The Daily Background
| HSBC sucks
by Arlen Parsa
So yesterday I started getting flooded by calls from the phone number 1-800-684-8429 on my cell phone. Each time, the person on the other end asked for a totally different person. After telling them that I was not the person they were looking for, and would they please stop calling me, they abruptly hung up. This continued well into the night.
I did a Google search for the number and it turns out that hundreds of people are having the exact same problem, and that the number belonged to a company called HSBC. After calling the number myself, I asked to be removed from their database. It turns out their “cardmember services” division (i.e. their collections department) had somehow screwed up and added my number to various accounts. After first being told that the call center the person worked in did not have supervisors, and then after being told that all the supervisors were too busy to talk with me, I asked again to be removed from their database. The person claimed I was removed, but an hour or so later last night, I got yet another harassing call.
After calling up the FTC and filing a formal complaint, as well as with my state’s Attorney General’s office, called HSBC’s corporate office saying I wanted to register a complaint with them as well. What happened next was rather enlightening. After explaining that I needed to talk to an upper echelon person in their collections department, the person gave a knowing grunt. “They don’t even let us talk to managers, and we work for the same damn company!” she told me. Apparently even within HSBC, their cardmember services department is notoriously shady.
After giving me some tips on how I could get the issue taken care of, the receptionist even gave me the “secret” extension which allow me to talk directly to a real person, rather than having to wade through all their automated voice menu systems (”If you know your account number, press 1 now, if you are calling for…”).
Twenty minutes later, I was on the phone with a manager who swears that my number is now removed and added to their company’s internal Do Not Solicit list. We’ll see. But here’s what’s more sketchy than that: I asked her how this situation could possibly have happened in the first place. How could they have possibly all of a sudden confused my cell phone number with the phone numbers of all these people who hadn’t paid their MasterCard and Visa bills? She told me that their collections department “obtains phone numbers” from a variety of sources and that my number may be “similar” to the number of one of their customers. Apparently in their mind, that’s enough to launch scores of phone calls at all times of day and night, despite being told countless times that the person they are looking for will never be available. You better believe I’ll be blogging about it if I ever get a phone call from them again. HSBC sucks.
Does anybody care about your trivial life. Whining Americans!
hmm, simon - it seems to me a person can pretty much write about whatever they want to on their own blog …
I called HSBC in August explaining my current financial situation and how I took a huge pay cut and needed to be on a hardship program. I was transferred to someone in India who told me about their Protection Plan and said it would cost about a $150/month but would stop all payments and interest and everything else for 6 months which sounded great since I am looking for another job to get me out of my financial issues. I have always made my payments! I asked the Indian rep 3 TIMES…”so I don’t have to make a payment for 6 months correct?”. He affirmed 3 times back. HA! I got my HSBC bill 3 weeks later….not only am I 1 month late but got hit with a late and over the limit fees. So I called immediately and spoke to someone who is here in America and she didn’t know her head from her ass and said I should call the protection people. I called the next day and got an Indian who kept telling me about the benefits of the plan and then asked how much can I pay on my card to bring the balance down. A vein was starting to bulge on my forehead as I was trying to explain to her that OBVIOUSLY THERE IS A COMMUNICATION ISSUE SINCE I WAS LED TO BELIEVE THAT I WAS ON THE PROTECTION PLAN THAT THEY CHARGED ME FOR! I asked for a supervisor and she said there were none. Hmmmmmmmm…so you have a bunch of fucking losers working with no management…huh? Good job HSBC. I asked to be transferred to an American here on American soil…she said she “would try” and got some OTHER INDIAN ON THE PHONE!!!! I lost it…just plum lost all patience. Then she proceeded to ask me on how much I was willing to pay????? I felt like it would be better to hit my head on a brick wall. After about an hour of pure torment…I was put on a hardship plan that STILL SUCKS. HSBC…YOU SUCK! KEEP OUTSOURCING TO INDIA! I HOPE YOU AND ALL MANAGEMENT THAT HIDE BEHIND THEIR TIER 1 INDIAN REPS GO BANKRUPT AND LOSE YOUR ASSES WITH NO BAIL OUT. GO FUCK YOURSELVES…I’M FILING FOR BANKRUPTCY AND YOU WON’T GET SHIT FROM ME!
Come on.. do you really expect Collection employees to believe you when you say that person is not you?! Yes, they got your number by mistake but you can’t possibly expect them to trust what you say and just stop calling. If Collection employee were like that, then the company would never get anything back.
Also, for you to say HSBC sucks just because of this doesn’t justify it. If you had a call from every collections department from all company would you say the same thing for all of them.
Come on, they’re just doing their job. Knowing that HSBC is making it that hard for you to change numbers and working that hard in their collection department actually makes me want to invest in them because I know they’ll get their money back.
Yes, it’s your blog and you can post whatever you want… you made this reply function so I’m leaving my Reply as I see it…. no offense, just a comment.
That’s funny, every other company I had this problem with when I got my new phone believed me and took my number out of their system (as they are required to do by law). It was only HSBC that kept calling me dozens of times at all hours of the night after I told them I wasn’t who they were looking for. And I found hundreds of people on internet forums complaining about HSBC doing the exact. same. thing.
Thanks for your reply.
HSBC is the pits, they are a scam company. Their payment protection is a joke, they’ll rip you off.
India has taken too many American jobs!
My company, a Long Island AC Repair company,
used HSBC in the past. They are horrible and we will never use them again.
Be aware that HSBC has a breach of information, I have received a scam call, they knew I had HSBC account, my cell phone ( which is registered under different name). When I called HSBC about it, it took me more than two hours to reach and explain to the customer service my concerns. They blamed it on me, they said I might have lose my personal info or something, when I gave them the phone number of the scammers, they were not interested at all.
Then I decide to transfer all my funds from HSBC to my other bank.
So it took me another hour to reach the actual branch near me, they told me that they can’t transfer money to my other account, that I have to mail a request to theyir office in BC, I am in ON, so another week of waiting. I ask them what other option I have , they said I don’t have any other, so I should wait.
Then I ask for the withdrawal of cash, but they said they don’t have cash on hand and that I have to wait up until next Friday, it was Thursday morning.
Naturally, I was furious, because when I was opening the account they told me that I can withdraw up to 100K if I give them one day notice. After half an hour, of yelling at me that I have no idea how banks work, they decide to give it to me next Tuesday, I wasn’t happy with that too. So after another 15 minutes of arguing they agreed to give me part of the money, but the rest will wait till Tuesday.
Then I ask them if I could do a money draft to transfer all my money and they finally they said OK we could do that for you, but have a seat we will be with you shortly.
So then I was sitting there watching them serving other customers for another half an hour, and I notice that if one has “Premium account ” ( or whatever they call it, it is a black card) one will be treated with smiles and timely, and normal account holders are treated like a second class customers.
So to summarize, The HSBC phone customer service are like a robots and they do not listen to what you say, they have the script of the template answers. And it takes several hours before you can get an answer to “unusual” question.
The branch customer services is unfriendly and rude.
HSBC will not give you cash (more than 10K) as soon as you request it or the next day. (even if they have it)
They don’t care if a scammers are using HSBC name.
They don’t care if there is a concern that HSBC may have a breach of information.
Nothing beats a real banks, CIBC, TD, RBC, BMO etc.
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