HSBC WORST EXPERIENCE OF SWITCHING BANK TO AWFUL BANK

skyanjel

For anyone reading this, this is a genuine factual account of what happened with HSBC. In 40 years of banking with great banks, having worked 5 years for main high street bank in the past, currently I have 4 live bank accounts and to boot - my credit history is above excellent in the 90% bracket with all credit check agencies. On that back-drop, HSBC have been the absolute worst bank and the worst business I've dealt with ever. Concluded now from this experience they're the worst in all parts of banking, in their customer service, in their agents speaking non-understandable or poor English, never replying or calling back - you'll read below - even though I was told the 'new-account handling team' will call me back. I have retained I have all the texts for the following experience from HSBC - 

1) 14th July 2022 - It started with me applying for the switch account offer of £170.00. I saw this on Martins site as well so I filled out all the requested details online for HSBC. I met all the criteria so was looking forward to my new account. On this on the same day I received a text to advise that my application has received and they'll be in touch. 

2) 15th July 2022 the next day I received 2 separate texts to advise everything was being dealt with. 

3) 18th July 2022 I received a text with a secure link in it. Through the link they took live real time picture of my driving licence, statements and a live picture was taken. As this procedure finished they advised they now have ALL they need and would be in touch asap. 

4) 23rd July 2022 I called their customer service centre, after waiting 45 minutes to get through I could not understand the language of the agent and was cut off! I rang back, got though after 40 minutes waiting for someone to answer. And again it was hard to understand what the agent was saying. However I persisted and he advised me that records show that, all they needed at the new-accounts dept had been received and he said he has messaged them to ask them to call me  back on the update of my switch as the agent didn't have a clue as to why there's a delay. He advised me that I WILL BE DEFINATELY contacted. As this call all took over 35 minutes talking time (not including the wait time to get through) and his English was so AWFUL so I had to go over and over the information of my call again - that "I wanted to know WHAT the progress was of my switch was, from one bank to HSBC, I confirmed that the agent I'm speaking now is going to get someone to call me regarding an update and he promised me that - IS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN! Then I heard nothing.
5) 29th July 2022 I called back, and by now I was fuming but kept a level head. Waited for someone to answer which took over 50 minutes. Then a total repeat of the above happened, including getting cut off twice this time. By now I'm assuming that the foreign customer service agents can not handle the English language and it's easier for them to cut the customer off! However the outcome was that, NO ONE CALLED ME BACK - AGAIN. 

6) 6th August 2022 I called customer services. Connected after 55 minutes of holding and again language-poor agent, advised me that my details show - that all HSBC requested details HAVE BEEN RECEIVED and, it maybe, that the new account team may have been really busy with so many people applying for the  switch offer, so to leave it a bit and then see what happens. He advised that he would let that department know that I would like an update (AGAIN) I went over every detail of this call with him AGAIN! And said I would wait for the update. GUESS WHAT > NOTHING HAPPENED!

6) 25th July 2022 - I called in again ( by now I'm fuming!) 55 min to get through. This was the worst communicator I've ever spoken to. After 20 minutes of me questioning the agent as he didn't know anything, he FINALLY advised me that MY SWITCH HAD BEEN CANCELLED ON THE 17th August 2022 as no details had been received from me. I lost my head (politely) and gave him the dates of texts (still on my phone) and details of calls I have been making since 14th July 2022 and today is the 25th August. 

I was so angry and I let him know that - (without being rude or using any bad language.) After being told on ALL my calls to customer services that they had received all they needed and then they advise that  they've cancelled the switch - WITHOUT EMAILING, WITHOUT TEXTING, WITHOUT WRITING TO MY ADDRESS - they had ALL these details on the application form. Plus EACH & EVERY customer service agent confirmed my telephone number, address & date of birth every time I called! (and Ive lived at this address for 40 years-easy to verify an address!) He said he would get someone to call me as a matter of urgency THIS was the 25th July 22. NO ONE HAS GOT BACK TO ME. 

I CAN ONLY ASSUME - THE SWITCH OFFER - HAS BEEN - AS OTHERS HAVE SAID - 'A SCAM')

No call back - so TODAY - 29th AUGUST 2022 I'M WRITING THIS REVIEW IN UTTER SHOCK OF WHAT AN AWFUL STRESSFUL EXPERIENCE HSBC HAVE SUBJECTED ME TO. I have each time waited between 40 to 55 minutes to get through to an agent. The agents can not speak proper English. Never have I been contacted about the updated/progress of the a/c. I wonder if I can write to an Ombudsman? However I thought to post here switch advise is always excellent. The reviews on trustpilot also follow the same awful reviews. If anyone else has experienced this - you're not alone!

Daliah

The switch offer wasn't a scam. HSBC are known for taking ages with many applications. It's no excuse for shoddy service.

You can raise a formal complaint with HSBC but be succinct and unemotional, don't use uppercase as this is considered shouting. If they don't respond within 8 weeks with a satisfactory answer, you can take your complaint to to the FOS.

Katiehound

Register a complaint

Always ask if there is another agent as you are struggling to 'hear them properly', or you 'can't quite understand their accent'. Of course this is the problem of overseas call centres. a big one!

That was one of the reasons I switched away from HSBC- really struggled to understand. I used to ask where they were. (No help but it confirmed my thoughts)

If I want to stress something in an email I always use bold or italics. 

Good luck

EarthBoy

skyanjel said:

I CAN ONLY ASSUME - THE SWITCH OFFER - HAS BEEN - AS OTHERS HAVE SAID - 'A SCAM')

Which others have said that?  I'm sorry you've had a bad experience, but I've not seen anybody call the switch offer a scam, except you.

Plenty of people, me included, have received the £170, so it's a genuine offer. 

WillPS

I think the real issue here is HSBC don't really do enough to manage expectations over how long it'll take to get an account open. Even before the pandemic they were regularly taking over a month when most of their competitors can get everything done within a couple of weeks.

Catplan

What in usually do is wait on account opening transfer a couple of small amounts, wait until I have received debit card prior to initiating the switch. I’m usually switching a sacrificial account as well so not stressing about timings or anything like that. The offer is certainly real and not a scam, it’s also not worth getting stressed about.

[Deleted User]

Katiehound said:

Register a complaint

Always ask if there is another agent as you are struggling to 'hear them properly', or you 'can't quite understand their accent'. Of course this is the problem of overseas call centres. a big one!

That was one of the reasons I switched away from HSBC- really struggled to understand. I used to ask where they were. (No help but it confirmed my thoughts)

If I want to stress something in an email I always use bold or italics. 

Good luck

I moved to HSBC (from Nationwide) and have been happy with them.
Use them for my main current account and zero language barriers.
Perhaps the OP isn't a native speaker?

Bridlington1

HSBC are the worst bank I have ever had the misfortune to encounter. I opened an account with them last year and it took them a month to open the account. After that it was just one thing after another. It would take a large switching incentive to tempt me to open another account with them, even then it would be switched straight back out again once they'd paid up and someone else was offering a switching incentive I am eligible for.

One thing I have discovered with them is that if you ring the voice ID setup line and turn on an electric razer whenever the machine asks you to say "my voice is my password", you'll get though to the same department as you would if you ang the number on your debit card. This way if you do need to ring them it won't cost you anything.

kaMelo

Bridlington1 said:

HSBC are the worst bank I have ever had the misfortune to encounter. I opened an account with them last year and it took them a month to open the account. After that it was just one thing after another. It would take a large switching incentive to tempt me to open another account with them, even then it would be switched straight back out again once they'd paid up and someone else was offering a switching incentive I am eligible for.

One thing I have discovered with them is that if you ring the voice ID setup line and turn on an electric razer whenever the machine asks you to say "my voice is my password", you'll get though to the same department as you would if you ang the number on your debit card. This way if you do need to ring them it won't cost you anything.

I'm always intrigued to know about things like this, as in what was it that made you try an electric razor to see what happened?

Bridlington1

kaMelo said:

Bridlington1 said:

HSBC are the worst bank I have ever had the misfortune to encounter. I opened an account with them last year and it took them a month to open the account. After that it was just one thing after another. It would take a large switching incentive to tempt me to open another account with them, even then it would be switched straight back out again once they'd paid up and someone else was offering a switching incentive I am eligible for.

One thing I have discovered with them is that if you ring the voice ID setup line and turn on an electric razer whenever the machine asks you to say "my voice is my password", you'll get though to the same department as you would if you ang the number on your debit card. This way if you do need to ring them it won't cost you anything.

I'm always intrigued to know about things like this, as in what was it that made you try an electric razor to see what happened?

Essentially 03 numbers cost me money if I ring them, regardless of whether I use my mobile or my landline. In February this year I had my account frozen and when I rang them to see what was going on they decided to try and set me up with voice ID. This failed due to the line being very bad and they gave me the voice ID setup number, which is a freephone number and thus doesn't cost me anything. In the process I discovered that if the voice ID setup machine fails to work, you will get transferred through to the same department as I had just been speaking to. I therefore decided in future to ring them from my landline using the freephone number to avoid paying for the call. As my landline has a better signal, in order to guarantee that the ID line breaks I switched on my electric razer (the first thing that came to hand) to ensure I would get through to them. It worked every time and left them thoroughly bamboozled in the end.

phillw

I don't see anything in there that I haven't experience at another bank.

HSBC at least were quite picky about whom they give an account to, just meeting the stated requirements wasn't enough. You haven't made it clear but I'm assuming the account wasn't opened either?

I'm not sure what you mean by fuming or losing your head, but that doesn't sound helpful.

All you needed to do was phone them and say "I want to make a complaint". However, they don't have to give you an account. So the complaint would have to be based around the lack of communication and promises of a callback etc