HSBC - impossibly awful to deal with

comptonacres

comptonacres wrote:

I couldn't agree more about the appalling cs from HSBC. I have their current account and will relate a tale about my ongoing battle with HSBC at Cross Rds branch Golders Green in London North West.

I'll do this tomorrow early am after work as I do not have the time now. It may be of interest to other unfortunate customers of HSBC!!!

warmest wishes,
comptonacres.

2.23am. Tuesday 30th. Jan. 07. Here finally is my tale of woe concerning distraction fraud at my local branch-Cross Rds, Golders Green.

On Sunday the 17th December,2006, I was the victim of distraction fraud and theft of my HSBC Maestro card.

As I came into the bank lobby to use the atm machine-I wanted to print out a mini-statement of my account-I saw two youths of Middle-Eastern appearance loitering around nearby. I was immediately suspicious of them-but didn't trust my better instincts. With hindsight, I should have done!! I was in a hurry-it was my lunch break(I was at work).

As I was in the process of obtaining my mini-statement from the machine, the youth on my right started waving withdrawal envelopes in my face so that I could no longer see the atm screen. While he was doing this, he must have pressed the cancel key on the atm touchpad and out popped my Maestro card which he stole. In the meantime, the youth on my left was peering over my shoulder to memorise my pin.

Although I was aware of what was happening-I was powerless to stop them as they were so quick and professional. I did try to shield my actions from them but within 2 minutes of the incident occurring-they had withdrawn £300.00. from my account. I have since learnt from bank staff that another customer- a lady had a similar incident occur a week before me.

HSBC refunded my money on the 2/1/07 and I have been re-issued with a new Maestro card and pin. But I had the stress of having to give a statement to the police in order to obtain a crime reference number.

I have written several letters of complaint to HSBC's Service Quality Team and Fraud department about the need to start employing security personnel in their targetted branches. My argument is quite simple really. Banks in one sense are no different from Supermarkets-they sell products(financial ones) and as Supermarkets see fit to employ security personnel then why not banks? But my bank pointed out in its written reply that it is not currently bank practice to employ security personnel. I wonder why this is? My only conclusion has to be that HSBC is the second/third largest bank in the world and is too busy greedily making obsene profits to take any notice of an insignificant customer such as me.

I feel disgusted by this attitude and hope that a local paper will be taking up my story as a warning to other bank customers. Please do not feel secure when using your bank's/financial institution's inside atm as I did. Before you use your atm-study people's "body language" and if you have any doubts go elsewhere!! These scum are becoming brazen and are now coming inside bank branches to conduct this type of distraction fraud.

I shall also try to take this complaint further by contacting the FSA. I have since learnt that the Financial Banking Ombudsman is powerless to intervene in this type of complaint.

In conclusion-one thing is clear-banks don't care about their customers and will do the bare minimum to resolve issues like these. All I can do as an insignificant customer is shame them by getting them adverse publicity!! Any further advice from you dear reader will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading this. Apologies that it is so long!!

comptonacres.

Paul_Varjak

Fella wrote:

You may think "well, at least HSBC take security seriously". Hmmmmm. A couple of years ago I was called by HSBC who informed me most shamefacedly that some random guy had just walked into one of their North London branches, requested a full printout of all his account info - & they'd given him ours instead (his company name was similar to ours). They offered us a paltry £175 compensation on the condition that we signed a letter absolving them of any blame for any losses that we incurred due to their security breach! We did not accept....

HSBC treat security seriously - you must be joking! About two years ago I contacted HSBC as my mum's Power of Attorney. They wanted me to tell them the full telephone password on my mum's account before they would answer my question! I refused of course!

When I took up the matter with HSBC that said that was OK because all their staff are 'vetted'. How come then that a member of staff in their customer service department in India apparently passed on information about customer accounts? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5122886.stm

competitionscafe

Moonbeam wrote:

HBOS have just released phone numbers for all their branches and are working harder to improve customer service in this area....not saying they are foolproof, but if you are looking around it may be worth contacting them.

I am looking for a new business account provider too (given up all hope with Lloyds TSB), was thinking of HSBC but not so sure after reading above. RBS rejected me, Barclays only has 1 business advisor for whole of Scotland plus I am reclaiming (personal) current account charges from them - doesn't leave many apart from HBOS but after reading about their latest c0ckup I am a bit wary about them too!!


Woman gets 75,000 bank statements
"An Aberdeen woman who asked for her (HBOS) bank statement was sent those of 75,000 other customers".
full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/6310633.stm

gt94sss2

comptonacres wrote:

As I was in the process of obtaining my mini-statement from the machine, the youth on my right started waving withdrawal envelopes in my face so that I could no longer see the atm screen. While he was doing this, he must have pressed the cancel key on the atm touchpad and out popped my Maestro card which he stole. In the meantime, the youth on my left was peering over my shoulder to memorise my pin.

I'm sorry if this sounds harsh but in my view this is your fault as you allowed someone to get close enough to see you enter your PIN in the ATM - which goes against all the security advice from all the banks, police etc.. and its not like they had a hidden camera/your card was cloned etc..

HSBC seem to have refunded your money relatively quickly - I suspect some other banks may not have been so willing, as not taking enough care with your card/PIN is also against your terms and conditions.

As for the 'stress ' of the having to give a statement to the police in order to obtain a crime reference number - while this may be inconvenient - its not really that stressful is it? After all, don't you want the Police to have the information so it will help catch them?

I assume the bank branch had video cameras installed - which they have also passed to the police..

As for employing security guards - I assume that these people choose their branches/banks at random - and not the same one every day (otherwise the bank staff would notice them, regardless of the presence of any other security staff).

Regards
Sunil

Fella

CheeseOnToast wrote:

I don't mind speaking to the Indian call centre people I don't see what the problem everyone has is.

The problem is, that I'm in an ongoing dialog with the girl in my branch (who is intimately acquainted with the ins & outs of my situation & is in the process of sorting out various things for me) & I STILL can't call her direct.

I HAVE to go via the Indian Call Centre & every time I do it involves navigating a menu system, going on hold for anything up to half an hour & then answering a bunch of security questions. All so that at the end of it I can finally say "I'd like you to put me through to Miss....."

That is a complete joke & if you wouldn't have a problem with it you must have a lot of spare time!


regards
Fella

RayWolfe

Fella wrote:

That is a complete joke & if you wouldn't have a problem with it you must have a lot of spare time!

That IS the problem with modern telephone systems ... they start from an assumption that your time has no value. AND they're all the same, Banks, Utility Suppliers ... UK, Indian ...

Paul_Varjak

comptonacres wrote:

...and hope that a local paper will be taking up my story as a warning to other bank customers. Please do not feel secure when using your bank's/financial institution's inside atm as I did. Before you use your atm-study people's "body language" and if you have any doubts go elsewhere!! These scum are becoming brazen and are now coming inside bank branches to conduct this type of distraction fraud.

Why blame your bank? It is your own responsibility to protect your card PIN - particularly when you acknowledge that two youths were acting suspiciously! The banks tell you this, the TV tells you this, MSE tells you this and the papers have already told you this! But you did not listen nor did you trust your own instincts because you were in a hurry! That is your fault - not your bank's!

Idiophreak

Fella wrote:

I HAVE to go via the Indian Call Centre & every time I do it involves navigating a menu system, going on hold for anything up to half an hour & then answering a bunch of security questions. All so that at the end of it I can finally say "I'd like you to put me through to Miss....."

That is a complete joke & if you wouldn't have a problem with it you must have a lot of spare time!

I'm behind you 100% (though not, liek, in a creepy way;)).

It really does make my blood boil (you can actually see the bubbles under my skin) when you're trying to get through to your branch. You've sat on hold for 20 minutes, you've answered however many questions they see fit, you've entered your sort code, your account number.
"I want to speak to the swindon branch"
"we don't have a branch called thwindown"
"no, it's SWINDON"
"oh ok, g...w...i...n..."
"no, it starts in S"
"oh, stockport"
"no, Swindon S W I N D O N. That's swindon."
"Ok, I'm putting you through to Staines now"
"No, no...wait. For the love of God, I just want to speak to the swindon branch! It's the one with the sort code i just gave you. Please! Swindon!"
"Ok. Putting you through to Salsbury now".

And on it goes. How could anyone *possibly* not have a problem with this!?

The poor lady oposite me in work was trying to sort her mortgage out a couple of months ago and had to keep calling the branch. We'd have exactly the conversation above about 4 or 5 times a day. Drives me proper mental.

Natty68

My poor husband works for HSBC handling the main business accounts for companies like Yahoo and BBC. Even he is exasperated with the indian call centres when he has to call them. He says its like talking to a bunch of incompetents and if you ask them anything that isnt on their "script" you basically don't get anything done at all. He has been known to throw the phone across the desk in a fit of temper after talking to one person at the indian call centre who was adamant my husband was the customer and not the person that actually employs this idiot at the call centre..

You should hear the horror stories that he could tell you and trouble and hassle him and his managers have to deal with when they want information. He said it was the worst thing that the powers to be decided to do when they set up the indian call centre for HSBC.

IoweIoweitsofftoworkIgo

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