The bank that beats John Lewis for customer service

First Direct has been named the UK’s number one brand for customer service in a new survey.

The Nunwood Customer Experience Survey interviews people about customer service at over 250 of the UK’s top brands in the past six months.

First Direct knocked John Lewis off top spot in this year’s survey, which is the fifth Nunwood has conducted. The bank came third in 2013.

Another financial brand, Nationwide, also appeared in the top 10 at number eight.

Meanwhile, online electrical retailer AO.com was the highest new entrant at number six.

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Top 10

Here’s the top 10.

Position	Brand	Last year’s position
1	First Direct	3
2	John Lewis	1
3	QVC	2
4	Lush	7
5	Amazon	4
6	AO.com	-
7	Waitrose	10
8	Nationwide	26
9	Specsavers	13
10	M&S Simply Food	6

Six other financial brands also made the top 50.

Position	Brand	Last year’s position
13	Skipton Building Society	36
19	M&S Bank	23
33	NS&I	-
38	Yorkshire Building Society	50
48	Prudential	211
49	American Express	172

The major high street banks are nowhere to be seen, although Halifax did come in 63rd place.

A winning combination

Both First Direct and Nationwide are regularly praised for their customer service. What’s more, both offer some really good products.

Switch to First Direct’s 1st account and you’ll get a £100 joining bonus, so long as switch your account and pay in at least £1,000 a month for the first three months.

Meanwhile, Nationwide’s FlexDirect account pays a joint market-leading 5% interest on balances of up to £2,500 for the first year you hold the account. To qualify, you just need to pay in at least £1,000 a month into the account. It also offers a free overdraft for the first year, subject to you having a decent credit rating.

And the Nationwide FlexAccount offers free European multi-trip travel insurance as long as you pay in at least £750 a month into your account.

Both First Direct and Nationwide also offer decent savings accounts exclusively to their current account customers.

[Compare current accounts and see if you could get a better deal]