My debit card was compromised recently, fixed now but First Direct asked
for a Trust Pilot review which I gave:

Review:

First Direct sent me a text asking if I had made a payment on my debit
card to a specified supplier and asking me to reply to the text.
I didn't recognise the number and when I Googled it I saw a message that
there was a concerted scam in operation so clearly I didn't reply.
I then tried to use my card but it had been disable by First Direct WITH
NO WARNING TO ME.
I then called First Direct on the number on the card to sort it out.
If the text from First Direct had said "call the number on your card" then
I would have done so.
Disabling the card without telling me could have caused massive problems
as well.
First Direct needs to resolve both these issues as a matter of urgency.

FD Reply:

Hi Jeffrey, we're sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. We
take security really seriously and have found that the text message system
is the most convenient for our customers. If in doubt please call us and
we'll always check it out for you.


I have the opportunity to edit my review but all I could do would be to
add a PS that they missed my 2 points completely.

Does anybody else here give these reviews or is it just a waste of time?

--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
We chose to do this not because it is easy but because we thought it would
be easy.

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On Fri, 06 Jun 2025 20:58:17 +0000, Jeff Gaines wrote:

My debit card was compromised recently, fixed now but First Direct asked
for a Trust Pilot review which I gave:

Does anybody else here give these reviews or is it just a waste of time?

Not any more. They accused me of fake reviews, because I use a different
email address for each organisaion I deal with.

I told them what I did, and they wanted me to jump through hoops to keep
the reviews (they'd matched up my name etc.)

I said they could bin the reviews, and I would never do any more.



--
My posts are my copyright and if @diy_forums or Home Owners' Hub
wish to copy them they can pay me £1 a message.
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

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On 07/06/2025 10:49, Bob Eager wrote:

On Fri, 06 Jun 2025 20:58:17 +0000, Jeff Gaines wrote:

My debit card was compromised recently, fixed now but First Direct asked
for a Trust Pilot review which I gave:

Does anybody else here give these reviews or is it just a waste of time?

Not any more. They accused me of fake reviews, because I use a different email address for each organisaion I deal with.

I told them what I did, and they wanted me to jump through hoops to keep
the reviews (they'd matched up my name etc.)

I said they could bin the reviews, and I would never do any more.

I feel very much the same and generally have a different email address
for each online supplier to catch spam. What is most annoying is to get
an email many months later saying they have removed my review due to
lack of verification or some other nonsense.

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Bob Eager <[email protected]> wrote:

On Fri, 06 Jun 2025 20:58:17 +0000, Jeff Gaines wrote:

My debit card was compromised recently, fixed now but First Direct asked for a Trust Pilot review which I gave:

Does anybody else here give these reviews or is it just a waste of time?

Not any more. They accused me of fake reviews, because I use a different email address for each organisaion I deal with.

I told them what I did, and they wanted me to jump through hoops to keep
the reviews (they'd matched up my name etc.)

I said they could bin the reviews, and I would never do any more.

It's noticeable how some companies' reviews are full of things like
'Dave 4046 was very helpful for my problem...'

which has obviously been orchestrated by the company - almost nobody can remember the name of 'hello I'm Dave how can I help you' at the beginning of the call, especially not when every review has a name in it, and nobody
would ever write a review including Dave's employee number unless they were told to.

So evidently those customers are being asked to write a review. But then if Dave didn't solve the problem, I wonder if the company is so keen to solicit feedback? Maybe they 'forget' to ask?

Theo

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On 07/06/2025 11:26, Theo wrote:

So evidently those customers are being asked to write a review. But then if Dave didn't solve the problem, I wonder if the company is so keen to solicit feedback? Maybe they 'forget' to ask?

The company I used to work for out-sourced their IT to a third party.
If someone phoned them up about a forgotten password or something
equally trivial that could be solved easily with the phone call a survey
email was always sent. The questions on the survey were like:
Was the phone answered within x minutes
Was our representative polite and courteous
etc.
Did our representative sort your problem during the call

If the problem was a bit more serious it was a PITA to get beyond first
line support reading from the script and suggesting rebooting the
machine etc. Even when reaching someone with more knowledge often the
problem would take days to rectify and with no status reports. A survey
email was never sent for any non-trivial problem.

Come the time when the contract was up for renewal the third party
company would turn up with all the statistics from the survey returns. Surprise, 99% of surveys resulted in a satisfactory outcome.


--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

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On 6/6/25 21:58, Jeff Gaines wrote:

My debit card was compromised recently, fixed now but First Direct asked
for a Trust Pilot review which I gave:

Review:

First Direct sent me a text asking if I had made a payment on my debit
card to a specified supplier and asking me to reply to the text.
I didn't recognise the number and when I Googled it I saw a message that there was a concerted scam in operation so clearly I didn't reply.
I then tried to use my card but it had been disable by First Direct WITH
NO WARNING TO ME.
I then called First Direct on the number on the card to sort it out.
If the text from First Direct had said "call the number on your card"
then I would have done so.
Disabling the card without telling me could have caused massive problems
as well.

First Direct have disabled my card a couple of times. I think both times
it was for paying the land registry £1 for a copy of property
boundaries. Presumably, some scammer has used this website to make test payments.

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On 06/06/2025 21:58, Jeff Gaines wrote:

My debit card was compromised recently, fixed now but First Direct asked
for a Trust Pilot review which I gave:

Review:

First Direct sent me a text asking if I had made a payment on my debit
card to a specified supplier and asking me to reply to the text.
I didn't recognise the number and when I Googled it I saw a message that there was a concerted scam in operation so clearly I didn't reply.
I then tried to use my card but it had been disable by First Direct WITH
NO WARNING TO ME.
I then called First Direct on the number on the card to sort it out.
If the text from First Direct had said "call the number on your card"
then I would have done so.
Disabling the card without telling me could have caused massive problems
as well.
First Direct needs to resolve both these issues as a matter of urgency.

FD Reply:

Hi Jeffrey, we're sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. We
take security really seriously and have found that the text message
system is the most convenient for our customers. If in doubt please call
us and we'll always check it out for you.

I have the opportunity to edit my review but all I could do would be to
add a PS that they missed my 2 points completely.

Does anybody else here give these reviews or is it just a waste of time?

Trust Pilot are there to serve the business, not the consumer. I am
always suspicious of a business touting its trustpilot score, some of
the worst businesses do that by fake reviews, by pressing to remove unfavourable comments and by the trustpilot system which means that it's
almost impossible for a business to get less than GOOD overall*

* I forget how the scoring works but it's something like choose between
one star = awful, 2 star =poor 3star = adequate 4 star =excellent so
even with loads of poor and awful ratings they are still scoring stars.

TW

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On 6 Jun 2025 20:58:17 GMT, "Jeff Gaines" <[email protected]>
wrote:

My debit card was compromised recently, fixed now but First Direct asked
for a Trust Pilot review which I gave:

Review:

First Direct sent me a text asking if I had made a payment on my debit
card to a specified supplier and asking me to reply to the text.
I didn't recognise the number and when I Googled it I saw a message that >there was a concerted scam in operation so clearly I didn't reply.
I then tried to use my card but it had been disable by First Direct WITH
NO WARNING TO ME.
I then called First Direct on the number on the card to sort it out.
If the text from First Direct had said "call the number on your card" then
I would have done so.
Disabling the card without telling me could have caused massive problems
as well.
First Direct needs to resolve both these issues as a matter of urgency.

FD Reply:

Hi Jeffrey, we're sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. We
take security really seriously and have found that the text message system
is the most convenient for our customers. If in doubt please call us and >we'll always check it out for you.

I have the opportunity to edit my review but all I could do would be to
add a PS that they missed my 2 points completely.

Does anybody else here give these reviews or is it just a waste of time?

I usually give a review if asked, in the hope that it assists other
customers.

I had a similar experience with Barclaycard. I received a call from 'Barclaycard security' asking for my Barclaycard number (for
security). I of course refused and asked the caller for my Barclaycard
number (for security). He said he was not allowed to tell me the
number (for security). I said I was not satisfied this was a genuine
call from Barclays and terminated the call. This happened a second
time. I then found out I was overdrawn and the calls were genuine. I'm
still not giving my Barclaycard number to anyone who calls.

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On 06/06/2025 21:58, Jeff Gaines wrote:

Does anybody else here give these reviews or is it just a waste of time?

I do so, but I am very selective about which companies get a review, my
reviews only good, or bad. I never bother with anything in between.

One bad review I gave, was at a fancy fish and chip restaurant, whilst
on holiday. A place we had been to before a few times, and the food had
been superb. I noted, on the menu, they suggested they had changed the
formulae for the batter.

This time, it was inedible, the fish made us feel ill, even the dog had
been ill eating the left-overs, so I naturally gave them a really bad
review. Within hours, they emailed me, to ask my payment card number,
and made a full refund of the bill.

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On Wed, 11 Jun 2025 14:46:36 +0100, Harry Bloomfield Esq <[email protected]> wrote:

On 06/06/2025 21:58, Jeff Gaines wrote:

Does anybody else here give these reviews or is it just a waste of time?

I do so, but I am very selective about which companies get a review, my >reviews only good, or bad. I never bother with anything in between.

One bad review I gave, was at a fancy fish and chip restaurant, whilst
on holiday. A place we had been to before a few times, and the food had
been superb. I noted, on the menu, they suggested they had changed the >formulae for the batter.

This time, it was inedible, the fish made us feel ill, even the dog had
been ill eating the left-overs, so I naturally gave them a really bad
review. Within hours, they emailed me, to ask my payment card number,
and made a full refund of the bill.

I went for a pizza. When I tried to book (earlier) they said they
could not accept bookings for under two people. I 'appealed' and after
speaking to a colleague, he took my booking. When I arrived the same
waiter apologised for the situation earlier and blamed the booking
system. I waited for a long time for my pizza then the waiter turned
up and apologised again, this time for not placing my order with the
kitchen. However, I then got free pizza and free drink. Is this
'excellent' or 'very bad'?

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On Wed, 11 Jun 2025 15:06:32 +0100
Scott <[email protected]> wrote:

On Wed, 11 Jun 2025 14:46:36 +0100, Harry Bloomfield Esq <[email protected]> wrote:

On 06/06/2025 21:58, Jeff Gaines wrote:

Does anybody else here give these reviews or is it just a waste of
time?

I do so, but I am very selective about which companies get a review,
my reviews only good, or bad. I never bother with anything in
between.

One bad review I gave, was at a fancy fish and chip restaurant,
whilst on holiday. A place we had been to before a few times, and
the food had been superb. I noted, on the menu, they suggested they
had changed the formulae for the batter.

This time, it was inedible, the fish made us feel ill, even the dog
had been ill eating the left-overs, so I naturally gave them a
really bad review. Within hours, they emailed me, to ask my payment
card number, and made a full refund of the bill.

I went for a pizza. When I tried to book (earlier) they said they
could not accept bookings for under two people. I 'appealed' and after speaking to a colleague, he took my booking. When I arrived the same
waiter apologised for the situation earlier and blamed the booking
system. I waited for a long time for my pizza then the waiter turned
up and apologised again, this time for not placing my order with the
kitchen. However, I then got free pizza and free drink. Is this
'excellent' or 'very bad'?

Everyone makes mistakes. You get a good idea of the standard of the
business by seeing how well and how quickly they fix them, or how good
their customer service is generally.

There are a couple of companies I wouldn't touch, not because their
product is necessarily bad, but because of their utterly terrible
reputation for customer service.

I would rather see a review of how well a business fixed a problem than
a complete lack of bad reviews, which I may not believe. Most good
businesses realise this and usually provide excellent service to a
customer they've let down.

--
Joe

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