I do think we need to cut Monzo a bit of slack here. I’ve the same concerns as many of you, particularly about the paywall suggestions. But where else do we have this sort of access / conversation? Where else do we have folk like @nexusmaniac, @anon77734705 and @simonb who will happily pass the time of day with us. No marketing messages. No spiel. Just honest access. Indeed, where else would you even find a “Community Specialist” where it’s acknowledged and accepted that community is an essential part of the organisation’s lifeblood and that investment in it isn’t a waste of money or something to be cut from the bottom line.
The point I suppose I’m getting to is that we do want answers, that’s understandable. And like many on here, I’m nervous about the direction of travel. But if we berate then we (imo, of course) will probably create the future we don’t want to see: either no forum at all, or preapproved sound bites or marketing speak that lacks the humanity that people like Marcus, Beth and Simon exhibit.
(And, because we don’t say this enough: thank you Monzonauts for coming on here and playing! )
I know they’re all 24/7 support but FWIW, their phone service in my experience hasn’t been as great on other products and yet I can’t complement them enough for FlexPlus.
The way the survey was designed wasn’t the best - and there is a real danger that Monzo will assume that anyone with a packaged account is willing to pay for it.
According to the survey,I have a packaged account - HSBC Premier.
One key reason I and I suspect most HSBC Premier customers have it - is its free - and includes free family travel insurance.(and its a relatively comprehensive policy)
If you choose to have the associated free Premier credit card - then you also get free extended warranty on certain purchases and other perks like LoungeKey included.
To be fair, I also have a Santander 123 account but the survey failed to distinguish between the Lite version (£1/month) or the full version (£5/month). Regardless, the only reason I have it, is that I make more in cashback than I pay in fees - again something the survey woudn’t have captured properly.
I also think a new thread weekly is very sensible and much easier to cut through the noise in other threads when people get fixated on one particular point and it goes around in infinity loops.
Seconded! Can you imagine working on something, working hard, putting time and effort in and trying to do your best job then… going on a forum and reading some of the comments we’ve seen here? Ugh!
It’s easy to say it all comes from the fact we want Monzo to be successful too but must be massively disheartening at times.
All credit for the updates, the communication and the openness. I hope you figure this all out (whilst being aware that you can’t please all the people all the time).
As an original plustomer I felt hugely let down by Monzo, and I even cancelled.
But this openness and transparency (which should of been there from day one btw) from you and @cookywook is a welcome change.
Looking forward to seeing how this pans out. And it totally makes sense that not everything on here will be built, and not everything tested will be released. That’s product management.
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