Personally, as a branch manager, I DO care about my customers, we are actually REWARDED for our customer service! If I mess something up, I will apologise and put it right and I would say that every other manager in my area is the same.
Hope it worked out for the OP btw.
Apologies for the broad sweeping statement, but my last 4 dealings with HSBC were all absolute failures - both over the telephone and in branch. Following those, I vowed never to entrust my money to them or rely on them for any financial services again.
1) Card declined in Waitrose and eaten when inserted to hole in wall. Call customer services, get routed through to Indian call centre. After explaining the problem and asking for an explanation as to why I can't get to my money I'm put on hold for 5 minutes. Then in the most infuriating fashion imaginable, I'm hung up on.
2) I call back HSBC customer services, explain the whole lot over again to another person who tells me my card is blocked for security reasons and they can't tell me any more until 9am the following day. I ask for call back at that time with an explanation, the girl on the phone agrees and says she's put a note on my account. For a big bank with global presence, I find it rather bad that I can't be told the reason I can't get to my money.
3) The next day comes and goes without a phone call, deciding to give them the benefit of the doubt I wait until 9am the next day and call the customer service centre again. This time fortunately I am but through to a chap in a Scottish call centre, who after some more explanation tells me the reason my account was halted and my card swallowed way because HSBC had received
returned mail. Funny, because I'd received a bank statement and promotional mail from HSBC within the last 10 days of that phone call. I still have the dated statements to prove this.
The chap then goes on to say that the bank tried to call me, but had no answer so presumed the worst. Again, I had received promotional calls trying to sell me goods and services but not any to query the so-called returned mail. Incidentally at this point I should make it clear that I do not always answer "no number" calls on my mobile, as HSBC use these call centre numbers to call out they can't be entirely blamed at this point.
However, a simple voicemail stating it was HSBC with no mention of what and a request to call the service centre would have stopped all of this dead in it's tracks. My other financial providers can text, email and leave voicemail messages - why couldn't HSBC?
So at this point, a new card and pin is ordered and I'm instructed that I have to wait the statutory 5 working days as per norm and the card is to be delivered to branch because of the potential security issue. No sense of urgency given the previous customer service indiscretions, or even so much as a mention if I recall correctly.
4) Card arrives at branch, I head into branch which has recently been converted into an open plan area which at the I got there was very busy. I'm "greeted" by an
exceedingly (I cannot stress that word enough) miserable woman who went off to get my card/pin. She returns, and we conduct the exchange of card/pin and confirmation of my security details in front of about 10 strangers. There was no offer of going somewhere more discrete to discuss the issue, it was conducted then and there. I leave the branch in utter disbelief at the irony of the whole event, an organisation so seemingly intent on security - enough to block my account, will carry out confirmation of identity and card exchange in an open foyer in front of members of the public!
So you can see all in all, I suffered just over a week of not being able to get to my money for what I saw as no good reason. HSBC could have taken more steps to ensure this didn't happen in the first place, and after the event could have done so much more to facilitate the return of normal operations to my account. Instead, I was faced with the everyday trials of the offshore call centre on my initial contact with HSBC, given no good reason as to why my card was stopped in the first place, and then the restorative steps were carried out in plain view of 10 complete strangers.
This in my mind is terrible "customer service" and the reason I took my custom elsewhere. I've been with another bank for just over a year now, and I'm so impressed with them that we now have joint accounts, savings accounts and mortgages in their service.
As a closing point, I wrote a letter to the CSM for HSBC in the UK whom in an understanding letter (which in no way apologised for the inconvenience I suffered at the cheapened and automated customer service mechanisms at HSBC) offered me a mere £25 credit to my account.
Would you be satisfied with that result?
