wouldnt even investigate.
They appear to have a blame someone else policy for errors unless you have a mountain of evidence against them,
Fail
I cancelled a £40k ISA transfer to First Direct earlier this year from HSBC. HSBC being the muppets they are didn't actually cancel the transfer, even though they arranged for it to be cancelled, with my approval, and even though I'd instructed both parties in separate calls to cancel it. First Direct silently received my money into their holding account, where it stayed, for 42 days before they rang me to ask about it. HSBC hadn't a clue what was going on and just blatantly ignored me. First Direct held on to my money for another week by disputing rectification steps with HSBC. Amusing given that they are sibling companies. But there's a happy ending, I got compensation that exceeded the net interest I'd have had otherwise :) Don't be taken in by the sweet talk customer service of FD, they're just as scurrilous as any other bank.
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