HSBC so called Bereavement department

pulliptears

Dogger69 wrote: »

That is exactly my point - there is no right way to handle the situation, everyone expects something different. I would want them to do whatever was needed as quickly as possible without platitudes, which would only upset me even more.

I've never understood the point of platitudes from strangers. They don't know you or your loved ones, and the minute you leave they won't think of you again. What value does 'I'm sorry' or 'my sympathies' have in that situation? It is completely false, hence why I'd rather they just got on with their job.

But that is just you, and I suspect the majority of people would be grateful for a simple 'sorry for your loss'. Platitudes? Maybe. Manners? Definitely.

Either way as the teller didn't even bother to explain to Froglet what she was doing and why, thats downright rude regardless of platitudes.

Froglet

Dogger69 wrote: »

I have some sympathy for the adviser here. It sounds like they wanted to make things as simple as possible for your mother, no fussing with forms and the like. Not everyone wants platitudes from a complete stranger, I know I would not.

You were clearly upset because you were bereaved. I expect the incident was dealt with by telling the adviser not to worry, we all react differently in these situations.

Oh believe me it would have been different if Mum or I had been asking to invest a large sum of money.I'm sure they would have sat us down with a coffee in a private room.

We had already been into the bank and had obviously had dealings with other places as well due to his death.We were treated with kindness wherever we went.Just because we were comparitive strangers to her did not give her the right to be so tactless and cruel.He had just been taken from our lives in the most sudden and awful way(my mum found him dead in the bathroom) and now it felt like he was being erased again .

Yes we were grieving but to not even speak just take the book scrub out his name and hand it back was horrible.

Caladan

Fingerbob,
Please accept my apologies if you feel the Bereavement team were unhelpful. I do understand that this can be a very sensitive and difficult time. I liaise regularly with peopl in Bereavement departments and generally find them to be incredibly helpful and conscientious, but that is no excuse for when it goes wrong.

As you haven't explained exactly what went wrong I'm not able to give you any true insider knowledge, I'm hoping your difficulties were for good reasons and not incompetency (I'd like to assure you that the majority of HSBC staff are very competent and very caring, but in a massive organisation like HSBC there will always be exceptions).

I can't say why things have proved difficult for you, it sounds like procedure is the issue (and unfortunately, procedures are in place for very good reasons, even if they seem unnecessary to customers).

As to what is said when they learn of a death, they generally say "Please accept my condolences" NOT "I'm sorry for your loss" or anything along those lines. The condolences phrase is polite, professional, and doesn't suggest any kind of intimate knowledge of the situation, but it does portray the fact they understand you may be in a bad place right now and want to do what they can.