“Bad customer service - why does it always take at least 20 minutes to get a human on the 'phone? Other financial institutions don't have this problem.”
“It seems nobody takes phone calls at the call centre, complaints are not responded. HSBC customer service sucks big time. Leaving this awful and disgraceful service”
“Disgusting service
I am 52 years old and I'm accused of fraud!!
If the bank was doing there job this wouldn't have happened then to speak to me rudely put my children through distress!”
“H.s.b.c, what a joke....in branch service average no better or worse than any other bank....staff are helpful when you can manage to get to speak to someone,tried on MANY MANY occasions to speak to there customer service team with an average waiting time of no less than 25 minutes if your very lucky but 9 times out of 10 just given up through frustration of endless waiting awful music and when and if you are lucky enough to get through people don't return your calls as arranged with any follow up info.......so in reality only worth 3% out of ten and thats being generous as in branch staff are slightly more helpful....its not like this mass corporation are being intrusted with the every day mans finances,you would expect a lot more from a multi million pound corporation but when you can't evan get to speak to someone in less that 25 minutes when you need there advice you have to wonder weather its time to move banks to 1 of the other unless providers...POOR POOR POOR”
“Very difficult to get hold of! Took me three days to contact the right person to book an appointment. We were given the wrong information with regards to our mortgage details which meant we wasted months of our time and we're still in a predicament now! I would not recommend hsbc to anyone!”
“HSBC is another of those business models built an building around cheap or no service - customers to do it for themselves. Branch staff try to be helpful but are stuck with HSBC process. Just spent 20 minutes waiting for HSBC to answer the phone returning their call from the security department that wanted me to discuss details of a payment and my security details when on a packed train. Operator was virtually unintelligble. No point in trying the branch for help as 'computer say no' - again.”
“Have just abandoned my application to open a business Account with HSBC, after being dragged through weeks of the application process, due to them unnecessarily applying FATCA to Limited company applicants, at this time. I have spent weeks chasing their customer service team, making formal complaints which have not hastened the process or resulted in anybody taking responsibility for the delays. I have been lied to about the length of time the process should take. HSBC obviously didn't put their money where their mouth is, in terms of ensuring that they had sufficiently trained staff in adequate numbers to deal with this.
I have had to chase them all the way through the process, regardless of trying to escalate complaints. After being told that I would receive a telephone interview at 5 PM today, in order to finalise the matter and open my Account, I was actually called at 5:40 PM and was told that I'd missed out a tick in one of the boxes, but a colleague had been trying to reach me on the telephone to let me know. This transpired to be another lie, as I there is no record of any call from them.
I decided to call Santander to ask them how long the process would take with them. I went through the whole process over the telephone, received first class for customer service and my business account was opened after 40 minutes! I was told that I wasn't the first disgruntled customer who had become sick of the appallingly poor service from HSBC and had called them. If only I'd done this six weeks ago!
I wouldn't give HSBC my custom if they paid me. And absolutely horrible experience over the past six weeks that has caused much stress and taken up far too much of my life.”
“Can't get through to Customer Service Desk. Has any HSBC directors tested this service and if so, are they proud of the service they offer to their VALUED CUSTOMERS?”
“HSBC worst bank ever I will never use it again, stay away from this bank. I called twice and I didn't get resolve my problem. I have to wait for something.”
“Horrible customer service. Person I spoke to on the phone had such an attitude on her. When I explained about why I needed an extension on my over draft and asked what I was supposed to do in terms of finances, she said I was just going to have to deal with the charges and I would have to cut down on luxuries, which I was not impressed about, seeing as me and my fiance have not had any luxuries in months. In the end I had to put the phone down on her in case I started shouting. Really useless, unhelpful people.”
“This is the worst experience then in other countries around the world I have ( includes third world countries). HSBC Central London - never ever!
I went to branch to open new bank account (just REGULAR f-ing bank account!!!)
I brought all required documents with me, guy told me he don´t know the company, so he send me to different branch (maybe there would be someone who does).
I went there, very nice guy made me bank account. So nice, that he put my address wrongly - even when it was written in front of him on paper from my employer. I found it after 2 weeks endless waiting for the card. I came to branch - told what happened, they told me to call customer service from their phone. So I did. I understand every third word in their ´very well maintained´ phone, but nothing solved. So I went different branch, where was possible to do it with human being, amazing. My card arrived after 2-3 days, I went to online banking to active it, didn´t pass through mobile password because they blocked my phone banking. So I tried different way to log in, blocked my online banking and give me a sign to call customer service. I called customer service, after 20 minutes waiting, operator told me to go to branch with id. I went to branch with id, they checked, told me it´s okay (indian headshake) and you can call customer service and make reset. I went home, called customer service, they told me it´s blocked and go to branch with your id.
Instead of taking care about my stuff as a new person in London, I have to spend my time running around HSBC branches, because.... Honestly, I don´t know why !!!!!”
“TERRIBLE customer service and not worth the 1 star!!
Total lack of customer service when dealing with my recent mortgage application over the phone as i travel a lot with work. Rather than dealing with 1 person I was passed around the houses and I dealt with over 45 different staff, all giving me different information to the last.
They cost me time and money by giving me wrong information on numerous occasions. If i was not so advanced with my mortgage application and in danger of losing my new property i would have cancelled the application and moved banks.
I was also in the process of opening an ex-pat account and transferring my saving to HSBC but after the inept service i received from HSBC staff i decided to stay with lloyds and i would recommend people to avoid HSBC as they have no care for their customers and only care about taking your money!!”
“I've been living in the UK for several months now and decided to open up a bank account at HSBC. The customer services is an insolence and I recommend everybody who considers opening an account here to rethink and go somewhere else!! Worst bank ever”
“I'm writing as a completely disappointed and disgusted customer for the service I have so far received from HSBC. I applied for a current account online in July and sent off my proof of address by post as requested. I was then asked to take my proof of identity to my local branch which I did in August. I was told that this would be sent off and my application would be processed and my account opened. Since I had not received any information back right up till September from the bank I called in to check the progress of application, only to hear that apparently I had not sent in my proof of identity. After half an hour of talking with different representatives and being told to hold whilst they continued to direct me to someone else that may handle it 'better' I'm told that actually my proof of identity has been scanned in and they don't know why I haven't received my card. I was then told to call in the next day and that my account should be open by 'tommorow' when infact I had to go through the whole process again the next day and had to hear the same thing from the customer service.
I called in again a few days later and was told to go to my local branch with all my documents again. I am completely surprised at the level of mistrust within the bank between colleagues when the lady that was dealing with my application was told that although the customers documents had been scanned in by the branch and the documents are visible on the system, they would not confirm them. Neither did they accept that she had my passport right before her to confirm what was already on the system.
I am now told to wait, once again, for another seven days for my application to be accepted, three month since I applied for it. I think it's ridiculous and completely disrespectful that I have to wait so long and provide my document and be constantly calling in for the progress of my application when it should only take around one week to open an account. I am completely discouraged from a bank that cannot remain organised and process something as simple as opening a current account where the customer is not taken seriously and has to constantly call in to check whether they are receiving the basic mentioned service.”
“Please don't think of open international student bank account with HSBC
I am an internationals student who arrived UK in Sept 2015. I need to wait for 3 weeks only able to make my appointment with HSBC bank. HOWEVER, the lady told me I need 9-10 weeks if I plan to open a bank account when I went to the appointment! I'm like r u kidding me, I' m only applying a student account. It mean I only able to get my account maybe next year! Who will wait till 3 months to get an account when other bank able to provide me an account by 1 weeks times! Beside that, the lady ask me to get my parent's bank statement as I'm a self funded student. However, HSBC bank do not state they need this documents in their bank website. And when I go to make an appointment, the person just told me it will be sufficient with my bank introduction letter from university. But, it turn out it was not sufficient when i meet the lady.
I decide to go to Barclay and i able to make my appointment within 1 weeks. I able to get my account number and code by the day I went for the appointment . However, the long waiting time in HSBC had made my life become suffer! As u know sometimes it can be hard to survive in UK without a card. I might even passed the due date for me to complete my student registration with university if I wait for the bank card to arrive. This was my personal experience with HSBC! Anyone can still go for HSBC if they prefer it.”
“HSBC customer service is a joke. After staying on the phone for over 2hrs as an advance customer, my issue was not resolved - so terrible. The worse thing is those telephone banking experts do not seem to know the bank policies - you wonder how HSBC recruits these ones. They talk as if they care about their customers but run into an issue especially when on a vacation which is clearly not your fault and they'll show you who they really are. HSBC is not a reliable bank.”
