Household HSBC Watch

Wed Jul 06, 2005 9:47 pm      

Hello -

I now have a feeling my story is just beginning...

I received a call at work yesterday, 7/5/05, from a very fast, quiet and ill-enunciating representative who left a message saying that I need to call an 800-number. When I called, out of sheer curiosity about this odd message, I was told I had not made a payment on my Best Buy card (HSBC) since April of this year. Without bills in front of me, I explained that I had never been late before with my Best Buy card (and couldn't understand why the call was from "collections"), and that I recalled the payment for the end of April, and admitted that I was out of town at the end of May for a few weeks and that I made an immediate payment online upon my return. She asked for the date and the amount of that payment, and I estimated it would have had to occur around the beginning or the middle of June, and that it was for approximately $80.

She said that would be right, because the payment due at that time would have been $80.75. She proceeded to explain that in some cases, when customers make payments online, it is not processed for some reason. She said she would make a note on my account, and gave me the 800-number for their e-commerce group (which is apparently a separate group?). I thanked her and called the e-commerce group when I got home to find out what happened to my payment. I first called my bank to see if the payment was debited, and they said "no." So I called the e-commerce group and they had no record of the payment. The person I talked to was very nice and seemed helpful enough, and said she would waive the $35 late fee if I made an immediate payment.

She said it would cost $15 to do it by phone and recommended that I try it online again, and I did. It seemed to work and is currently pending. That's the best news I have at this point...

I decided to call back, because I was very confused about this payment that seemed to be lost in cyberspace. They do not send an electronic receipt when payments go through, so consumers must assume it worked... The person I reached on my second call was simply unbelievably rude. He said that nobody would have told me that payments are sometimes not processed. I said I wasn't blaming him or anyone - I understand that things happen like that with technology. He huffed and insisted I was lying. I asked him if that's what he was implying, and he said "you, like these other customers who say this, are lying and just didn't make a payment." I was speechless. I became a little irate, and finally said I just wanted to know at this point if this was going to be reported to the credit bureau. He said, "absolutely - you failed to make a payment - it was reported 2 days ago." I then gave up and asked if there was anyone I could talk to about him and about this credit reporting issue, and he said "no - nobody is going to change this for you unless you can PROVE (his emphasis) that it was our fault, and you can't prove anything." I hung up on him at that point.

My next round of calls was a series of 10 and 15 minute holds and people who seemed to not be able to help. I finally learned how to reach customer service (call the toll-free number and when it asks for your account info, press 0##) from another person who couldn't help me. I finally reached a sensible human being, and she was starting to understand everything I was saying. She said I really should have received some other form of notification that my account was 30 days delinquent so that I could have corrected any problems, and she didn't see that anything had been mailed to me. We tried to figure out why that was the case, and she was beginning to lean toward thinking they may need to correct this ding on my report. She connected with that collections group, but then left the call in one fellow's incapable hands. He was confused, but nice, and understood what I was asking, and immediately asked me to hold. I sat until my cell phone was dying and then moved to the wall where I could plug it in. I sat for 14 minutes on hold and then the music changed. A few minutes later, a new person picked up and was completely useless.

He kept interrupting me, saying "I'm sorry to interrupt, but due to the fact of..." and "I'm sorry to interrupt, but in regards to your question you are 'aksing'..." and then would proceed to talk about something entirely different from what I was saying, and then asking for a payment. I told him several times I had already submitted a NEW payment that would hit my account, according to their Web site, in two days. He refused to listen to me, saying they would change absolutely nothing they had reported, and that "the issue is black and white - you didn't make a payment, sir." I explained that in this instance, it may not be so black and white, and he became loud and curt with me.

Once I realized the burden of proof is on the customer - the customer's word against this large entity that has no paper trail in this sort of case, and felt I didn't stand a chance. I asked who else I could talk to, and he said, "I am a supervisor, sir, and I am on the phones helping with calls." Unbelievable.

I had to end that call, because it was totally futile. I don't know what else to do, but have decided to wait until tomorrow, when my new payment is scheduled to process, to call them again. I am thinking that at this point, maybe the reps are too simple to see beyond their notes that a payment is due?

I truly believe an error occurred with their payment Web site and that the payment simply didn't process (I even asked my credit union about the probability of something like that happening, and they said it happens quite often). I also feel like someone should have contacted me BEFORE my account was reported to the credit bureaus (and I don't have any history of being late with payments to them), rather than two days AFTER it was reported. I would like them to correct my credit report, and don't know if there is anything at all I can do in this situation. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks in advance.