I need a little assistance.
On Monday evening I phoned up the HSBC phone banking service to order an international bank draft, made payable to the "Department Of Homeland Security" (for a US visa application fee). The Scottish guy on the phone was very friendly, very helpful and caused me no problems at all (at the time). He informed me that the charge for the international draft would be £15. It's a bit of a harsh charge I thought, but I agreed to it anyway out of necessity. Now, I made it clear to him that I needed the payee to be exactly how i've written it above, as I don't want even the slightest chance of something going wrong.
Cut to today.
The draft arrives in the post (half-in my letterbox with "Signed For" postage but not signed by me
). The draft has been hand written absolutely terribly, it is barely legible in places. Also, the payee was abbreviated to "Dept Of Homeland Security", when I had asked for this to not be done. I know it may be nit-picking, but this is important to me and i'll get charged by the US Embassy if they won't accept the draft. Something else caught my attention too, the charge was £20 and not the £15 I was told when I ordered it.
Anyway, I phoned the HSBC telephone banking number this evening and explained everything to the girl on the line, which was fairly hard due to us not being able to understand each other very well (possibly an Indian call centre). She said that the £20 was correct, as it was an international draft, and just would not let that go despite my assurances that I had been told £15 originally. She also said that they could cancel this draft for £10, and issue me with another one, for another £20 charge!!!!! Despite my frustration, and shock, I remained calm and explained that this was completely unacceptable as HSBC had sent me an unsuitable draft, and had charged me more than was quoted to me at the time of order. The girl just would not budge, so I asked to speak to a manager. She then proceeded to keep talking over the top of me and saying "you need to calm down sir" over and over (on my word, I was being exceptionally calm given the circumstances). She then said that she had no way of knowing if I was being genuine and that the draft was hand-written, poorly, and made out in a manner in which I had asked it not to be and I must go into my branch during working hours and have them verify everything. I'm looking at around two hours away from work to do this, and I wont be paid during my absense.
I am absolutely gobsmacked at all this, is there any chance that my branch will be able to issue me with a fresh draft on the spot, or do I have to wait for it to come in the post? What about the misquoted £15 fee that turned out to be £20??
On Monday evening I phoned up the HSBC phone banking service to order an international bank draft, made payable to the "Department Of Homeland Security" (for a US visa application fee). The Scottish guy on the phone was very friendly, very helpful and caused me no problems at all (at the time). He informed me that the charge for the international draft would be £15. It's a bit of a harsh charge I thought, but I agreed to it anyway out of necessity. Now, I made it clear to him that I needed the payee to be exactly how i've written it above, as I don't want even the slightest chance of something going wrong.
Cut to today.
The draft arrives in the post (half-in my letterbox with "Signed For" postage but not signed by me
). The draft has been hand written absolutely terribly, it is barely legible in places. Also, the payee was abbreviated to "Dept Of Homeland Security", when I had asked for this to not be done. I know it may be nit-picking, but this is important to me and i'll get charged by the US Embassy if they won't accept the draft. Something else caught my attention too, the charge was £20 and not the £15 I was told when I ordered it.Anyway, I phoned the HSBC telephone banking number this evening and explained everything to the girl on the line, which was fairly hard due to us not being able to understand each other very well (possibly an Indian call centre). She said that the £20 was correct, as it was an international draft, and just would not let that go despite my assurances that I had been told £15 originally. She also said that they could cancel this draft for £10, and issue me with another one, for another £20 charge!!!!! Despite my frustration, and shock, I remained calm and explained that this was completely unacceptable as HSBC had sent me an unsuitable draft, and had charged me more than was quoted to me at the time of order. The girl just would not budge, so I asked to speak to a manager. She then proceeded to keep talking over the top of me and saying "you need to calm down sir" over and over (on my word, I was being exceptionally calm given the circumstances). She then said that she had no way of knowing if I was being genuine and that the draft was hand-written, poorly, and made out in a manner in which I had asked it not to be and I must go into my branch during working hours and have them verify everything. I'm looking at around two hours away from work to do this, and I wont be paid during my absense.
I am absolutely gobsmacked at all this, is there any chance that my branch will be able to issue me with a fresh draft on the spot, or do I have to wait for it to come in the post? What about the misquoted £15 fee that turned out to be £20??
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