I applied for an specific bank account, but the bank opened another without my consent.

vacheron

Tragen said:

The good news is that you'll end up in the same position once you've switched away from HSBC, which I think you would have have done anyway regardless of which account you got. They are a very clunky bank and I personally feel they've done you a favour because you've got to experience how inept they are without spending too much time with them.

My advice, switch to a good bank as soon as you get your incentive!

Completely agree. I've switched to them twice for incentives and each time switched away as soon as possible. Clunky is the word, and the amount of physical paperwork involved in this day and age to open the accounts on both occasions, plus the overzealous security (thought it has got slightly better on the smartphone app at least) all adds up to a far less than optimal experience.

I even had to go into a branch on both occasions and bring physical payslips to prove my income despite being PAYE for a large company, as there was no other acceptable way to prove it apparently. Even though no other bank I have applied over the last 15 years has ever required this! 

Plus HSBC are apparently quite picky on their Advantage account approval criteria, so you have to be "one of the lucky ones" to be able to enjoy this distinctly sub-par experience! 

Tragen

vacheron said:
and the amount of physical paperwork involved in this day and age 

They sent me a letter last week to tell me they sent me a PDF with a password! (switched away from them immediately after incentive)

born_again

Masha_2 said:

I applied for the advance card knowing I complied with the requisites.

But clearly not HSBC's internal checks for the Advance account.

While they may say you need to pay in X and have a income of Y. That is not all they look at.

badger09

Masha_2 said:

Went to bank, they haven't accepted their fault, instead they say I may have applied for the other account. but the letter received it says if I wanted to open an account to call them or go to bank. I expressed that I was willing to complain and they say, you can well do so.  they said the can stop the switch process.
I wonder if my credit score is affected if I switch from hsbc to other bank again.
I applied for the advance card knowing I complied with the requisites.
I reluctantly opened and account for my child there which offers good interest too and wanted to take the incentive opening my account too.They have a really bad customer service, it's awful. 

You've probably got this sorted out by now, but if not...

Could it be a simple error of the wrong debit card being sent? Have you received anything from HSBC showing the name of the account?

I ask because several years ago when I applied and was accepted for the Advance account, they issued a debit card for the standard account by mistake. I contacted them & they sent the correct replacement fairly quickly.

Tragen

badger09 said:

Could it be a simple error of the wrong debit card being sent? Have you received anything from HSBC showing the name of the account?

I ask because several years ago when I applied and was accepted for the Advance account, they issued a debit card for the standard account by mistake. I contacted them & they sent the correct replacement fairly quickly.

You just reminded me of my 2017 experience with HSBC. They opened 2 different Advance accounts for me, 2 cards etc. They wouldnt deal with it on the phone as one of the cards didnt come a telephone banking code. I had to go into the bank, explain it 3 times and eventually they worked out that one of the accounts was opened in error. 

badger09

Tragen said:

badger09 said:

Could it be a simple error of the wrong debit card being sent? Have you received anything from HSBC showing the name of the account?

I ask because several years ago when I applied and was accepted for the Advance account, they issued a debit card for the standard account by mistake. I contacted them & they sent the correct replacement fairly quickly.

You just reminded me of my 2017 experience with HSBC. They opened 2 different Advance accounts for me, 2 cards etc. They wouldnt deal with it on the phone as one of the cards didnt come a telephone banking code. I had to go into the bank, explain it 3 times and eventually they worked out that one of the accounts was opened in error. 

Mine was January 2015 - at least they are consistent in their shambolic account opening processes.