HSBC Horror Stories

KS in Wisconsin said: “Regarding “WC” in Minnesota and helping customers I say Phooey to them, sounds like HSBC SOS to me. I have friends who work for the company in 25 different states including MN, and they all report that Customer Service is only to be handled by a Sales Assistant only! I confirmed with them my original report, and they agree that no Assistant manager or Branch Sales manager has the slightest interest in customer service, rather production and Insurance sales are the main issues of interest. I know the Regional Manager real well for “WC” and know for a fact they hide from such calls, as do the district managers and sales manager’s.

I attended a town meeting and heard all about how the role of the branch is to sell, sell, sell and that the branch people aren’t paid to answer concerns or complaints from customers. We were all reminded at this meeting to refer such calls to customer service, wait for them to pick up the call, and transfer it ASAP. Everyone in the company knows that the calls go to Dehli, and that branch people can’t even understand them!

Sure, I once made the mistake of trying to handle a customer service call, based on my over 20 years of financial experience, but could never answer the question presented as my District manager who was visiting ordered me to transfer the call to customer service. After I made the transfer I got a verbal warning for wasting time on something that wouldn’t pay me a commission at the end of the month. I know for a fact, that HFC/Beneficial has some of the lowest ratings for service throughout the company. At every monthly meeting such numbers were always discussed.

Just before I left, company policy was changed so that no loan closing could end until the manager was assured by the customer that they were satisfied with the loan and loan process. If they weren’t the manager had to find ways to make the customer happy, and if the manager couldn’t, a call was made to the District Manager and or Regional manager.

This was followed up by a minimum of 3 customer follow up calls, 1 made by the Branch manager, 1 by Quality Assurance and 1 by someone else in the company just to make sure the customers were happy with the loan rep, the loan process and the signing. So, to believe that HSBC (HFC/Beneficial) is great at customer service, why is it they have to harass its customers with 3 calls to CYA? If you don’t believe this is the truth, why not call a branch and try to get a rational answer, but before you do, better get an East Indian for a translator!”

Editor’s note: In a related article that reported HSBC had the highest rate of identity theft, other websites are reporting that specialists in those departments were rude to customers that experienced identity theft.