HSBC Customer Service Complaints - page 3

Went to their branch to update address, surprisingly address is update wrongly.

Went to the branch again to update the information and somehow after 2 weeks I receive a message said I have to called them to update the information again. Called-up and they told me information is not update!

How ridiculous!
Update twice and information still not update!
Start to complaint and the person speak like a robot refuse to pass the call to the manager and even threaten me of if I do not complete the review, it will suspend my account.
Oh, more shock, you have to disclose your salary in order to maintain the account!

Talking to a robot is better talking with the hotline!
Totally impossible to reach when you need someone to solve a problem.
EXTREMELY POOR SERVICES!

I am the Commercial delivery Head at the HSBC and work in Canary Wharf in London and my husband has worked for this bank since 1991 in Birmingham, Simon, we both think that the recent job cuts are excessive and do not agree with the shareholders or Guliver, as the bank has had problems but is moving forward in a positive way.

I recentlty moved to a new post in London, now have to again reconsider my position, I dont think the Board or the Directors of HSBC have considered people like me, when they have made abrupt decisions to axe workers.

Its a shame the directors were not shamed into paying back their bonuses instead of us suffering.

Shameful

To whom it may concern,

Throughout my time at HSBC I have had sub standard service. I am currently still waiting on a bank card to be delivered to the Stratford Westfield store. I originally asked for this to be sent over a month ago now. First of all, the card was sent to the incorrect HSBC. I was unable to get to this branch within its opening hours. Staff in the Westfield branch were unable to do anything about this so I had to call customer service to get it sent. I asked to be sent to my new house, however this could not happen as my address had changed within the last 60 days. Therefore, I asked for the card to be sent to Stratford Westfield and stressed the importance of it going to the correct branch (the staff member on the phone had no idea about there being two branches so I had to inform him). I was assured this was only take three working days to transfer and that I could just simply call HSBC to double check my card was there. So, I called and the staff member could not tell me where my card was however assured me it would be the by the end of the week. At the end of the week I once again called to check (spending 20 minutes on the phone) to be told he assumed the card would be there, but once again was uncertain. Therefore I went into the store and my card was not there. No one could tell me anything. This went on for another 1.5 weeks until I went into the Westfield store and talked to a wonderful lady named BLAHHH. She was very helpful, allowed me to get some cash out so I could pay for things and told me exactly what to do. It turns out that the other Stratford centre had not processed the order until th at day- over 2.5 weeks after I had called up. I was assured a letter would be sent to me when the Westfield branch had received my card. I have still received nothing and do not want to sit on the phone for another 20 minutes to be told that no one knows where my card is.

Furthermore, around three months ago I wanted to open up a savings account. I went into the canary wharf store to talk to someone about this. No one could help me and they asked me to use their phones to call the helpline. I spent almost one hour on the phone going around in circles with the lady. She tried to explain to me their services and then asked me to choose one. So I did, however after much deliberation I was not able to open this account. We tried multiple accounts and nothing would work and I was continuously put on hold. I was then told to do it myself online. I went home and spent another hour trying to open it and nothing. I did not do anything further for a month. I went into the Stratford branch and once again was told to use the phone. I was told that I was not able to open another account until I was with the branch for six months. I cannot understand why I had to spent so much time and effort to find this out? Furthermore, the helpful lady (NAME) at Stratford a few weeks later told me in fact I can open some sort of account. However it was after opening hours so she gave me brochures and how to do it. Why do all staff not know these simple protocols?

In addition to these issues, I had to spend 90 minutes on the phone to customer service in order to set up my internet banking! No one could explain to me why this was not working.

This has been a very frustrating procedure for me and I would like to know where my bank card is as I would still like access to this account. I have since signed up with another bank and received a card within three days. This was the only way I was able to access my money without getting wads of cash out every few days. I have easily set up internet banking and card access there and cannot understand why I have had so many issues with HSBC. I would though, Like to commend the efforts of NAME at the Stratford Westfield store. She was very professional, understanding, helpful and knew what she was talking about.

I look forward to a response.

The Worst Customer Service!!!!! How About Adding Some Additional Numbers On Your Website To Reach The Correct Dept. I Get Hung Up On If A Live Person Can Not Answer My Questions.

Stop Outsourcing!!!!

Customer service operator Dawn who stated she does not provide her surname even though she represents the company was the most unprofessional staff member I have ever dealt with. She told me that my credit card was declined and it was company protocol to not disclose the reason. Dawn was extremely rude and when I asked to speak to a manager and was going to put in an official complaint due to her unprofessional attitude. Dawn immediately changed her tone and placed me on hold. A few minutes later she informed me that her manager was busy (I could have guessed) and finally offered to review my application. Dawn pretty much wasted my time and her own asking for me to produce evidence in relation to my entire life of earnings, employment etc and even if I produced the documents it would not guarantee the credit card. What a waste of time...and a company who I believed had a great reputation has made me lose any respect I had for the name HSBC. I will make sure that I let all my friends and family know not to deal with HSBC. For anyone out there all I can say is that I have no trust in a company who wants to know everything about you but refuse to explain their policy when questioned

Banked with HSBC for years, I'm only still with them because of my parents. Ever since moving to another city they have screwed me time and time again. First off was I couldn't withdraw money from my accounts, called customer service and couldn't figure out what was wrong even with branch people helping. Secondly, a billion password, 2 security fobs and more passwords to do online banking. Each fob and password did not jive with each other on the system ended up wasting a lot of time with CS to figure out the problem on why account kept locking up. Thirdly, it was time for a new credit card as old one had expired. HSBC cancels my old credit card with two months left without telling me and yes they said new one was on the way. It never arrived and eventually found out the card was sent to another address. Finally got the card but can't activate it because it got deactivated again. Ended up getting a different credit card from another bank and having no issues so far.

I am a HSBC customer and their customer service are appalling. You reach a call centre in India, the lines are bad, your often get disconnected. The represe4ntative can never understand your issue and you have to explain it several times and I have yet to find a time when they can actually resolve your query without having to tell you to go and visit the branch which is also inconvenient being only 3 main ones in Dubai.

The customer service centre cannot even transfer your call to the branch and have a SLA for 48-78 hours for the branch to get back to you-not ideal if you need an urgent response. They should put customers first and put a call centre in the country of the branch not a cheap outsourced centre in India!!

I used HSBC ATM (HSBC atm no A408) in Carrefour Al Qusais, Dubai to withdraw 2000 AED from my account with my RAK bank debit card ending with number 2003.



But the ATM did not dispense the money and gave a slip with some error code. But money is seen as deducted from my RAK account.



Transaction date and time : 25/03/2015 around 10:15AM







Even after mailing HSBC UAE customer care I haven't got any reply from them in the past 24 hours. This shows HSBC's poorest customer service with regards to the hard earned money of individuals.



In this era how long will it take to inquire a transaction using the transaction reference number or advice logs? or how long will it take to check if the ATM is Credit Debit balanced using the ATM number?



This worst experience has taught me never to transact with HSBC again!

Dear Reema, HSBC

Greetings!

HSBC gulps/eats away a customer’s property by charging double rate of interest and not allowing to moving out of HSBC. Then you close the customer complaint. Do you have authority and competency to comment on these matters against senior HSBC officials.

Has HSBC been given liberty by Central Bank of UAE to charge any rate of interest to different customers to grab/dacoity on client assets. Loan has been given to me on floating rate, HSBC charge some customers 3.99% and to me they charge 6.75%-7.50%. This is violation of Home Loan Agreement of HSBC for ‘floating rate’.

IT IS FUNNY AND HEIGHT OF CORRUPTION THAT VIOLATION OF HSBC HOME LOAN AGREEMENT BY HSBC IS NOT AN ISSUE FOR HSBC MANAGEMENT AND OWNERS.

Why HSBC is charging ONLY DOUBLE FLOATING RATE (7%p.a.) for Home Loan TO ME as compared to other HSBC customers(3.99%p.a.) in UAE ? WHY NOT 25%, 50% or 100% p.a. interest rate p.a…..WHO IS STOPPING HSBC….CENTRAL BANK OR CONSCIENCE????

HOW MANY TYPES OF HOME LOAN FLOATING RATE AT SAME TIME HSBC HAS??????????? FOR CHEATING CUSTOMERS IN UAE.

Why don’t HSBC officials sell clients assets and distribute the surplus to their children as Xmas, EID and Diwali gifts. Shameful!!! Why to do small dacoity daily, HSBC officials can do the complete dacoity once for all.

HSBC is keeping quiet for months (since May 2014) and no account has been provided of dacoity and distribution.

I attach here the copy of my official complaint made to Central Bank, UAE in this regard on 27 May 2014.

This is shameful, ridiculous, unethical, unprofessional, illegal act of HSBC officials.

Regards

Manish Goel

I was told on the phone to go into the head branch of Abu Dhabi and they couldn't deal with my request there.

Customer service is zero.... I'm out of the country and lost my card. I rang them so many times but couldn't fix it yet. I can't get my money back. What a f* bank... really fed up.

Corporate service sucks. Can't believe how many "working days" it takes to replace a faulty security device. And they want to charge me for it because the one they gave me doesn't work.

Long & multiple tales of interaction with HSBC

1. No responses to SME banking customers requests including assistance in making payments for statutory taxes to government of India

2. No action on SME business banking account closure request

3. Charges debited after more than 6 months ... and without intimation

4. Multiple excuses for non action on requests

5. On threatening them with legal action, they simply close the bank account stating "AS REQUESTED BY YOU"

TRULY, HSBC is meant only for financial frauds and not for normal business people

They are hopeless - just spent 10 minutes trying to call someone who actually emailed and asked me to call to be told there was no-one or nohting listed on my account...

Was sent letter by HSBC USA to say they are going to close my account "because they can".
No information as to why, no personal contact etc. So I have tried repeatedly to find out why this action is being taken. the Premier call centre told me that the account was not being closed. My "Relationship manager" told me they are wrong and it is, but she has no idea why. Several people have said they will call me back, only one did and that was at 4am, when I was in no mood to speak to them. No follow up call back at the hour(s) requested.
Finally got to the Premier management team or something, who tell me they are closing my account, point to a 30+ page document of T&Cs as to why... I have to guess as to the real reason.
Being a customer in multiple countries I was on the understanding that I could maintain the USA account. Wrong, seems all the advertising is wrong, I have even received this part of the policy from the call centre in an email. But it seems the powers that be in HSBC USA have not read their own policy documents...
So I have now no USA account and will soon be closing all other HSBC accounts as well.
The Worlds Local Bank? Customer satisfaction? nope, there are way better banks out there. Having read the comments on this web page, there are so many issues that I also have run into as well. (Such as the Call centre with what sounds like a noisy party in the background, and yes they are in Manila.) No follow through, no honouring promises for things such as call back, (how many secure emails do I have saying I will be contacted in 48hrs or less, I am still waiting several weeks later..), or no there is no higher person I can contact, and the ones you can can't explain what is going on... So long HSBC

HSBC UK are recently taking 6 to 8 weeks to process checks paid to my account (normally it is 3 to 5 business days). The help desk was useless "we can't change the process, sir" and their complaints procedure does not even register your complaint for 5 business days.
This about this: Your account gets around 0.6% interest if you are in credit. If you borrow from them they charge you anywhere between 11% and 15%. Nothing very fair about that is there.

HSBC has now been holding my elderly mother and myself hostage for the last month. They have refused to allow for normal banking and have simply disappeared when I attempt to even set up internet banking with them. This is the worst bank in the country and should be closed. I've sent a formal complaint to the Federal Reserve but am not optimistic about their response.

HSBC Malaysia for credit cards has the worst service. I have been a great paymaster for over 7 years and never been late and inly then they loved me and always offered me supplementary cards etc. They cancelled my cards in 2012 for no apparent reason and even I was not able to use them I paid the amounts as before in time when my job contract ended and I started my own business and my income was not fixed and my payments become late they started to call daily asking for money and even it was not a small amount I always managed to get them paid and even the high late charges but now they passed my file to a collection agency authorised by them and they have made my life a living hell. How can I borrow money to pay them? I am a professional expatriate with great projects in my resume and this how I have been treated by HSBC Malaysia!!!! shame on them... HSBC must be very proud of themselves now. they lost me and many of my friends and associates also when they saw what they did to me they applied to other banks in KL. they are like Loan sharks.

During the holidays my bank froze my account and claimed I owed canada revenue $132,000.00, they did absolutely nothing to correct this problem because the manager of hsbc is a rule following pencil pushing (insert profanity here) took me about 6 hours to prove that it was my bank that actually messed up. They completely messed up my christmas shopping plans, I lost a days pay but they sent me something in the mail to apologize for the mix up, a $10 starbucks card, what a (insert profanity here) insult! Merry Christmas you useless bank

Hsbc is the absolute worst bank I have ever dealt with. Dishonest, rude, and unethical are the only words that come to mind. BEWARE do not take your business there.

Customer Care no. is most of the time busy.

I tried almost 30 times in 10 days...

Enrolled in EZ Pay for years and now I am told there is a "glitch" in the system. 3 times in the last 8 months, they have not taken the correct amount for my monthly payment. They add late fees. penalties and interest to an account that has been outstanding for years.

Customer service is rude and completely useless.

Requested a statement showing break down of additional charges and was told it would take over a month to send that out to me.

Now they make 5 - 6 collection calls daily and no one has even explained to me how and why this is my fault. Every time they take the wrong amount I have tried to contact them and can never get to a human. 40, 50 60 minutes on hold has been common.

I can't be the only one they are doing this to. Is their business so bad that they have to mess with loyal and timely paying customers to increase "fee" revenue????

HSBC has HORRIBLE telephone customer service! It is extremely difficult to speak to a representative when calling their 800 number. I finally got through and it was someone out of this country who was difficult to understand and there was very loud background noise. They must cram those people in a tiny office to deal with their clients. I was authorized to speak on this account (my spouse's) about 6 months ago and they have no record of it even though the representative said I would always have authorization. I have removed my account and will NEVER do business with them again.

Perhaps some of the posters who have issues with HSBC will no doubt see the irony and the funny side of the following story.
Several years ago my wife and me sold a house in the UK for £100,000, which at the time was nearly $200,000. We were due to go abroad after the sale and decided to merge our separate bank accounts into one and open this account with HSBC. We arranged to meet the Manageress of a local HSBC branch and showed her the lawyers cheque for the house sale. She asked us whether we had any utility bills as proof of identity. As we had just sold our property of course we didn't. However, we had passports, current driving licenses, a covering letter from the lawyer, and various other legitimate documents to prove beyond doubt who we were.
The Manageress informed us that unless we could provide a current gas or electric bill she would not allow us to open an account at the bank. After a pointless half an hour we came to the conclusion that I wouldn't trust these comedians with my our money even if our lives depended on it. We left, walked two hundred yards down the road to another bank, explained the situation and within a week they had opened an account for us. This particular bank were wonderful,their service was top rate and while we were abroad they really looked after us.
The irony is, that within eighteen months of this event HSBC were fined very heavily for laundering billions of dollars of South American drug cartel money. I have wonder whether all those Columbian cocaine bosses were asked to supply an electric bill. I seriously doubt it somehow.
HSBC are beyond parody and my advice is, if you are thinking of opening an account to bank legitimate money, open an account somewhere else.

I believe best copy an article from journalist who was a client of HSBC.. For myself I have no words of how pathetic that bank is. Every single employ of that bank should be fired from the retail/corporate side. They are useless
Dear reader, I’m going to beg your indulgence as I take a brief editorial detour from my normal writing about new media, journalism and innovation. I promise I won’t make a habit of it.

But, hey, blogging is about personal expression, and I need to vent about my former bank, HSBC. I promise to return to return to our regularly scheduled blogging after this.

Sorry it’s so long, but HSBC is just that crap. Skip to the bullet points, and if you’ve experienced horrible service with HSBC (or another bank), feel free to share. Retail banking customers deserve better than we’re getting, and it’s time for our governments to not just bail out banks but also to work with consumers to ensure we’re well served. Many banks are not just too big to fail but also simply too incompetent to survive.

To relevant regulators, I ask that you start doing your job and look out for retail customers too. Retail banking may not be a high margin business, but like or not, people need banking services. It’s long past time to clean up this industry.

Again, if this story or even parts of it are familiar, share this and share your stories. A little social media action might help. We need retail banking reform now.

Dear HSBC CEO Mr Stuart Gulliver:

I thought about sending this letter to relevant banking regulators, but I don’t have faith that they’d actually do anything so I thought that this public letter might be more effective.

HSBC, you’re fired. I wish I had the power to fire you, the CEO, personally and not just the divisions of your bank that I had the infuriating misfortune to bank with since 2005. I would have fired you long ago, but you know that switching costs are high. I actually thought about buying some HSBC stock and leading a shareholder revolt, but after my experience as your customer, I see you as a very bad investment. Besides, I’ve got better things to do with my time and my money.

Why am I firing you? Where to begin. If it were one branch of your global empire that was totally incompetent, I might write it off, but no, my experiences with HSBC UK, HSBC Expat and HSBC US (or what is left of it) were so uniformly bad that I came to believe that you have serious systemic service and security issues at your retail banking and credit card divisions. On that point, I’m not joking at all. I am completely serious.

I’ll try to make this brief, but it’s hard to summarise all of the crap I put up as one of your customers.

• Moving to the UK in 2005 for what I thought would be a brief work assignment, I opened up an HSBC US account. Things started off well enough, although as I would come to find out, the whole “world’s local bank” looks good on the ads at the airports but is actually nonsense.
• In 2006, I opened up an HSBC Offshore (now Expat) account because I needed an account quickly and needed multi-currency services. I had the money to open the account, and the minimum balance to avoid paying fees was better than your competitors. Then it started to go all wrong.
• You sent me my first credit card and cancelled it a few weeks later. You said that I must have used it online on an insecure site. Nope, and then when I asked how a card could have been compromised so quickly, your staff said it was “a known Milanese fraudster”.
• Several months after opening the account, you sent your customers a letter saying that “in order to serve you better” we’re jacking up the minimum balance required to avoid fees. You didn’t increase it a few thousand pounds, which would have been high. You didn’t double it. No, you increased the minimum fee-free balance 5 times to £25,000. The better service never materialised. As a matter of fact, over the next several years, your service got worse and your fees just got higher. I don’t mind paying fees, but I do expect good service in return. You didn’t hold up your end of the customer contract.
• In 2008, I was in the US on business, and my PayPal account was compromised. PayPal immediately snapped into action calling me on a Saturday. The thieves rang up purchases of $1800 in less than 24 hours. I called HSBC alerting you of the fraud and asking what I could do. The answer? Nothing unless I came into a branch. The nearest branch was a seven hour drive away. On Monday, I watched helplessly as my bank account was drained. You then you slapped an overdraft fee on me. World’s local bank my backside. Weeks later when I was near a branch, I demanded a refund of the overdraft fee. You gave me one, but I should have fired you then and there.
PayPal was excellent, and having been a customer of theirs for several years, they waived the fee for a security token to help me prevent this from happening in the future because I had been with them for years. That’s customer service and a business repaying customer loyalty. You didn’t help me solve my problems at all.
• In 2011, I was woken up in the middle of the night in Australia on business. I had an automatic payment scheme setup on my HSBC UK credit card to pay for my storage space in the US. For some reason, that stopped. Fortunately, Public Storage rang me, and I was able to process a one off payment. I still don’t know what happened.
• In 2012, HSBC’s incompetence was on full display. In January, my employer was unable to pay my wages. To be fair to HSBC, my employer’s bank, Lloyds, was pretty useless too, but HSBC really took the biscuit. You screwed up changing your sort code to the new faster payments system, and my employer couldn’t pay me. You didn’t inform your customers. Why not? You were so kind to allow my employer to pay me via free SWIFT transfers. Normally, you charged £20 a crack for that service. For emphasis, your screw up meant I didn’t get paid for a month. Most people don’t have that luxury.
• Despite the fact that I’ve travelled 310 days out of the last three years, for some reason, HSBC UK started blocking my credit card when I travelled outside the UK, even when I called or left instructions on the website. HSBC blocked my card after a flight to Dubai because the WiFi company on the flight had a US billing address, and I had only said I was travelling to Dubai and Indonesia. You’ve got those cute ads with the kids taking multiple currencies at their lemonade stand, but yet, you’re thrown by a US company providing WiFi on an Emirates flight? The reality doesn’t quite live up to your ads, does it now?
• Last summer, HSBC UK blocked my credit card while I was on a business trip to New York. I’m a US citizen. I travel there at least once a year, and I had an HSBC US account at the time. What would be suspicious about that?
• As my credit card was blocked, I then had to use my debit card, which was compromised. WalMart alerted you to the fraud, and you blocked the payment or so I was told. You might want to change the script that your foreign call centres use. They didn’t tell me that £400 would go out of my account for up to eight weeks until I called them up and asked them about it. I had totally lost my patience with you and your bank.

Saving the worst for last

By this time, I had already decided to fire you. I was tired of paying your exorbitant fees, which by this time seemed a perverse way of rewarding you for being utterly useless. Moreover, your serial incompetence and poor security were too much of a risk to my personal finances.

I did some research, and Citibank had a managed transfer service. They brought the switching costs down, and I couldn’t risk banking with you anymore. However, you still had a few opportunities to shine as the masters of suck, and you didn’t miss a single one.

It took me months to fire you. Citibank worked with me, and you did not. I had more communication from Citibank in the first month of being their customer than I did in years of being a customer of HSBC. HSBC Expat didn’t even mention that Citibank had requested information on my direct deposits and transfers. As a security issue, I would have expected that much.

When I was in the US on business, I fortunately was in one of the last remaining cities where HSBC US has a physical branch so I could close my account. I went to the branch, and you were going to charge me $12 for a cashier’s cheque. It shouldn’t be standard procedure to charge for a cashier’s cheque when closing an account. Lovely, I have to pay you to get my money so I did the very insecure thing and withdrew the cash. Fortunately, the Citibank branch was just across the street.

But wait for it, your worst is yet to come. Several years ago, my HSBC US credit card was compromised. Sigh, who runs your security operations? A known Milanese fraudster? The card was cancelled, but for some reason, it had a one cent balance. I had tried to pay it off several times, but you only allow payments of one dollar or more online. Knowing HSBC’s level of stupidity, I had the foresight to bring a penny to the branch with me when I closed my bank account. The teller struggled a bit with what to do because the credit card account was closed. Bless her. She tried to sort it out and meekly asked if I had a penny.

I tried to cancel the credit card too, but I was told that I couldn’t do that at a branch. Face palm. Was the mystery one penny balance sorted? Hardly. I now have a one cent outstanding balance on the old card and a one cent credit on my existing card. I’ll give you points for consistency, the consistency of never missing an opportunity to screw up. Seriously, this is a global financial institution?

Sir, I wouldn’t trust you or your managers to run that little girl’s lemonade stand in your ads. Let’s make a deal. You got an $11.1 m bonus last year. Flip me that penny, and we’ll call it even.

Your utterly incompetent service and your farcical security has cost me time and money. I’ve got a choice in banking, and you have come up wanting over and over and over again. You left me with no choice. You. Are. Fired.

Sincerely, your former customer,

Kevin Anderson