Feb 26, 2019 01:20 AM
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This post is for people out there who are considering owning an HSBC credit card or who unluckily already own one. A quick suggestion: read through my experience and then decide if you should ever have a banking relationship with HSBC, HSBC Bank - Mg Road:
Till recently I considered all the private consumer banks to be part of the same bucket, without much to differentiate – similar looking cards, services, cross-selling, nagging call centers, offers and freebies, dispute resolution processes, et al.
But then I interacted with HSBC and Citi for disputing similar set of fraudulent transactions on my credit/debit cards and trust me - the contrast couldn’t have been starker.
To put things in context - I had traveled to Russia from 10th-17th July 2018. And I was robbed in St Petersburg, Russia on 13th July 2018. My wallet(having my credit cards) and my mobile were taken.
I immediately filed an FIR with St Petersburg police and got an attestation letter from the Indian embassy in St Petersburg. I reached out to the bank helpline and blocked the card as soon(within 48 hours) as I could get phone/internet access.
The customer care representative assured me that once the transactions get billed, I can dispute it by filling a dispute resolution form. A temporary credit would then be provided till the time investigation/insurance claim is settled(generally takes 30-45 days).
Since that day, I have followed-up with HSBC multiple times, written tonnes of emails, provided proofs, escalated to nodal officers, followed-up on credit card insurance, talked to credit card branch managers(who just kept on giving false assurances of a proper investigation) and collection agents. But to no avail - HSBC has been the most incompetent and unresponsive bank I have ever interacted.
It has been over SEVEN months since I registered the complaint with the bank. Instead of providing a resolution as per extant RBI guidelines, all that HSBC has provided till now is misleading responses, mental agony, and harassment.
As a customer, I followed the due process:
1.I did not share the PIN; In fact, the fraudulent transactions went through without a PIN
2.I blocked the credit card and reported the incident as soon(14th July) as got access to the internet/phone.
3.I was using a local SIM in my mobile phone. And the Indian mobile SIM card(i.e. my registered mobile number) was safely at my place of residence. So the robbers could not have used the OTP for validating the transaction.
4.I got the robbery complaint registered with the local police(St Petersburg, Russia) and got an acknowledgment letter from India embassy.
As a bank, HSBC bank should have followed below mentioned RBI guidelines(Customer Protection – Limiting Liability of Customers in Unauthorised Electronic Banking Transactions https://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/notification/PDFs/NOTI15D620D2C4D2CA4A33AABC928
CA6204B19.PDF):
1.Zero Liability for the customer when a third party is at fault - Transactions went through without PIN authentication in a foreign location.
2.Reversal Timeline of 10 working days – Although it has been over seven months, the bank has not provided shadow credit of any kind; instead I am being threatened to make payments.
3.The burden of proof on the bank in case if they suspect any customer liability – No response from the bank.
But HSBC, with its shambolic process of dispute resolution and scant regard for RBI guidelines, is out-rightly refusing to follow any of the above-mentioned guidelines.
These fraudulent transactions also happened on CITI credit AND debit card via the SAME merchants and WITHOUT PIN authentication. But, unlike HSBC, CITI followed the guidelines and provided shadow credit within 4-5 days of filing dispute form and have now reversed ALL the transactions after 3-4 months of thorough investigation.
HSBC has already messed up my CIBIL score and to top it all, taking the mental harassment up another notch, instead of the regular collection call, yesterday I received a legal notice from them threatening to file a criminal/civil case if I fail to pay up.
Not the one to get bogged down and as an informed customer, aware of my rights, I would file a case in the consumer court and fight it out.
To summarize – my advice – DON’T EVER GET INTO A BANKING RELATIONSHIP WITH HSBC! If you get an option go with CITI!
