HSBC VISA Debit Protection Claim

Skiny

I hope this is the right category to post.

I would like to know what protection (and the time window) is offered by a VISA debit card from HSBC, as I am just in the process of making a claim. I have asked their customer service what the time limit is and what protection they offer, but they are very vague about everything. One guy said it was 118 days. Seems an odd figure and he didn't say if that was from date of purchase or from noticing a problem.

My situation is as follows. In early October last year, I sought mortgage advice from a company, as I wanted to buy my first home. I decided to use an adviser, as I wanted everything to go as smoothly as possible and to help me, as I was very new to the whole thing.

Over two months later, I was still waiting, after having submitted every possible detail about myself as you could possibly imagine. The requests for information were still ongoing and the sellers wanted to pull out of the sale (understandably). The 'adviser' I had paid £600 to, gave no advice, never suggested changing lender, etc, and simply said in one of the emails "there's nothing I can do". Ridiculous for an alleged expert in this area. I received bad advice in other parts of the application, too. For example, the lender sent me a letter implying I may need special surveys done. I asked my adviser to explain and tell me for certain if I needed these to be carried out. 'Yes' came back the response, to which I found out later (from the lender), weren't needed! Another waste of time and money. If you wonder why I waited 2 months for a mortgage application, well, all I can say is that I was pretty ignorant of the whole process. As I say, it's my first house and I didn't have anyone I knew who had a mortgage, that I could talk to.

A couple of weeks before Christmas, in desperation, I spoke to another financial adviser, who couldn't believe I had been waiting since early October. From meeting him on Friday, he arranged the mortgage for me and I had it in writing from the bank, 5 days later! Quite a contrast, considering I'm the exact same person.

However, my stress didn't end there, as my request for a refund from the first adviser was refused. I then complained higher up and after waiting over a month for their 'investigation', that too was refused.

So, what I would like to know, is do I have any chance of succeeding in a claim through my HSBC debit card? It's a lot of money for me, especially given my house purchase and the second adviser I had to pay.

Thanks to anyone who help.

wealdroam

Skiny wrote: »

I hope this is the right category to post.

I would like to know what protection (and the time window) is offered by a VISA debit card from HSBC, as I am just in the process of making a claim. I have asked their customer service what the time limit is and what protection they offer, but they are very vague about everything. One guy said it was 118 days. Seems an odd figure and he didn't say if that was from date of purchase or from noticing a problem.

My situation is as follows. In early October last year, I sought mortgage advice from a company, as I wanted to buy my first home. I decided to use an adviser, as I wanted everything to go as smoothly as possible and to help me, as I was very new to the whole thing.

Over two months later, I was still waiting, after having submitted every possible detail about myself as you could possibly imagine. The requests for information were still ongoing and the sellers wanted to pull out of the sale (understandably). The 'adviser' I had paid £600 to, gave no advice, never suggested changing lender, etc, and simply said in one of the emails "there's nothing I can do". Ridiculous for an alleged expert in this area. I received bad advice in other parts of the application, too. For example, the lender sent me a letter implying I may need special surveys done. I asked my adviser to explain and tell me for certain if I needed these to be carried out. 'Yes' came back the response, to which I found out later (from the lender), weren't needed! Another waste of time and money. If you wonder why I waited 2 months for a mortgage application, well, all I can say is that I was pretty ignorant of the whole process. As I say, it's my first house and I didn't have anyone I knew who had a mortgage, that I could talk to.

A couple of weeks before Christmas, in desperation, I spoke to another financial adviser, who couldn't believe I had been waiting since early October. From meeting him on Friday, he arranged the mortgage for me and I had it in writing from the bank, 5 days later! Quite a contrast, considering I'm the exact same person.

However, my stress didn't end there, as my request for a refund from the first adviser was refused. I then complained higher up and after waiting over a month for their 'investigation', that too was refused.

So, what I would like to know, is do I have any chance of succeeding in a claim through my HSBC debit card? It's a lot of money for me, especially given my house purchase and the second adviser I had to pay.

Thanks to anyone who help.

If you read MSE's Chargeback article you will see that the time limit is within 120 days of purchase or expected service provision date.

Skiny

How would that work with mortgage advice? It's not so clear cut like the delivery date of a product. I felt there was a problem in December when I found a new adviser.

wealdroam

Skiny wrote: »

How would that work with mortgage advice? It's not so clear cut like the delivery date of a product. I felt there was a problem in December when I found a new adviser.

It covers services too.

Do remember that these chargeback schemes have their own 'rules' and the right to a chargeback is not enshrined in law.

You need to read the terms of HSBC's chargeback scheme to work out whether, for example, financial advice is covered or not.

Keep_pedalling

I doubt if you will be able to claim back via this route and if that is the case, then the small claims court may be the way to go.

wealdroam

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

I doubt if you will be able to claim back via this route and if that is the case, then the small claims court may be the way to go.

You may well be right, but it would be worth the OP looking at The Financial Ombudsman Service offerings before going to court.

Skiny

Thanks for all of the replies.

Yea, I've not been able to find HSBC terms and conditions regarding the dispute process. I've begun it and they when I spoke on the phone they said it would be a matter of having to prove the company has broken their own terms and conditions and it would depend upon their refund policy. That's no great given the company have a policy of 'no refunds'. That would be fine if they had delivered an acceptable service to me, but they didn't.

If the HSBC claim fails, which it probably will, I guess the Ombudsman is the way to go, followed by the small claims court. It looks like it's going to be quite a fight to recover anything