World Local Bank as known to many but to me seriously it is going to be the worst local bank pretty soon. Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) is currently one of the worst Bank I had ever experience with due to their poor management system and how they really process the customer information.
As a customer to HSBC for about a year now I am suddendly being inform that I was not in a programme which I am suppose to be in for the last one year. What so weird is that actually receive balance statements from the bank since day one till now about my balance in the programme! So how am I not in the programme when I actually being receiving statements on my involvement in the programme for the past one year.
Also why is it that I am being told that I am not in the programme after I pressure them for my reward points to be credited into my credit card which I am suppose to get when I signed up for the programme one year ago? Do note that this was what that was promised to me a year ago when I signup that my reward points were to be kept valid for one year so that I can apply for their credit cards and have it credited to my account. Are they trying to “eat” my points by claiming that I am not in the programme so cannot give me my points? If this is so I think they really mess with the wrong guy.
Now the main concern on my side is to find out what in the hell happen that can cause my status to be out of the programme. Also who was the one responsible for all these. As of tomorrow I will stop all my transactions with HSBC until my status issue is resolve and the person/application responsible is dealt with. I also strongly urge all bloggers/readers of my blog to double confirm their banking status with HSBC just to make sure that what happen to me did not happen to you as well.
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8 comments
ya, HSBC sucks. I'm one unhappy customer too. I referred 3 ppl to sign up their credit cards, 2 did sign up. While anxiously waiting for the Isetan voucher to be mailed to me, it never did. I called up to check, after so much waiting & call transfer & explaining, I was told that I wasn't recorded as the referer, thus no Isetan voucher for me. Pui!!! From then on, I stopped using the cc, & put it aside. Altho some the perks are quite interesting, I am too pissed to be giving them the biz.
First... cool down. Nothing gets into your head when you are all fired up. That is not dealing with matters effectively.
I have been with HSBC for close to 5 years now, and to be honest, I never had a problem with them with regards to my personal account nor card account. The only time something happened was a repeated charge and they promptly resolved the issue for me.
My personal feel is, you are too emotional (angered) to deal with the matter appropriately too. Like you mentioned, you do not know what exactly went wrong so, I feel it's a little too much to label a bank "trying to eat your points" outright when you have not received the facts.
The other thing is, as long as they resolved it, why bother to be harsh? All of us are humans, we do make mistakes. I am sure at some point you make completely stupid and silly mistakes in school or at work. Does anybody condemn you to hell? I guess not. Sometimes, live and let live.
Last but not least, for those of us whom have had credit cards for years, the reward points mean nothing much to us. In fact, some of us don't even bother to check the points until close to expiry, OR we happen to see something interesting then we check if we have enough points to go for it. It's like, you can afford the credit card bills, what is this little bit of points? If we have to scrumb even to every little single tiny bit... I think we are better off without a card. Save the hassle.
ET: Well if they had promptly resolved my issues (at if they at least try) I would be happy to let them do their own checks however when 3 different people gave 3 different sets of answers to one single problem I really wonder how effective are they.
I am been with UOB for close to 10 years, POSB some 15 years now and so far my experiences with them are pretty good. HSBC for the past 1 year is good and the whole issue came when I started asking regarding the rewards points. Also it is not a matter of being harsh to fellow humans but rather if things are wrong one must find out what is the root of the problem and fixed it. I had previously rise an issue to HSBC regarding a bug in their online credit card application and that it will cause some problem to people who signup and hopefully they will change it soon cos I know what the root of the problem but they dun.
As for rewards points well it is not a must cos I also throw award lots and lots of point from my UOB credit card but hey once in a while I still go for the rewards. Maybe it is only to me but I feel that the reward points are what I should be getting since I had signup for the programme and I should be getting it. If something which was suppose to be given to you and not given will you question why?
As to why I consider this a major screw up is because my previous investment (this is in term of thousands of dollars) is not recorded in their system. So if someone suddendly find thousands of dollars not recorded I think least is to question what happen right?
Lastly it never hurt to double check and to be on the safe side since at the end of the day it is still hard earn money involved.
alle: Well I had not recommended anyone to HSBC yet but UOB I did a couple of times but they dun give rewards. :) I think at the end of the day we recommend things to our friends becos we want them to benefit from it. UOB cards are good cos they give pretty good dinning discounts :)
Sometime, some humans in banking industry did a mistake intentionally or unintentionally, like what my mom experienced got from the so called world bank Citibank :)
The so called fixed time deposit that already sign and given the paper to my mom on February(interest rate fixed for 1 year), some 3 months after that(May) a letter from Citibank, tell my mom that her deposit(6 figures) has been divided by 4 amounts, 1 deposited on april, and 3 amounts deposited on may(note that each ammounts have different interest rate, so my mom entitled an interest s$100 from the 1st amounts, and she snaps, and ask my brother to call the agent who did the initial deposit. If they don't want to change back, she will draw her investment.
Result, they said sorry, and the first original deposit cert are the one in used, i said to my mom, that must confirm again, wait next year the bank said different things then it really funny.
I cannot do anything since, she went to make the deposit with my brother(my brother really doesn't care about this stuff) i actually ask my brother to pestering them, ask what really happen and such, and he said the matter is solved so don't make a big fuss about it. My brother never tell me the excuse that the bank gave to my mom, so i never really know what happen.
My mother status is a foreigner in SG, so you can imagine if she is not in SG at the letter arrived and she never checked until next year, how much money did the bank eat?
I wrote so long, i guess i will use this comment to make a post entry on my blog >_<
On the contrary, my experience with POSB/DBS was very much worst than HSBC. It happened just a few days ago when I started a new saving accounts to facilitate transferring of money to my parents instead of giving them cheques.
I wasn't told there is a new beeper required when I was at the POSB branch. The rest were all done nicely, ATM card and passbook. I had to find out myself when I try to access my iBanking, and when I called their customer service, it was said that they are supposed to give the beeper right away to new customers. Only current customers receive it through mail. I wasn't told at all. Nobody mention a thing about that login beeper, and best of all, I didn't see any poster out in the open to indicate anything. Eventually, had to make three trips to verify everything and tomorrow I am supposed to make a fourth trip to collect my beeper from the branch. Figure that. It pisses me off, but I didn't really kick up a fuss at the bank still.
Compared to investments and such, this credit card is actually very trivial. I do see a problem with them failing to conduct the checks for you, they should have. For us, we needn't get down so hard for them. Every bank has a story of their own to tell. There isn't a single bank without any complaints at all.
ET: Well said on there isn't a single bank without any complaints at all.
I hope you dun misunderstood me cos it seem like you are thinking that I am angry with HSBC over this issue. Lets put it this way if I am angry I dun think I will even bother to post and follow up on the comments. So as of now I just want to find out what is the root of the problem and prevent it from happening again to me and fellow bloggers/readers. And in my view this is indeed a major screw up on HSBC side which 2 of their staff agreed as well.
Get the problem fixed, find out the cause of the problem and work to prevent it from happening again. That is what we should do and in order to achieve this, we as consumes must find out on our side the cause of highlight it to them.
At least this is what I think should be done to get some QoS and safe-guard our interest. :)
Keep me updated ya... or write a new post for that. I'm keen to find out what exactly happen in your case, since I am a HSBC card-holder too.
ET: No problem dude. Will create a new post on any new updates the Call Center side can provide to me. They need time to find out from the backend regarding this so likely end of week then got new updates from them.
Now got 3 parties involve: Me (Consumer), Call Center, Backend (HSBC). The most "poor" guy is the Call Center cos kena sandwiched between consumer and HSBC.
Lastly must thanks the call center for their help in pushing the matter. If not for them I even forget about the reward points which I am suppose to get :)
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