Nov 04, 2009 01:58 AM
5393 Views
(Updated Nov 04, 2009 02:08 AM)
The review is not applicable to the entire HSBC community of banks but goes against the single branch in Thiruvananthapuram. We hold an HSBC account with the Abu Dhabi branch (been around five to six years) and are quite satisfied by their service. But we had an experience while we were in India and I cannot help noting it down here on this page of mouth shut.
So me and my husband, left for India on October first. Our mind was preoccupied by the rocking time we were going to have once we got to our very own beautiful country. To make sure that nothing goes wrong, we called up our local branch of HSBC to know whether our account is perfectly fine. They assured us that nothing was wrong and we happily set off across the sea.
So once we reached India, we made up all the plans for a vacation. So after all the plans and maps had been set, we tried the very own HSBC (thiruvananthapuram)’s ATM counter that is glued to their bank. My husband came back with three strips all asking us to contact the bank . He was not able to withdraw the money. So my husband walked in to the bank and out and I saw that his face was red.
Me: “What happened?”
Him: “The front desk asked me to contact the local branch, She says the account could be frozen for security reasons.”
Me: “But we checked before leaving... “
Him: “that woman at the front desk was rude. She cut me short when I tried to explain. Asked me to listen to her and told me to go and call my local branch.”
I brooded while my husband rung up our local branch. So we were two penniless souls in India calling up ISD for customer support for an international bank.
My husband explained the situation. But the woman at the other end asked him to check on the TVM branch bank/ local bank since we were in India. My husband told her that TVM branch had asked us to call them. So after listening to this, that woman (God bless her) decided to stay with us. She checked on all the details, assured us that HSBC doesn’t do any security freezes and as far as they know our account is working just fine. She told us that it could be the problem of the ATM Machine or that of the ATM card. She asked us to clean the card and try again. Or to try another bank ATM with the same technique of that of the HSBC ATM. So after an ISD call worth 200 bucks, we hit the HDFC ATM and swiped the card, which surprisingly churned out money as if we were HDFC’s own account holders.
My husband came back and I was quite adamant about something. To go back to the HSBC branch, see the Front Desk Madame and give her a piece of my mind. So we reached HSBC and decided to lodge a complaint against her. But luckily her manager was in a meeting. After sometime I thought why to screw up somebody’s job. So we decided to tell her and leave. But our Madame took out her attitude again.
Hubby: “What did you say when I asked you why the ATM did not work?”
Mad: “uh??”
Hubby:” You told me that it does not work because of the security freeze.”
Mad: “So??”
Me : “We called up the local Abu dhabi branch. They said they don’t have any freezes.”
Mad: “I said some banks normally do it.”
Hubby: “I don’t hold an account with some bank, I asked about HSBC”
Mad: “HSBC has done it”
Hubby: “ but did you check?”
Mad: “We don’t have to... its with your local bank”
Me: “For God sake, HSBC is an international bank, when I am in India, when I am here - you are my local bank.... you are my customer support, not someone across the seas. That’s why people hold an account with HSBC...”
Mad: “Its not like that...”
Me: “ Look , your machine was not working, the one next to you and to know that we had to ring up someone in abu dhabi and ask her. So she can ask us to go ahead and try the card in an HDFC ATM? You must be kidding.....”
Hubby: “First of all you should listen to the people, you are here as the cutomer support, when a person comes in lend an ear and the last before I leave let me tell you something, you should not be here on the front desk... its HSBC’s mistake.”
HSBC’s customer support is just great here in UAE [ you might already realise it from the story] but this woman at the Fronst desk really got on my nerves. For one thing, when we got to her first, we were worried about our account because we were not travelling with money and had relied on the debit card and Credit card. But instead of staying with us and trying to sort out the problem, she had been rude and impolite asking us to scram as if we were there to beg for money. Being an international bank, they should have supported us but we had to call abroad to get our so called customer support. We had to pay extra money since we were doing the with drawal from HDFC. But whose problem is it? Ours?? I don’t think so!!! The HSBC in Abu dhabi??? It was the very famous Trivandrum branch’s ATM machine ?? so why is then that we have to pay?? Thats another matter.... why is the discourteous reply from the customer support while they were solely responsible for the entire dilemma??
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