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Epic HSBC Complaint Letter
exHSBC
Posts: 6 Forumite
Today was my last day at HSBC (yay). In commemoration of my time there, I thought I'd share the below complaint letter about HSBC which has gone viral within the company. Highlights aren't the customer's; some wise-a*s at the company did that 
Dear Sirs,
May I first take a moment to thank you in advance for reading my little missive. I appreciate that it might be rather long, but everything I have said within had to be said.
Let me start by saying that my experience with HSBC has been not annoying, not stressful, but traumatic. Utterly, utterly traumatic. At times, I have wondered if you employ an army of primates who just so happen to complete a tiny subset of their daily tasks in the same manner that monkeys might type the entire works of Shakespeare if given a keyboard for long enough. Why do I liken your workforce to our less evolved cousins? Well, sir, I am glad you asked. Let me recount just some of my experiences with your workforce over the last few months:
9 Jan: I visit your Strand branch to apply for a mortgage in principle. I speak to a member of your staff (name can be provided if you so wish) who processes my application. I have with me my passport, two utility bills, three months’ bank statements, three months’ payslips and evidence of my life insurance. I ask if he can photocopy my evidence to speed up the process later. He declines my request, telling me that he cannot do this at this stage. This, I am willing to forgive as I know that inflexibility is the lifeblood of bureaucracies like yours.
25 Feb: I have a purchase offer accepted on an apartment. I call HSBC to take up the mortgage in principle. I am told that, because the flat is on the 5th floor, I cannot be awarded the mortgage. I am asked if the building has a working lift. I reply in the affirmative. Your staff member says she needs to check something with her supervisor. After a short while, she returns and confirms that you cannot indeed award me the mortgage. I am stunned that I was not told this at first point of contact – have I wasted 6 weeks viewing flats I cannot buy with the HSBC mortgage? She replies in the affirmative and advises me to look at Victorian conversions instead. After the call has ended, I still cannot believe that this seemingly arbitrary rule can truly be in effect. I call back and speak to another ‘advisor’. This one tells me that the previous one was wrong; that since the building has a working lift, I can take out a mortgage on it.
Feb: I have received mixed messages so I decide to call the first member of staff that I met on 9th Jan who wrote his contact number on the mortgage in principle. The phone number does not work. I call the mortgages line and ask for his number. They say he does not have an email or a number that I can reach him on. I explain that he wrote his number down, but it was incorrect. They insist that they cannot give me his number; that the best they can do is have someone from the Strand branch call me to deal with my query.
Feb: A day or two later, I receive a call from the Strand branch. I explain that I have received mixed messages about whether or not I can take out a mortgage on a flat above the 4th floor (with a working lift). She says she suspects I cannot, but will check. At this point, I am feeling extremely stressed out. A few hours later, she calls back and says that I can take a mortgage out on the flat. I am relieved, but also astounded by the utter incompetence of your staff.
Feb: I go in branch with the evidence I had with me the first time I visited the branch. The woman photocopies my payslips, returns them to me and bids me adieu. “Er, can I also have my passport back please?” I ask. She rolls her eyes at herself and hands my passport to me. “Can I just check that you have photocopied the passport too?” With the expression of a gormless meerkat, she admits that, no, she has not photocopied the passport. I wait and before I leave, I check that this evidence is enough for the opening of my current account too. She assures me that it is.
Mar: I receive a call from your current accounts department regarding the opening of my Green Bank Account. A woman informs me that I have to go in branch to have my passport photocopied. I tell her that I have already done that; that it should be on your system and that I was expressly told that I would not need to go in branch again. She insists that the current accounts department cannot access the evidence given to the mortgage department. Thus, I visit the Strand branch for a third time to have my passport photocopied.
Mar: I receive an urgent phone call from my solicitor explaining that the solicitors acting on HSBC’s behalf have lodged over 30 queries, half of which are not legally required for the purposes of the exchange. He advises that, to avoid delays of several weeks, I switch solicitors to your panel. I do this in a big panic as I am being pressured by the sellers who want a 28-day exchange. I am confused as to why HSBC did not advise me to use a panel solicitor, knowing that they were likely to cause delays.
Apr: As the HSBC panel solicitors need to review everything my original solicitors completed, I begin to worry that the rate on the offer will expire. I call HSBC to request that the rate is extended at which point I am told that you don’t have my signed mortgage offer on file – despite the fact that I sent it to you in your prepaid envelope over two weeks ago. I am told that this will hold up the purchase and am advised to go in branch with the second copy to make sure you receive it straight away. Would HSBC have told me this had I not called about the extension?
19 Apr: I visit the Strand branch (for the 4th time) and wait the customary 30 minutes to see someone. The man I see (name can be provided) tells me that I needn’t have visited the branch to hand in my documents. I explain that I have already tried sending the documents by post and am doing this as a failsafe. After going through the signed document, he looks at me dumbly and asks, “Does this need to go to the Sheffield address?” At this point, I am at the end of my tether and am tempted to scream: “I don’t f*cking know. YOU TELL ME.” Instead, I calmly tell him that I don’t know as I sent the last one in the prepaid envelope. I ask him to check where he needs to send it before he sends it. He assures me that he will send it in the internal mail at 4pm that day. To my amazement, he gives me his contact details. Rather aptly, his job title is ‘counsellor’. At this stage, I need one.
23 Apr: I call the mortgage line to a) check that the mortgage offer has been received and b) see if the rate can be extended beyond the 30th. I am told that the signed offer has still not been received and that the documents should have gone to the Coventry address. I am advised to call back the next day. I email the counsellor to ask what address he sent it to. I put URGENT in the subject line. I hear nothing back that day.
24 Apr: I call the mortgage line to check that the mortgage offer has been received. I am told that it hasn’t. At this stage, I really, genuinely have no idea how to deal with your staff. I have no idea what more I can do. I have tried sending it in the prepaid envelope. I have tried going into branch and physically handing it over to one of your staff and still they can’t do something as simple as processing a godforsaken letter. At this stage, I request that I am sent another two copies of the mortgage offer so I can send one to you special delivery and hand another one into branch. What else can I do? Physically visit the Coventry office and scan in the document myself? Portray the data to you through the medium of dance? Whatever it is you need, just tell me I plead.
25 Apr: I call the mortgage line. I am told that you have finally received my signed mortgage offer via your internal mail, but have misplaced my bank statement, both of which were sent by the same person in the same envelope at the same time. I can only assume your staff processed the first item and then got distracted by something bright or shiny, leaving my statement to languish. I call the credit team to ask if I can email the statement to them, but they categorically refuse. I try to explain that it is an online statement anyway; that it has been a week since I sent it; that it is urgent that they re-evaluate my application straight away – but they refuse, insisting that they have no mechanism for receiving email. I decide that they are obviously not advanced enough for email so agree to re-post the statement special delivery in yet another attempt to get it to you. I call the next day and am told that you have finally received my statements and will now re-assess my application.
29 Apr: I call HSBC and am told that my offer can extended, but that you have to confirm this in writing. I ask that the confirmation letter be sent out today so that my solicitor and I receive it straight away.
1 May: I have not yet received the offer letter so I call HSBC to check if it has been sent out. I am told that, no, it has not but it is on its way. At this point, I am beyond belief. I have stressed over and over again how important this is, but your staff either didn’t care or were too inept to do anything about it. I plead that the letter be sent out as soon as possible.
6 May: I finally receive the offer letter. It has held up my purchase my two whole weeks. In the interim, the seller’s estate agent resumed viewings of the property, increasing the heaving stress HSBC has caused me.
9 May: Now that my solicitors finally have everything they need – after incomprehensible amounts of stupidity exhibited by HSBC staff – we exchange contracts.
As you can see, dealing with HSBC has been a long and soul-destroying journey. I have no idea how you as a company manage to complete anything successfully. I must ask: do your staff walk around bumping into walls all day? May I suggest that, instead of spending millions on advertising, you provide your staff with some proper training so that they present a consistent, knowledgeable and efficient service while playing with their customers’ lives?
I have taken the time to write you this letter as I want you to understand what I have gone through because of your convoluted processes and your staff’s utter incompetence. I was warned against HSBC, but I was seduced by your rates, not knowing that you would put my whole purchase in jeopardy, several times over. You charge close to £1,000 for arranging this mortgage – but I practically arranged it myself. I have wasted numerous hours in branch and several more on the phone to HSBC. I have spent money sending documents to you by Special Delivery and have suffered immense emotional and mental stress. I would now like to know how you expect to compensate me for this trauma.
Despite this lengthy letter, I feel like I have not yet expressed how thoroughly disgusted I am with your service. Let me end with this little story: in 2006, I succumbed to pressures from my family and community and entered an arranged marriage despite my screaming instincts. Needless to say, the marriage didn’t last long but the fear, the anguish and the helplessness I felt then is not dissimilar to what I feel as I head into our long-term relationship.
Please tell me that things will get better. Please don’t write me a form letter. Please tell me something personal about your life so I know that a real person has read and responded to this. Please restore my faith in you. We can make this work – but we both have to try.
Dear Sirs,
May I first take a moment to thank you in advance for reading my little missive. I appreciate that it might be rather long, but everything I have said within had to be said.
Let me start by saying that my experience with HSBC has been not annoying, not stressful, but traumatic. Utterly, utterly traumatic. At times, I have wondered if you employ an army of primates who just so happen to complete a tiny subset of their daily tasks in the same manner that monkeys might type the entire works of Shakespeare if given a keyboard for long enough. Why do I liken your workforce to our less evolved cousins? Well, sir, I am glad you asked. Let me recount just some of my experiences with your workforce over the last few months:
9 Jan: I visit your Strand branch to apply for a mortgage in principle. I speak to a member of your staff (name can be provided if you so wish) who processes my application. I have with me my passport, two utility bills, three months’ bank statements, three months’ payslips and evidence of my life insurance. I ask if he can photocopy my evidence to speed up the process later. He declines my request, telling me that he cannot do this at this stage. This, I am willing to forgive as I know that inflexibility is the lifeblood of bureaucracies like yours.
25 Feb: I have a purchase offer accepted on an apartment. I call HSBC to take up the mortgage in principle. I am told that, because the flat is on the 5th floor, I cannot be awarded the mortgage. I am asked if the building has a working lift. I reply in the affirmative. Your staff member says she needs to check something with her supervisor. After a short while, she returns and confirms that you cannot indeed award me the mortgage. I am stunned that I was not told this at first point of contact – have I wasted 6 weeks viewing flats I cannot buy with the HSBC mortgage? She replies in the affirmative and advises me to look at Victorian conversions instead. After the call has ended, I still cannot believe that this seemingly arbitrary rule can truly be in effect. I call back and speak to another ‘advisor’. This one tells me that the previous one was wrong; that since the building has a working lift, I can take out a mortgage on it.
Feb: I have received mixed messages so I decide to call the first member of staff that I met on 9th Jan who wrote his contact number on the mortgage in principle. The phone number does not work. I call the mortgages line and ask for his number. They say he does not have an email or a number that I can reach him on. I explain that he wrote his number down, but it was incorrect. They insist that they cannot give me his number; that the best they can do is have someone from the Strand branch call me to deal with my query.
Feb: A day or two later, I receive a call from the Strand branch. I explain that I have received mixed messages about whether or not I can take out a mortgage on a flat above the 4th floor (with a working lift). She says she suspects I cannot, but will check. At this point, I am feeling extremely stressed out. A few hours later, she calls back and says that I can take a mortgage out on the flat. I am relieved, but also astounded by the utter incompetence of your staff.
Feb: I go in branch with the evidence I had with me the first time I visited the branch. The woman photocopies my payslips, returns them to me and bids me adieu. “Er, can I also have my passport back please?” I ask. She rolls her eyes at herself and hands my passport to me. “Can I just check that you have photocopied the passport too?” With the expression of a gormless meerkat, she admits that, no, she has not photocopied the passport. I wait and before I leave, I check that this evidence is enough for the opening of my current account too. She assures me that it is.
Mar: I receive a call from your current accounts department regarding the opening of my Green Bank Account. A woman informs me that I have to go in branch to have my passport photocopied. I tell her that I have already done that; that it should be on your system and that I was expressly told that I would not need to go in branch again. She insists that the current accounts department cannot access the evidence given to the mortgage department. Thus, I visit the Strand branch for a third time to have my passport photocopied.
Mar: I receive an urgent phone call from my solicitor explaining that the solicitors acting on HSBC’s behalf have lodged over 30 queries, half of which are not legally required for the purposes of the exchange. He advises that, to avoid delays of several weeks, I switch solicitors to your panel. I do this in a big panic as I am being pressured by the sellers who want a 28-day exchange. I am confused as to why HSBC did not advise me to use a panel solicitor, knowing that they were likely to cause delays.
Apr: As the HSBC panel solicitors need to review everything my original solicitors completed, I begin to worry that the rate on the offer will expire. I call HSBC to request that the rate is extended at which point I am told that you don’t have my signed mortgage offer on file – despite the fact that I sent it to you in your prepaid envelope over two weeks ago. I am told that this will hold up the purchase and am advised to go in branch with the second copy to make sure you receive it straight away. Would HSBC have told me this had I not called about the extension?
19 Apr: I visit the Strand branch (for the 4th time) and wait the customary 30 minutes to see someone. The man I see (name can be provided) tells me that I needn’t have visited the branch to hand in my documents. I explain that I have already tried sending the documents by post and am doing this as a failsafe. After going through the signed document, he looks at me dumbly and asks, “Does this need to go to the Sheffield address?” At this point, I am at the end of my tether and am tempted to scream: “I don’t f*cking know. YOU TELL ME.” Instead, I calmly tell him that I don’t know as I sent the last one in the prepaid envelope. I ask him to check where he needs to send it before he sends it. He assures me that he will send it in the internal mail at 4pm that day. To my amazement, he gives me his contact details. Rather aptly, his job title is ‘counsellor’. At this stage, I need one.
23 Apr: I call the mortgage line to a) check that the mortgage offer has been received and b) see if the rate can be extended beyond the 30th. I am told that the signed offer has still not been received and that the documents should have gone to the Coventry address. I am advised to call back the next day. I email the counsellor to ask what address he sent it to. I put URGENT in the subject line. I hear nothing back that day.
24 Apr: I call the mortgage line to check that the mortgage offer has been received. I am told that it hasn’t. At this stage, I really, genuinely have no idea how to deal with your staff. I have no idea what more I can do. I have tried sending it in the prepaid envelope. I have tried going into branch and physically handing it over to one of your staff and still they can’t do something as simple as processing a godforsaken letter. At this stage, I request that I am sent another two copies of the mortgage offer so I can send one to you special delivery and hand another one into branch. What else can I do? Physically visit the Coventry office and scan in the document myself? Portray the data to you through the medium of dance? Whatever it is you need, just tell me I plead.
25 Apr: I call the mortgage line. I am told that you have finally received my signed mortgage offer via your internal mail, but have misplaced my bank statement, both of which were sent by the same person in the same envelope at the same time. I can only assume your staff processed the first item and then got distracted by something bright or shiny, leaving my statement to languish. I call the credit team to ask if I can email the statement to them, but they categorically refuse. I try to explain that it is an online statement anyway; that it has been a week since I sent it; that it is urgent that they re-evaluate my application straight away – but they refuse, insisting that they have no mechanism for receiving email. I decide that they are obviously not advanced enough for email so agree to re-post the statement special delivery in yet another attempt to get it to you. I call the next day and am told that you have finally received my statements and will now re-assess my application.
29 Apr: I call HSBC and am told that my offer can extended, but that you have to confirm this in writing. I ask that the confirmation letter be sent out today so that my solicitor and I receive it straight away.
1 May: I have not yet received the offer letter so I call HSBC to check if it has been sent out. I am told that, no, it has not but it is on its way. At this point, I am beyond belief. I have stressed over and over again how important this is, but your staff either didn’t care or were too inept to do anything about it. I plead that the letter be sent out as soon as possible.
6 May: I finally receive the offer letter. It has held up my purchase my two whole weeks. In the interim, the seller’s estate agent resumed viewings of the property, increasing the heaving stress HSBC has caused me.
9 May: Now that my solicitors finally have everything they need – after incomprehensible amounts of stupidity exhibited by HSBC staff – we exchange contracts.
As you can see, dealing with HSBC has been a long and soul-destroying journey. I have no idea how you as a company manage to complete anything successfully. I must ask: do your staff walk around bumping into walls all day? May I suggest that, instead of spending millions on advertising, you provide your staff with some proper training so that they present a consistent, knowledgeable and efficient service while playing with their customers’ lives?
I have taken the time to write you this letter as I want you to understand what I have gone through because of your convoluted processes and your staff’s utter incompetence. I was warned against HSBC, but I was seduced by your rates, not knowing that you would put my whole purchase in jeopardy, several times over. You charge close to £1,000 for arranging this mortgage – but I practically arranged it myself. I have wasted numerous hours in branch and several more on the phone to HSBC. I have spent money sending documents to you by Special Delivery and have suffered immense emotional and mental stress. I would now like to know how you expect to compensate me for this trauma.
Despite this lengthy letter, I feel like I have not yet expressed how thoroughly disgusted I am with your service. Let me end with this little story: in 2006, I succumbed to pressures from my family and community and entered an arranged marriage despite my screaming instincts. Needless to say, the marriage didn’t last long but the fear, the anguish and the helplessness I felt then is not dissimilar to what I feel as I head into our long-term relationship.
Please tell me that things will get better. Please don’t write me a form letter. Please tell me something personal about your life so I know that a real person has read and responded to this. Please restore my faith in you. We can make this work – but we both have to try.
0
Comments
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I love your patronising tone.
Makes you sound like a real nob.0 -
says a lot about HSBC if this is actually true, and went viral0
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Ironically, when i got my first mortgage from hsbc in 2004. The whole thing was done and dusted within an hour. Application and decision all made there and then.0
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My current mortgage is with HSBC and the one before that as well. Applying for the mortgage turned out to be the easiest & most pleasant part of the whole house buying process.
Quick, efficient and easy, both time mortgage was approved done and dusted in 4 weeks. Key is *not* to use their panel of solicitors, used your own and make sure he/she can act on behalf of HSBC.0 -
Well probably the disgruntled customer did not have experience with other banks, he may not be so disgruntled if he did.0
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Well probably the disgruntled customer did not have experience with other banks, he may not be so disgruntled if he did.
Ha ha, yes, I guess it's a matter of being the 'least bad'. In all honesty, HSBC weren't the worst of the bunch. I think the customer had a particularly bad experience and the complaint went viral because it was funny. He was bang on about the bureaucracy though. Getting anything done there was a bloody nightmare.0 -
Sounds like a customer who is more trouble than they are worth.
I always wonder how efficient and productive they are in their own jobs.0 -
I did find this letter rather amusing!
I'm surprised it was allowed to go viral through the company though! I would have thought that the exec/manager types would have put a stop to it!
I'd imagine that as an employee it can be demoralising to see the company you work for come under a complaint or scrutiny, like this. Even if there is some mirth about it the wording of the letter!
I had a similar experience when working for RBS during the time of the credit crunch, in 2007/08. If you told people you worked for RBS (even though it was in insurance so nothing to do with banking sector) it would normally be greeted with a sharp intake of breath and wincing. The staff morale at the time was at an all time low. As we'd lost our pride in the company we worked for as well as the managers and execs tightening the screws increasing targets making them quite unrealistic!
Anyway I escaped in 2010! And am free!
OP, how was the letter greeted when it was going around? Was it just a brilliant joke or did it make you guys feel bad?
At least you too have escaped and hope you are moving on to fabulous new pastures!0 -
I did find this letter rather amusing!
I'm surprised it was allowed to go viral through the company though! I would have thought that the exec/manager types would have put a stop to it!
OP, how was the letter greeted when it was going around? Was it just a brilliant joke or did it make you guys feel bad?
The managers always catch on last. It made me laugh to be honest. I'm sure some of the mortgage guys must have taken it a bit hard but overall, we acknowledge that our systems are very complicated and over-engineered. Everything is very, very prescriptive and there is no flexibility which can be demoralising. It breeds an us-against-them culture (people on my level versus the higher ups) and even though this letter was aimed at frontline staff, it was also an affront on our systems and processes which a lot of internal staff felt we were rightly called out on.
I'm glad you escaped RBS. I am joining a reinsurance firm. I know it sounds boring but I've heard brilliant things about them so I'm excited!0
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