HSBC Switch 22 December 2022 at 3:47PM in Budgeting & bank accounts 28 replies 1.3K views

fourmarks

Katiehound said:

fourmarks said:

 

I am tempted to complain about the card and the pin number arriving in the same post and ask if they are deliberately flaunting their own security protocols to avoid paying out £10's for late deliveries.  Nothing would surprise me.

The chances are that they were posted on different dates- the post has been so irregular with seasonal mail / mail workers strikes that   I doubt there would be any chance of them upholding a formal complaint in this instance. 

I don't think there would be any chance of them upholding it. But I do think, because of the mail strikes, that they may just have chucked it all in the post at the same time.

RN61

HSBC promise their Advance Bank Account offers "Easy everyday banking" and that "Your switch (will be) completed in just 7 working days from start to finish." 

This seems erroneous if not mendacious because I'm not the only one to have had a catalogue of problems (glad I'm switching a spare account), including late delivery of card and its PIN... and most importantly non-receipt of the Telephone Security Number which is required to access online, app or telephone banking.

I intend submitting formal complaint when I eventually receive said number and am able to get into the account, most likely mid to late January at this rate ie at least five weeks after account opened.

However, have noticed the following in HSBC communication (referenced above) which may assist others whose debit card and / or PIN were slightly delayed.

"Debit Card will be delivered within five working days & PIN within seven working days ..... we’ll give you £10 if they’re delayed."

Wording is sloppy, but my take is that the days run from date your account was opened (in most cases the application date, confirming email and SMS arrived next day), not the dates of the subsequent emails in which this time limit is referred to.

And as HSBC use the word" within" and do not specify that delivery of card and PIN should be "on or before" the  fifth or seventh days, their wording means receipt must be BEFORE the fifth and seventh days. Important to me because I received both ON the seventh day!

Conversely, HSBC use of "they're" in "we’ll give you £10 if they’re delayed" suggests HSBC might only give you £10 if both card and PIN arrive outside their time limit! But that will not be my case in the complaint. 

MikeJXE

I had the same problem with First Direct. All the documents came except the card and I phoned them, they said wait a bit longer and I said no, cancel it and send another, the other arrived yesterday, 3 days post, the original has still not arrived. 

A sign of the times 

AmityNeon

Anything involving the post is unreliable right now. I'm still waiting to receive mail (HSBC debit card included) that was sent at the end of November (five weeks and counting), yet I've also recently received mail within a week of it being sent. It seems as if older mail has been pushed to the bottom of the pile, whilst newer mail is processed more efficiently; last in, first out.

The emailed Welcome Pack from HSBC states the following:

Set up your telephone banking security number
Your telephone banking security number is a 6 to 10 digit number that only you will know. It is what we use to verify you when you call us. If you haven’t already done this, give us a call on +44 3457 404 404 to set up or visit one of our branches.

Whilst I still have yet to receive my debit card (£10 claimed), I did receive the opening letter with my account number and sort code, which allowed me to set up my Telephone Security Number over the phone (because that also has yet to arrive in the post, although it will be useless when it finally does).

billyboy

Still waiting after 30 days for incentive payout so went onto chat today. They first said wait a little longer, then I did not qualify as only 1 DD and 2 Standing orders. She then went away to check terms and agreed to pay up. She came back again and said I needed to do 5 transactions with card. I asked where this was written down. Came back again and said She had been looking at different switch incentive so eventually paid £200 into account immediately.   

AlwaysLearnin

billyboy said:

Still waiting after 30 days for incentive payout so went onto chat today. They first said wait a little longer, then I did not qualify as only 1 DD and 2 Standing orders. She then went away to check terms and agreed to pay up. She came back again and said I needed to do 5 transactions with card. I asked where this was written down. Came back again and said She had been looking at different switch incentive so eventually paid £200 into account immediately.   

Similar situation here. Tried chat last week but they said I needed to call the switch team. Was leaving it until things a bit more back to normal before calling (bank hols etc), but might try chat again given what you've said

Zanderman

RN61 said:

HSBC promise their Advance Bank Account offers "Easy everyday banking" and that "Your switch (will be) completed in just 7 working days from start to finish." 

This seems erroneous if not mendacious because I'm not the only one to have had a catalogue of problems (glad I'm switching a spare account), including late delivery of card and its PIN... and most importantly non-receipt of the Telephone Security Number which is required to access online, app or telephone banking.

You seem to be mixing up the switch time of 7 days with the time for new account opening. The switch will take 7 days from when it starts. But it cannot possibly start (and you wouldn't want it to) until the new account is up and running. You must have the account open first. And then you can start the switch.

PloughmansLunch

I signed up for the HSBC switch in mid-december using a throwaway basic Lloyds account. All seemed to be going well except for the card/paperwork delayed in the post, but I have an existing HSBC mortgage and the new account was added automatically to the app. I transferred in £1600 to meet the minimum requirements, set up the online saver too and left it for a few hours then sent most of the funds back to another account of mine. The money took quite a few hours to show up which I thought was weird compared with pretty much any other modern account, but thought nothing of it. 

On the first proper day of post after christmas I had two HSBC letters (each with different contact numbers) saying to phone them urgently. I checked the app first and my account(s) are marked as digital access suspended. I have phoned them up twice now and have twice failed the 20mins+ of arcane security questions and am told I need to make the 40 mile+ round trip to my nearest 'full service' branch with a whole raft of documents to prove my identity.

Is this sort of service standard common with HSBC or am I just unlucky? At this rate I'm not hopeful I'll even get the bonus, but if I do I'll feel that I've earned it.

RN61

Zanderman said:

RN61 said:

HSBC promise their Advance Bank Account offers "Easy everyday banking" and that "Your switch (will be) completed in just 7 working days from start to finish." 

This seems erroneous if not mendacious because I'm not the only one to have had a catalogue of problems (glad I'm switching a spare account), including late delivery of card and its PIN... and most importantly non-receipt of the Telephone Security Number which is required to access online, app or telephone banking.

You seem to be mixing up the switch time of 7 days with the time for new account opening. The switch will take 7 days from when it starts. But it cannot possibly start (and you wouldn't want it to) until the new account is up and running. You must have the account open first. And then you can start the switch.

Their words not mine. All I know is account applied for December 8, opened 9th with switch on 22nd but switch subsequently rescheduled to 30th. Now they've got my money that switched in from old account but I can't do much with it as still no telephone banking security number and they won't give me one ("ahem") over the phone. Instead, I've just received a telephone banking security number application form through the post inviting me to complete and post back at least there's a SAE). That took over two weeks to arrive so postage back, turnaround in the office and return will take Gxd knows how long! 🤣😭

Katiehound

HSBC have never been fast- even without postal problems.
I opened an account with them some years ago and it was much quicker to go into branch- yes, we still have one locally!