TOLD OFF BY HSBC FOR USING 0800 Number

midwalesguy_2 · 18 March 2007 at 2:21PM

Oh my god, i'm livid.

I just called up HSBC to pay off a credit card in full.

I called 0800 130 130, a number published on their website.

Initially i was told by someone i could do this on that line, and i was put on hold. After ten minutes of their hold music i could take no more, and re-dialled.

I was then connected to a cockney chap who told me i could not pay off a card on this line, and that i was abusing their freephone service. When i told him i was a good HSBC customer, he ignored it and carried on his rant. When i asked him why he was protecting the profits of HSBC which makes £bn's every year, he hung up on me!

Does this plunge new depths of crap customer service? Was he !!!!ed off because he's working a sunday? Or did i get through to the janitor of the call centre who was having a laugh?

Martin, if you read this, please tell the world about it!

Highly
Shoddy
Banking
Crooks

Grrrrr

Steve in mid wales

fuzzybear01 · 18 March 2007 at 4:32PM

i used to work for a mail order company in a call centre in mid wales. We used to get plenty of people ringing the free order line instead of the 0870 customer services. Bosses used to tell us not to transfer and that we should tell them to phone back but i never did as its not as if the company can't afford it!! I'll never understand why CS advisers care so much about stupid little things like that!

midwalesguy_2 · 18 March 2007 at 4:40PM

i know, especially as HSBC made £11bn profit in 2006.

hmmm....

Curious_Moose · 18 March 2007 at 5:34PM

Probably a bit worried about their sub prime lending in the USA!

hollydays · 18 March 2007 at 6:30PM

I had no idea some staff have a really big thinkg about this until I read a couple of threads on Mse about this.This explained their attitude when i used the first number to hand once to ring AA insurance.There is a belief by some staff that there is some big conspiracy by the customer( the lowest of the low) to avoid paying for the call (in my case I pay for 0800 numbers anyway) -and it wasnt some deviously thought out avoidance.Some people really need to get out more.

midwalesguy_2 · 18 March 2007 at 6:35PM

totally hollydays...

how am i meant to second guess their myriad departmental structure? I just want to speak to my bank!

why do bank staff think they owe the bank allegiance, when they are probably on around £16- £18,000 maximum, when the bank could afford to pay them more than double.

It troubles me that staff in banks are brainwashed like this!

Banks are nobody's friend, not even if you work for them!

raa_thistle · 18 March 2007 at 9:43PM

One problem with not calling the right number is that the call centre provider (very often outsourced and thus not HSBC) cannot properly demonstrate to the bank that they are fulfilling their contract.

For example if they are contracted to answer all calls with 1 minute (unlikely, but bear with me), but if everyone calls the little used free-phone line with only a few members of staff able to answer, then the stats for that line are going to plummet. If this means that they miss their targets they may not get bonuses, or ultimately if not sorted out the company could lose the contract.

Thus the employees are told to persuade customers to call on the correct number for their query, so that the call centre management are able to distribute the staff correctly. It would not be possible to have everyone answering all the lines, because then you get into the "i'll just transfer you, one second please" problem and everyone is complaining about that instead.

True the companies should provide regional numbers for people to call, but berating call centre staff for simply doing their job is not the way to sort the problem. If you care that deeply, write to HSBC's CEO Stephen Green and request he gets it changed.

/rant (sorry

)

midwalesguy_2 · 19 March 2007 at 12:10AM

since when is doing your job lecturing a customer in a rude tone and then hanging up on him?

the person i called back to complain to didn't have a problem with me calling that number.

It's the bank's fault if they choose to "outsource", but then look what happened when the government did that with the railways!

Banks shouldnt need to outsource their core services to anywhere, why not just have a phone line to a knowledgeable human in a regional or local branch or similar?

You seem rather protective of HSBC raa_thistle?

jessc_2001 · 19 March 2007 at 11:52AM

midwalesguy wrote: »

since when is doing your job lecturing a customer in a rude tone and then hanging up on him?.

It's absolutely not the job of the CS rep to do this and should be disciplined if he did.

midwalesguy wrote: »

the person i called back to complain to didn't have a problem with me calling that number.

Fair enough

midwalesguy wrote: »

It's the bank's fault if they choose to "outsource", but then look what happened when the government did that with the railways!

..and telecoms... and utilities... and....

midwalesguy wrote: »

Banks shouldnt need to outsource their core services to anywhere, why not just have a phone line to a knowledgeable human in a regional or local branch or similar?

Absolutely agree, however, that knowledgable human (singular?) may spend 30 mins talking to 1 customer while 30 others are trying to get through and get p****d off waiting to speak to that 1 person

midwalesguy wrote: »

You seem rather protective of HSBC raa_thistle?

Seems to me that he's not being particularly "protective" of HSBC, but rather Call Centre workers who are usually shat on from the greatest heights by their management, who pressure them to meet the "targets" given to them by their bosses, who have agreed some riddiculous "target" with the client that is usually unattainable.

Welcome to the wonderful world of call centres! :rolleyes:

midwalesguy_2 · 19 March 2007 at 1:20PM

Absolutely agree, however, that knowledgable human (singular?) may spend 30 mins talking to 1 customer while 30 others are trying to get through and get p****d off waiting to speak to that 1 person

i meant knowledgeable humans!!

I too have worked in call centres, and worked in only one where all staff where encouraged to know everything eventually. This was a well paid position, where the staff were well treated, encouraged to progress, thereby retaining knowledgeable staff and cutting out the need for various "departments" (which usually exist only in the form of a differnent number or option anyway!)

my main point is that i keep coming across staff like this ( i had one at orange the other week) who feel the need to protect these companies instead of applying fair common sense when required.

IvanOpinion · 19 March 2007 at 2:27PM

Are you sure you got the correct number? In a previous job (several years ago) I used to get loads of calls for directory enquiries (due to use of local dialing codes). I used to be polite and ell them wrong number .. then I went to getting cheesed off ... ultimately I went to being abusive to them (well they thought they were talking to BT .. who I am sure got complaints).

Typical conversation
Caller: Could you give me the number for XYZ
Me: Yes
Caller (after a while): Hello, I was looking the number for XYZ
Me: Give me flamin chance, we did send you out a phone book, if you weren't so stupid or lazy then you could look it up yourself .. but oh no you decide to phone me instead
Caller: There is no need for that attitude and it is your job
Me: My job is not to look after lazy imbeciles who probably need mummy to scratch their butts for them
etc. etc.

I used to see how long I could get them to hold on the phone without hanging up .. sometimes I would insist that they got out their phone book and then I would explain that the number they wee looking was on page 1375 4.6" from the top.

Ivan

TOLD OFF BY HSBC FOR USING 0800 Number

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