Mutuals and building societies have received top accolades at the 2019 Moneywise ‘Most Trusted’ Customer Service Awards, with Benenden Health, NFU Mutual and Nationwide Building Society recognised.
Mutual society Benenden Health was named the most trusted provider in the Health Insurance Provider via your Employer category, and received a highly commended certificate for the individual Health Insurance Provider category.
Based in York, the non-profit mutual provides healthcare services for over 810,000 members across the UK, including employees of 545 businesses.
Helen Smith, chief commercial officer at Benenden Health, said: “The team at Benenden Health have been consistently recognised over the years for their commitment to great customer service for our members. But this year’s award is special, as we’ve worked incredibly hard over the last year to become an even more trusted provider of healthcare products to those businesses looking to support their people’s health and wellbeing.
“We’re so proud that our members have taken the time to vote for us as their most trusted employer-provided healthcare product. Members are at the heart of our decision-making as an organisation and it’s great to be recognised by them. It was also amazing to be highly commended in the poll of those who have a personal healthcare product.”
The Co-operative Bank won in the most trusted mainstream bank award category, and was highly commended in the Best Branch Service, Best Contact Centre Service and Most Trusted Current Account categories. While no longer owned by the Co-op Group, over the last four years the bank has made an investment of £1.3m in the Hive, a co-op business advice and support programme provided by Co-operatives UK.
Andrew Bester, chief executive of the Co-operative Bank said: “The awards that are voted for by our customers are without doubt the ones that mean the most to us as we are here to serve our customers and support them with their everyday banking needs. Trust is something that has to be earned so to be awarded the ‘Most Trusted Mainstream Bank’ through a survey that is purely based on the opinions of our customers is a really significant achievement.”
Nationwide Building Society was a winner in the Best Current Account Provider for Branch Service and Best Provider for Children’s Savings categories and highly commended in the Most Trusted Financial Provider category, Most Trusted Mortgage Provider category and Best Provider for Regular Savers categories. Coventry Building Society was also named the Most Trusted Savings & Cash Isa Provider.
NFU mutual won in the Most Trusted Insurer category and was highly commended in the Most Trusted Car Insurance Provider category.
Employee owned John Lewis received the award in the Best Credit Card Provider for Rewards category and a highly commended mention in the Most Trusted Credit Card Provider.
Around 32,000 members of the public voted in the awards which recognise the most trustworthy and reliable financial service companies in the UK.
Rachel Rickard Straus, editor of Moneywise, said: “Customer service matters. So much so that 32,000 readers took the time to share their views with us on the companies that that are getting it right – and those that got it wrong this year.
“Great customer service and trust remains as important now as ever. You can have the whizziest apps, websites and products in the world, but if a customer can’t easily get a complaint resolved, or speak to a human if they need to, that’s what will stick in minds. Whilst technology continues to transform the way financial products are delivered, companies must not lose sight of this.”
