I had a problem last Friday. I was looking for some cash. I left my flat at 7:30am knowing there were three cash machines in easy reach and I could choose any one of them , draw some cash,have some breakfast and still make the seminar I was leading, on time.
The best laid plans!
The first machine said "service not available". The second let me enter my pin and the amount I wanted and then said "try another machine". The third machine had the same problem on both my debit and credit card.
The guy behind me on the third machine couldn't get any cash either.
At this point I thought all the cash machines in London had failed. I'm a chemist by training so three experimental observations makes a theory!
Nothing on the news.
So I called Firstdirect. They were brilliant. I can't imagine any other bank dealing with it as well as they did.
Firstly they told me instantly that the chip was damaged in my debit card because one of the ATMs had reported that (they knew about all my failed transactions although none of the machines were HSBC). They told me instantly that there was a fraud marker on my credit card (always seems to happen if I buy some furniture immediately after buying lunch!) . They took me instantly through my last six transactions and as I recognised each one they took off the fraud marker.
"So Mr Harris you'll get a new debit card in the post in the next couple of days (I did), in the meantime you can draw cash with your credit card or at any HSBC branch up to a certain amount at any branch with some ID and if you need more tell us which branch and when and we'll arrange it. Is that going to work for you or do we need to do something else?"
When I created Firstdirect I set out an Originating Intent of being known for heroic customer service leaving people feeling totally taken care of. Seems to have survived these 20 odd years.
Actually I visited Firstdirect in Leeds before Christmas. The organisation is in great shape and remains a fun and vibrant place to work.
If you see an organisation struggling see to what extent they have compromised their Originating Intent (all organisations have one , even if they didn't set it out consciously) .
It's fine to declare an Originating Intent complete or finished by the way as long as you create a new one.
Is it possible that First Direct has a big flashing red light on your account with a message that says ..."Don't mess this call up!"
Just kidding, it seems from the outside that FD is a vibrant and progressive bank. I was recently told that many Coutts customers have a second account with FD too.
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