HSBC Watch News Release Forum Index
Forum Name: - Opinions
Topic Title: Copy of Letter to Household - HSBC
Sat Jan 08, 2005 12:45 am
This is a copy of a letter a customer sent to Household - HSBC Finance Corporation. The customer said he thought Household Watch would find it interesting, which we do:
CERTIFIED #7004 1160 0006 5485 7404
Re: Account xxxx-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sir:
During July or August 2003 your company sent me a written offer of a credit card. The offer had an initial interest rate of 0% for the first 6 billing periods and 14.74% thereafter with no annual fee. The card was issued but you actually billed interest at a rate of 17.99% from the beginning of the account.
On 5 October 2004 at 7:00 PM I called your customer service 800 number. The representitive who answered had a very poor attitude, insisted there was nothing that could be done, and that there was no one above her I could talk to about my problem. I finally told her that payments on the account would be suspended until I spoke to a supervisor. She still insisted there was no one above her willing to speak to me. At this point the next payment wasn't due for 3 weeks and I expected a supervisor to call me back and straighten out the problem. No legitimate company would refuse to allow a customer with a problem to speak to a supervisor. No one ever called back.
On 2 November 2004 at 11:49 AM I received a call from your collections department asking about the payment. I explained about the rate problem and was transferred to customer service. I explained to the man who answered and he said he couldn't do anything but would transfer me to the "floor supervisor". I find it interesting that your company won't allow customer's with current accounts speak to supervisors. Only when payments are suspended is it possible to speak to a supervisor. I spoke to a woman named Tracy and explained again. She said she would take care of fixing the error if I faxed the original rate disclosure to her at 702-243-1550 Attn: HCSJAW. I did so at 2:55 PM the same day. I expected her to take care of the problem when she received the fax.
On 9 November 2004 at 8:00 AM I received another call from collections. I explained again and was transferred to customer service again. I explained again and the representitive put me on hold and checked with a supervisor. He came back and said the fax was received and forwarded to another department for action and that it would take about 10 days to process. He also said I would receive a letter when it was processed.
On 16 November 2004 at 8:00 AM I received another call from collections. I explained again and was transferred to a supervisor, Jarad Olsen. As I began explaining again the call dropped. I called back to the number on the caller ID (800-395-2274) and asked to speak to Jarad Olsen. I was told there was no Jarad Olsen working there. I waited for him to call back since he had my number.
On 23 November 2004, 6:40 PM I received another call from collections. I explained again.
On 30 November 2004 at 8:11 AM I received another call from collections. I explained again and was transferred to "Customer Care". This turned out to be a less friendly collections agent. After I explained the problem to her she claimed that the company gets so many written complaints of Household violating the terms and conditions that it's not unusual for the department that handles it to be over a month behind in processing them. She then tried to get me to resume payments while waiting for them to fix the problem. When I said I was waiting for them to resolve the problem first she said that Household would never correct the violation of the terms until payments were resumed. Between her statements and the fact that a simple error wouldn't take over two months to correct it became obvious that this was not a clerical error as customer service had originally claimed but deliberate fraud on Household's part. At this point I had explained the problem to 11 different people and all claimed to have no authority to fix the problem or transfer me to someone who could.
On 7 December 2004 at 8:05 AM I received another call from collections. Rather that wasting time explaining again I told him to read the notes on the account and have someone who could fix the problem call me.
On 14 December 2004 at 8:13 AM I received another call from collections. I took the time to explain again. He offered to put the account on a "hardship" rate of 9% for 6 months but claimed he couldn't remove the fraudulent interest and overlimit charges. He then transferred me to "Customer Assistance". After 4 or 5 minutes of listening to music and "please have your card number ready" messages I hung up.
On 21 December 2004 at 8:19 AM collections called again. I told him to read the last 2 months of notes on the account and that it would never be paid until the account was correct. He said it would be handled appropriately and hung up on me.
On 28 December 2004 at 8:21 AM collections called again. I told him to read the notes on the account.
On 3 January 2005 at 8:11 AM I received a call from Mike Jones, United Recovery Systems, Houston TX (800-568-0399). He said Household had referred the account to them for collection. I explained everything to him including that one Household caller from collections had claimed that they were deliberately withholding correcting the account. I told him that everyone at Household I spoke to claimed that they had no authority to correct the problem and that I had expected them to let me talk to someone with authority to correct the error before sending it to an outside collection agency. He offered to settle for $2000 in 3 payments. I told him no, that I'm waiting for Household to correct their problems so that normal payments and use of the account can be resumed. This call was in violation of the Federal Fair Debt Collection Act since Household knew that the entire account was disputed and had not responded to the written dispute sent to customer service on 2 November 2004.
On 5 January 2005 at 8:22 AM I received a call from a woman at United Recovery Systems. I told her to read the notes on the account. This call was also in violation of the Federal Fair Debt Collection Act.
Sat Jan 08, 2005 12:50 am
Looks like nothing changed with poor customer service, poor supervisoy knowledge, and poor officer manager training. This link is "HFC Masters of the Run-around" from 1999:
http://householdwatch.com/wp/2004/07/28/hfc-masters-of-the-run-around
Mon Feb 07, 2005 5:49 pm
You need to file a claim with your state attorney general's office. They will go to bat for you. But I don't think you have a right to suspend payment, it will go against your credit report. You have to pay, then deal with the company. I've been through this before, sad they can do it, but they can.
Tue Feb 22, 2005 6:07 pm
If any one can give me an address to their collections department I would greatly appreciate it. I face loosing my job because of them, but I have a way to beat them if I can get an address. Any help out there??
Tue Feb 22, 2005 6:35 pm
mikeisdabest1@aol.com wrote:
If any one can give me an address to their collections department I would greatly appreciate it. I face loosing my job because of them, but I have a way to beat them if I can get an address. Any help out there??
"address to their collections department" does not specify which part of HSBC, or if the account has been outsourced to their collections agency. Therefore call their main switchboard at 847-564-5000 and they should be able to direct your call. If you have more specific information we will watch for another reply here. To get specific phone numbers for any HSBC (Household) major location see this nationwide map
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