Account Switch Failure - Views on compensation

SteveW81

The wife and I applied to HSBC in early October to open a new joint current account through the switching team. Unfortunately, we've had nothing but difficulties since the application, and we were recently offered £75 in compensation, despite the incident not being resolved. I've listed below some of the troubles encountered. I've spent a considerable amount of time contacting HSBC, writing letters to them and on the phone. This whole situation has caused my wife and me a considerable amount of mental trauma (and it's still ongoing), and I'd appreciate people's opinions on what they feel would be a suitable amount of compensation.

Details:
Early Oct - apply for an account with requested switch date as the end of Oct.
One week later - wife asked to attend branch to verify identification, which she did the following day. The branch could not finish the account opening and sent the information back to the switching team.
Two weeks later - no further information or communication received. Hence, I rang, and an advisor admitted the application was on hold still, but she could see it was ready to be finished and said she'd push it back to the live queue.
Two weeks again - email received to say we have important documents to action in our online account! Rang HSBC and they would not help as we didn't have security details! We would have to wait seven working days for them to arrive before ordering new ones!
Seven days later - no security details arrive, no account information. I manage to speak with a helpful advisor who informed me that as we were customers previously (over five years ago) that the system had registered our application against our old profiles and did not send security details out! The next day a letter arrives to inform us that HSBC was unable to make our requested switch date and they would switch us on said date, which was now a few days away. I rang and was informed that I couldn't move the switching date as it was too close!
The switch took place and put our old account considerably overdrawn, and thus did not close that account. The old account also allowed two further transactions to go through four days after the account should have been closed, and we received unauthorised overdraft charges for that.
The old account is still open to date, but with a zero balance, and charges will be added at the end of December! A few days ago I got a letter from a company saying my direct debit hadn't gone through and I would get a late payment charge, again down to HSBC!

IvanOpinion

How did the switch put your old account overdrawn? The switch guarantee clearly states that "Your switch is guaranteed – so any interest or charges incurred as a result of your switch will be refunded.​​​" I assume that this is the case therefore you will not be out of pocket.

These things happen, especially at the minute when some operators may be struggling to access all the systems they are used to - be assured they are not personal attacks and do not require 'mental trauma'.  I have done many switches and been lucky enough that I have only experienced a couple of minor issues, but occasionally, like everything in life, the odd one goes wrong.  That is why it is important to ensure that you have a second account that you can use.

Assuming the switch guarantee has sorted out any charges then £75 sounds very fair to me.  

Aylesbury_Duck

Assuming any actual losses are covered, I think £75 is a fair offer.

How much are you after?

MattMattMattUK

Under the switch guarantee they will cover any costs incurred caused by issues with the switching service, they will also have your credit records amended to remove any non-payments caused by issues with the switching process. 

They will not cover the costs if you have made any errors, so for example if transferred money out of an account, or you manually changed some payments, the switch guarantee only covers changes that they make.

On top of the fact that they will cover any costs that they cause, they are also offering you £75, which seems fair.

born_again

Why did you allow the old account to go overdrawn? HSBC told you the new switching date. So it was your responsibility to ensure you had sufficient funds in there to cover any bills or card spending up to that date.

£75 seems very generous, as you going overdrawn is not their fault.