“Nothing really triggered an alarm for me until I was unable to receive a money transfer from my husband based in the US. I waited one month and called more than twice a week to follow my case and even dropped by the branch to follow up. After a month they sent the money back to my husband (without informing me), and when I asked for why it occured the clerk informed me that my name had been associated with criminal activity and when I spoke to the manager he informed me that it is my husbands name that is a homonym for criminal activity. Both of which are untrue. We both hold accounts in the US and have never had any problems receiving or sending money until our association with HSBC. I asked for a written explanation as to the problems that we faced and I was told that HSBC was not allowed to do so in writing. I suggest looking for another bank because the lack of professionalism is endless.”
“If you have any accounts with HSBC France then BEWARE. If you are an executor of a will or an inheritor, you will receive no co-operation from this bank, nor will you see the money! Sounds far-fetched? It’s not – that’s exactly what has happened to us. After 100 days, 20+ communications by letter, by email, by telephone, and in person – we still do not know details of my mother’s accounts, whether they have been blocked, what interest was paid to those accounts before her death, what the balance of those accounts is, and we have not received a single communication about her private banking account. When you complain they just fob you off, they say they have passed it on to the relevant department and then you hear absolutely nothing. If you call the telephone number they give you for the “succession” department, nobody ever answers that number. The branch manager where she banked, at Mandelieu, doesn’t want to know and even M. François Essertel, their Head of Private Banking doesn’t want to know. We’ve had to go to the AMF (French Ombudsman) because it is pointless trying to communicate with them. They just don't reply.
That is HSBC France’s idea of good customer service for bereaved families!”
