Many years ago I worked in an organisation with millions of clients. One owned a Chinese restaurant and his name was Fuk Yu Too (I kid you not). Very apt these days.
Another vote for Starling, I had a Monzo account which turned into a nightmare - account blocked for days because of a failed payment on a vending machine which they deemed suspicious, then it was a waiting game.
Have had no problem with Starling so far (made and received large transactions too)
I'm with First Direct who are part of HSBC and do most of my banking online and on the App. On the rare occasions I need to 'phone they are always pretty quick to answer, without all that press 1 for this, and press 4 for that, rubbish. They did ring me after one transaction which flagged up on their system because the payee had a similar name to a fraudulent company. Rang back to ensure I was talking to them before doing anything and only took 5 minutes or so. So no complaints so far really.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Joy of joys! After 90+ minutes on hold, two operatives assuring me that it has all been sorted (on two consecutive days) and a suspended account, the vendor tells me that the money has arrived in his account.
I may have a celebratory half pint tonight at the vGTG.
Last edited by Christian; 22nd April 2021 at 15:57.
Thanks. I should be OK, I spoke with the guy who says he will send it special delivery from Nigeria. I was lucky spotting the watch, there can't be many Nigerian Facebook Marketplace posters, especially ones who are willing to send special delivery to England. And £800 is an absolute bargain for a Milsub.
I am beginning to feel some remorse about this.
I wonder if the disastrous Covid situation in India has taken a load of callcentre operatives out of the game?
Even if it hasn't, it certainly puts my whinging into perspective.
Thread ressurection.
Finally snapped.
After spending four days trying to pay a £50 cheque into my HSBC account via their phone app, and being told constantly that "The amount on the cheque, and the amount keyed in, must both be greater than zero" (which they obviously were), and then two hours on the chat facility being assured that there was nothing wrong with the app, I have defected to First Direct.
I still find it sad that they have forced this upon me after 55 years loyal custom. But as previously pointed out, loyalty counts for nothing these days.
First Direct is a division of HSBC isn't it?
Yes, but the TZUK Thinktank suggests that they are streets ahead of HSBC for customer service, which is the crux of my discontent.
Agreed.
There is a little bit of a learning curve/pain to get things up and running at the start, but their telephone service is just streets ahead of any other service I have come across - real people answer - and they actually speak to you like humans, rather than reading off a script, so they will have you up and running in no time.
I do pretty much everything I need to do now from my telephone app and very rarely ever use the telephone service or online banking.
It is hard to believe they are owned by HSBC.
You wont look back.
Starling my bank of choice. Very secure, fast, personal service, FCA protected.
Love the 'goals' you can set up. Liz has a joint card for the shopping which I can control (😁).
Pay cheques in with camera or money at the post office.
All in all faultless.
What’s the danger in replying Yes to a random SMS?
I've been with FD since 1995 or 96 and never been anything but happy with them.
I was a Midland Bank customer before, renamed to HSBC after the buyout.
Surprised to hear HSBC is so bad though, given FD is HSBC.
M
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Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
I knew the writing was on the wall for customer service years ago when NatWest let me go after 21 years a customer rather than deal with me direct, insisting "let the computer decide".
I went to FirstDirect and have been there ever since - they're not perfect but probably the best you can get short of the world of private banking. Honourable mention for Nationwide who I've had an account with for years too and run our joint account.
Last edited by Scepticalist; 23rd May 2022 at 09:41.
It was a camel's back situation. The final incident was a failure to accept a £50 cheque via the phone app. HSBC were adamant that the amount on the cheque and the amount I keyed in had to be greater than zero. Obviously they both were, but no amount of toing and froing with the various chat and phone help options would have any beneficial effect on my part.
As they are to all intents and purposes uncontactable unless you want to devote an entire day to the task, this last straw sent me into the arms of First Direct, after 55 years of loyal banking with HSBC.
They have been uncontactable on every occasion that I have been in need, even when they had (justifiable) security concerns and told me to contact their Fraud Dept. I didn't mind at all the furore about the possibly dodgy transaction, but if they want you to contact them in the middle of a high-value purchase, they could at least have the decency to be contactable without a 90-minute wait.