Starling Feedback

Financial Chat Fintech Chat
2631

Quoting something Tom said in January is quite bizarre. Might as well be a year ago with how fast things move here!

Also, whilst it may make a for a good headline, I can certainly say that “catching up” is not something we actively focus on in comparison to other modern companies. I think it’s fairly obvious what we are working on - since we publish things like our Big List - and it’s pretty clear that we are working on the things that our customers have asked for, and not looking at whatever feature set another company might have.

10 Likes
2632

What’s a valid timeframe for quoting if things move fast?

2633

Well, if I was looking at something said over 3 months ago I’d question whether it’s still relevant. Particularly since each team sets new goals every quarter.

1 Like
2634

I agree that the article is completely irrelevant.

Although, it’s one hell of a 180 from Tom/Monzo. Considering your well publicised road map which has a gazillion new features which are coming over the next 12 months - What happened for Joint Accounts to get such a rocket boost to the top of the queue?

1 Like
2635

All he said was that we weren’t actively working on them at that time - which is true!

For context, it was only in January that we announced our plans to end our prepaid Beta! So at that time a huge amount of resources were still in the migration project.

3 Likes
2636

Yup I would agree with that. However if there is not a newer quote out there I can see why they would use it in the context they have

2637

I think this is a great example to highlight the fact Monzo listen to customer feedback & suggestions.
It was a heavily requested feature and Monzo changed their plans to fit, It’s great they are able to do this, there are many companies that wouldn’t

7 Likes
2638

That’s one thing I particularly like about Monzo. Listening to customers. So many times I get the usual “we will pass your feedback on” with my traditional bank. Of course they won’t! And, if they did, it would be ignored.

Then, after loosing so many customers, those that are left will get a survey to fill in…

3 Likes
2639

This is true!

In fact, the entire Big List is based on user feedback. The question was basically ”What do you need from us for you to consider making Monzo your main account?” and then all the feedback was collated into the Big List!

That’s also something that happened after January, hence why pulling a quote that old isn’t super relevant.

2 Likes
2640

I trialled Starling for a month or so, for the way I use it, it felt very similar to Monzo. No major issues either way. (Except I preferred the hot coral card). Edit:nothing to see here

I had a few issues when a large amount of payments were being declined/reversed by Visa a little while ago (as I’m sure many many other users of all the banks did).

The thing that really turned me off was a) the complete lack of notice than anything had been cancelled. The transaction basically vanished.

So I continued spending, as you do, and then when the transactions came back, I got a slightly grumpy message about being overdrawn (I only had about £30/£40 in the account, using for a few incidentals here and there, and those transactions when they came back used up that total).

I asked them for clarity as I had assumed I was in good standing, and with the real time notification bit I assumed all was in order - except there was never any form of notification about anything being cancelled.

I did give them some feedback that some form of notification would be super useful, so I can keep track of it… etc. The response was another grumpy message about how “the vendor has a right to the money and I have to keep my account in good standing”… and completely missed the point about my actual feedback.

So, back with Monzo and I’ll likely close my Starling soon as I don’t really need both.

I can’t remember how Monzo handle it, but I swear there’s generally a notification of the transaction being cancelled/returned before the delayed transaction comes out.

In any case; they seemed to miss the main benefit of instant and real time balances also means I need to know when things like cancelled transactions happen too.

Anyway. Soap box moment over. (I did of course credit my account once I knew it was overdrawn).

5 Likes
2641

I’m not sure the Monzo community can embrace you anymore… :joy: There is something very special about the “Hot Coral” card!

1 Like
2642

Not sure what you mean…

Definitely haven’t edited that little faux pas away…

1 Like
2643

When was that? I remember being with Starling back in June 17’ and they definitely had notifications for transaction reversals.

1 Like
2644

They do, they just don’t stick around in your transaction fees.

2645

I think they do, but you often miss them because it’s not in the feed and you won’t realise it if you’ve cleared a bunch of notifications at one go. Tapping it doesn’t direct you to the transaction either so you have to make sure you remember it

3 Likes
2646

Did they actually use the term ‘good standing’?

2647

That sounds Starling-y (:joy:) and inline with the “cold” (some would call legacy) interactions I’ve had with them so wouldn’t surprise me at all.

2 Likes
2648

Maybe that’s what happened then. There was definitely some lack of link between the transaction occurring, failure to take the money, then repeated transaction in any case.

It’s like the benefit of a live transaction feed with more drawbacks of a ‘traditional’ banks ‘wait until the transaction clears’ approach.
:face_with_hand_over_mouth:

1 Like
2649

May not have actually said good standing, but it was something similarly formal! May have to go check!

1 Like
2650

@Rat_au_van - ah I have misremembered slightly. I asked if there was any way they could make notifications more prominent / clearer link to an original transaction when they are reversed (the notifications were “a transaction amount has changed”).

The main part of the response was “as long as you have received goods and services, the merchant is entitled to this payment”

… I mean, yes, thank you, starling!!

Money can be exchanged for goods and services!
5 Likes