Firstsave Reviews 

Hi I’ve always had great service

I had reason to phone first save on monday 2/2 25 the phone was answered within seconds i spoke to ZOE with my problem she was so helpful and professional problem sorted thank you ZOE and FIRSTSAVE Mr G TARPEY

I have recently lost my husband and I am dealing with many financial institutions who have all been outstanding in dealing with my late husband’s estate, with the exception of First Save. Their front line customer service team are unhelpful and not understanding at all.
First Save do not accept certified Interim Death Certificates. When I notified the Coroners office they were very surprised as they have never experienced this before.
So First Save are withholding a substantial amount of money due to my husbands young family.
I would strongly avoid not investing with First Save

Opened a notice account online on a Sunday and everything set up. Funds transferred in from nominated account and showing within a short space of time. Always had excellent service. Website is a bit rudimentary but does everything you need efficiently. Despite loads of bad reviews I would continue to use them and recommend them

I tried opening a Savings Account with them because of the good interest rate but it was a bad decission of me. I had several problems for making the first deposit, it never landed in my account and I did not get any notification from them until I called several times for it to be checked.
At first they asked me to contact my originary bank account saying they should still have the money and eventually they realised that the payment had been refused and the money was on their side so I wonder how they could not even notice. What kind of bank does that?
After 1 month I am still waiting for my money to be returned to my original bank account.
The customer service is really slow, they are very out-dated in their management system and overall it's not worth all the time wasted making calls and writing emails.

FirstSave need to adjust the IT department, so that they understand the stresses they apply to new account applications. Attempting to Log-On (First Time) to your account is a logistical nightmare. Naturally a new account needs a "test" deposit to prove the validity of the destination? But had my nominal £10 returned as not meeting the account criteria, thus a fine way to prove all was good and depositing details from source account was accurate. However, the welcome pack duly arrived with details of your new account number and user ID. Following the instructions on-line all went well until asked for an "Authentication Code" which is not provided/explained in the welcome letter, naturally its essential you can see your LARGE deposit A.S.A.P. So all the alternatives exhausted you then click the button "please send a new code" (have to wait 2-3 working days. IN THE MEANTIME next days post a separate letter provides the "Authentication Code" trying to apply this for another log-in attempt you find being "locked out". FIRSTSAVE TELL PEOPLE to expect the code under a separate cover? Waisted soooo much time and frustration. The 6 % accounts no closed presumed fully subscribed.

First Save bank...... absolutely shocking, appalling, unprofessional bunch of liars!!!!. Please Please Please avoid this bank. My husband opened 2yr fixed rate bond in July. Waited 2 wks then rang as no paperwork etc was received. He was on hold for 57 minutes to be told they were short staffed and problems with the computer system meant his account had not yet been opened even after his funds had been paid to the bank 2 weeks before!!. Several calls later to the bank and countless hours wasted on hold as a whole month had passed and still no paperwork/ emails, only to be told that the account had still not been opened and as a result he had lost a month's interest on his savings! Absolutely shocking!!!. He demanded his deposit back and was refunded. I am taking the matter further as I'm sure this is against the law and don't want to see innocent members of the public deceived in the same way.

AVOID THIS BANK.
I opened a 90day account and deposited £5000 as requested. I then subsequently did a CHAPS payment which was sent back to my bank. I phoned to ask why and Firstsave said they couldn’t tell me why it had been rejected. Their response etc made me uneasy so I decided to close the account which I did on the phone and was told it would take 2 days to arrive into my linked account. Needless to say after 6 phone calls (and many calls lasting over an hour to speak to anyone) I have finally received my money back which eventually took two weeks to arrive. How long it would have taken without my persistence is anyone’s guess. In this time there was no communication either by post, email or phone call (all which were promised).
Top line summary - go to a more professional bank. Banking with Firstsave is not worth angst it caused.

AVOID AVOID AVOID Applied for a notice account more than a month ago. Sent off all info that was asked for and have heard nothing since!
So glad I didn't deposit any money!
Worse savings provider I have ever come by.
I do hope people read the bad reviews first.

DON’T USE THIS BANK!!
Avoid at all cost. Don’t be tempted with high interest rate returns.
I applied for 2 Year fix rate bond two weeks ago and I still haven’t received my login ID or any account details. I have no visibility of the money I deposited. I called them twice after waiting for more than an hour each time, all I got was excuses and false promises. By far the worst bank I have ever dealt with. Never again.

Oh my does anybody work at First Save in customer services. Been phoning now for 3 days waiting over an hour each time of the phone. Still no one has picked up.
Help never know a bank like it.

Same as everyone else - can not get a call answered after 2hrs on hold. No user ID was ever sent to me and I can not even log in to my account. If a rep from Firstsave reads this you need to contact me ASAP. NEVER trusting Martin Lewis or his web site ever again!

Update 2: I have the FCA looking into this. You can email the FCA without having a final response letter to a formal complaint. The woman I contacted at FirstBank UK in London [FCA site] blamed the popularity of their bond rate for the long wait on calls. No apology. Someone will call you ....yeah right.
Update 1: If you phone them outside of office hours there is a message which says press 1 and leave your details and they will call you back within 1 working day. Will wait and see.
FirstSave: They don't answer the phone. Can't authenticate my account as the password I saved at the start isn't recognised. Can't reset online. Been going on for 2 weeks now. This means they have my money but it is attracting no interest. Worse decision I ever made. Will never use MSE ever again either.
DON'T USE THIS BANK.

They ignore pertinent email questions after 2 weeks, when their automatic acknowledgement says that they will answer in 2 days. Fail to answer the phone after 35 minutes then message says closed because it is 5pm.
Shocking customer service.

Same experience as the customer below. I cannot access my account and no response from customer service. On hold for over 45 mins and no response. AVOID AVOID AVOID

We made an error in our application; I would argue it was as a result of things not being made clear but that's as maybe. It is a fact that although this was an online account and they were using our email to chase for the opening payment, they advised us of the error by post. This took several days to arrive which seems beyond ridiculous. In the meanwhile, our opening payment had not been applied to our account and we were concerned. We attempted to make contact but they were not responding to our emails (and at the time of writing still haven't) and our telephone calls just elicited long waits, banal music and repetitive recorded messages. Apart from anything else we are on p.a.y.g. so these call waits hurt. The lack of anything approaching service warrants a three star review [NB Amended review].