People's Choice

"The young lady in there is absolutely wonderful. Never had better service elsewhere"

"Amazing service and good products"

"I had two car insurance, no problem. So I went to get for my third insurance. Ask ne to be a member to get a insurance, though I already had two insurance already. Did the online form, and advice after 3 to 5 days will come back to me. After week did call, it was a very difficult to contact them as always says they have huge volume of call and wait. After reaching them I did understood that, it was my mistake by taking a insurance and customer service rep asked me to go elsewhere, so I did with CGU direct for better price. Thank you Not so Peoples choice. Customer service was rude ........unfriendly..."

"Friendly staff had a good experience every time"

"I have found the services of People's Choice Credit Union (PCCU) very disappointing as a customer of ~10 years. I joined as a young adult fresh into the workforce and after better customer care, rates and service than the Big 4 would offer. I have found that the staff here struggle with anything other than cash in/ out transactions. Loan, credit and mortgage applications are unexpectedly tedious and prone to 'mistakes' or incorrect information. The phone support is better than the branch in knowledge and ability to resolve problems. This combination of disadvantages leads to heavy handed use of the carrot and stick in branch. My experience has led me to hold accounts in name only with a nominal cash deposit for the last 18-24 months. I preferred to move everything to an orange coloured service without physical branches, better rates and customer services (who knew a call centre could be better than in person). This is because PCCU offers rates marginally better than the Big 4, the customer service is on par but with far less accountability and the transparency is non-existent. To give an example. I was travelling overseas several years ago. I did not want to setup a short term credit or travel card for a single trip and so confirmed in branch that I could take my regular visa debit card. This was confirmed as an acceptable practice but I would pay higher transaction fees. About 2 weeks into the trip I found that it had been disabled. After calling the international number I was tersely told that I should not have taken the card overseas. I explained why I did so and was told that it was not correct and I should have had a travel card issued. After some argument the card was re-enabled and I could complete my 4 week holiday. This adds to my other experiences at PCCU. I have found that they will offer or promise very good rates initially. These will be either be changed in branch or end much sooner than it should. This has been true of both beneficial online saver rates and negative effect loan rates. This is how the carrot and stick works as they offer great rates and than try to pull the benefits out from you with arguments of taking or leaving the offer. I had at one point looked to create a business account with PCCU. This was for a local charity. I was told that yes this service existed on the phone but details would need to hammered out in branch. I dutifully went in branch and was told that no such service could be organised. The same problem occurs when applying for a loan. I have had 2 loans with PCCU over my 10 years as a customer. The first was personal loan for a car. I was sold on the 5 and bit % loan rate when I called and received preliminary approval. I was approved and went into sign the paperwork and be able to buy and drive my own car. I left with an ~9% loan rate as I had been ‘misinformed’. The second loan was far less stressful and approved after only a little stuffing around. Both were paid off several years early. I attempted to apply for a third loan (mortgage this time) but was stuffed about so much that I eventually gave up on that idea. I have found that they do not follow the ideas, terms and descriptions in their own public advertisements. Poor rates. Poor customer focus. Overly difficult procedures that seem designed to deter customers or make their experience miserable. They receive the following breakdown of scores. Customer service 1/5 Value for money 1/5 Friendly staff 2/5 Comparison to other services 0/5 Ease of use 0/5 Average total (rounded to a whole figure) 1/5"