I (used to) read the Starling Community. Never joined because I didn’t like the sign-up methods, but I always thought your posts were well considered and thoughtful. It was such a shame they were never properly engaged with - it felt like they could really have taken them (and other constructive criticism) onboard to fundamentally improve the product and their engagement. Instead, they allowed it to descend into a downward spiral of discontent.
(It’s happened a few times over here, but every time Monzo has turned things around and used feedback as a strength - a really significant difference).
I think they might pivot to the latter. I can foresee a world where Starling provides the infrastructure and Monzo owns the customer (keep intending to write about that)…
At least Monzo here care about what we think, don’t ever dismiss anything good or bad and actually value the input everybody on here gives in order to make the service grow and just get better.
I wonder if they bothered to tell poor Sara Guha? Knowing how poor Starling are at keeping in touch, they’ve probably forgotten who she is.
To be honest the rot set in when she went on maternity leave. She, almost uniquely over there, understood the importance of communication. Her replacements, to be frank, were utterly crap. I mean, it had to be explained to them why forum folk were upset that there were never any parallel threads alongside press releases.
But @simonb has it damn right above, when he explains that because Monzo is transparent by default any member of staff has the authority to represent Monzo throughout the forum, and are encouraged to do so. I tried explaining that across on the Starling board a couple of times, whilst the calls increased for someone, anyone, from Starling to interact, but the nastier members of the community were just rude.
You could tell Anne hated anything to do with the forum, and there is no surprise it has gone with a click of her fingers. But it ended its days as an echo chamber, dominated by a handful of white men who either wanted to control the discussion by making every last word pro–Starling, openly slag off Monzo or just be baffled by Starling’s stubborn refusal to acknowledge the forum existed.
This place is friendlier, more open, more diverse, more resilient to criticism, and seems to be core to Monzo’s proposition. Welcome Starling refugees (though not the couple of you who seemed to just slag off Monzo at any given opportunity) here’s to every future discussion, opinion and rant!
I like the idea of the Monzo Community as a platform for Fintech/banking/money discussion, rather than about Monzo. The online version of Monzo’s old ambition of being a financial control centre, or hub, if you will.
In that way, I think it’d be cool if there were a bunch of non-Monzo customers around here. We’d all learn a lot from them, I’m sure!
(Also, I think loads of folk - staff included - probably have accounts with both Monzo and Starling!)
Alas, the end is upon us over at the Starling forum!
At the risk of echoing everything that has been said, it was a shame it ended so suddenly - But I fear that one last thread of “Goodbye everyone”, wouldn’t have been the fairytale ending they may have hoped for.
It would have been good to say goodbye to the good folk over there - Although I’m sure the majority will be frequenting this forum just as much.
If truth be known, the forum was becoming too much of a distraction for Starling, and I doubt they ever dreamed it would become so vocal.
Disappointed it didn’t work out for them (and for the users who posted), and I’m sure a lot of us will still follow their progress in one way or another.
Sort of confirms some of the worries I was having about them.
I jumped on to the Starling Joint Account as I wasn’t able to get on to the Monzo one, but haven’t moved too much over because I was looking to see what Monzo had to offer, looks like I’ll be making the jump in my head that my heart has wanted all along!
I’m pretty much a Monzo fan but I wouldn’t recommend anyone close their account or switch away purely because of this. For one, you have to wait 12 months before you can reopen a new account (and all your transaction history will be gone if I’m not wrong) and with how fast Starling is branching out with partnerships I think Monzo and Starling are going down different paths.
I don’t use my Starling account much, but it’s there, just in case they have a new feature I’d like to try out or for functionality I don’t have with other accounts. I hold accounts with Revolut and Curve as well that are pretty much inactive no harm keeping them open!
True, I have a main account with starling anyway, haven’t really got anywhere to switch to other than my Halifax account. I regrettably closed my Monzo account with the CASS (I know, I know…) so starling it is
It’s pretty much removed any interest I had in them; combined with the slow development speed, terrible customer service, and refusal to listen. I’ll not be making any further recommendations and those that do rely on me for help in this area I’ll be recommend moving - I’ve already spoken to one who joined on my recommendation, didn’t really like it but stayed as I was following development, and they have started a switch back to First Direct.
I’ve followed Monzo longer but joined Starling first as I wasn’t interested in pre-paid. I only recently joined after waiting a while, and I’ve been genuinely impressed, particularly the customer service which has been slow at times but otherwise beyond fantastic.
no harm keeping them open!
