The HSBC Credit Card trauma continues

I thank my friends who egged my on to continue the fight against the bullying. And I apologize to all of you because I caved in, agreed to settle up by paying up for something some thief bought (proved by the charge-slips sent to me by HSBC, which obviously the retailer didn’t verify):

There is still a part of me which winces at the thought of paying up. Just encourages them to continue doing what they do (just try looking it up on the Internet you’ll find more cases than you’ll have time to read through), but I have my reasons:

1. I do not have the time, money or energy to fight through the courts.
2. I do not want to start another year with a debt in my name (no matter who was responsible).
3. I have had ENOUGH.

 I do not want to spend everyday of the rest of my life talking someone calling on behalf of HSBC. I have developed a high degree of HSBC phobia-I do not want to do anything with that name again.

So much that when a guy popped up from behind the grocery counter at a supermarket with forms for a “free” credit card on which I get points every time I shopped there-the HSBC logo was the first thing I spotted.

NOOOOOOOO! I don’t want a HSBC card.

Ma’am this is the Supermarket card. It is free. You will get special offers………

Yeah. But the credit card company is still the same. They have been harassing me for the last six months. You want to know how many other victims have faced the same.

It’s ok Ma’am. 

He pops back behind the counter just as fast, as he notices other potential targets paying asking me for more details..

I tell them. And I also tell them not to go by just my story.

Before you sign up for any credit card, please read through all the fine print on the form and also on the respective website (the forms don’t have it all).

And read all the reviews and user experiences on independent web sites/blogs/forums...... wherever.

Had I done that I would have never signed up for this one!

As for the bank, I am sooooooooo done with them that even when they wrote to me to say they are reporting me for default, and that they have reduced my credit limit to zero, I didn’t write back telling them what they can do with their credit limit.

Just wrote this hoping that this is closure, and I and anyone else for that matter, never have to deal with this organization ever again.

HSBC Credit Card and the unending trauma

These are the details of my experience as a HSBC Credit Card holder.

You can help me and possibly many others like me by circulating this link, taking the time to read this post, and advising me on what are my options now.

If you are the independent type who believes in not learning from other people’s experiences, please continue using your HSBC Credit Card.

26^th April 2009

After a long day out the previous day, as I was keeping away all the shopping and arranging my bag-I notice that my credit card pouch is missing.

I go down, check in the car, all around the house and then not to take any risks, call up the Banks.

ICICI assures me there has been no misuse, blocks the card.

HSBC-yes there has been a series of transactions-of amounts adding up to approx 10K,, blocks the card and advices me to log a complaint with the police and drop a copy of that complaint to the nearest branch or ATM.

I drop everything I was doing to rush and do all that.

I couldn’t submit the papers to HSBC because there is no-one at the Branch on a Sunday and I was not comfortable dropping them at the ATM collection box.

//They have delayed picking up my bill payments at least 3-4 times, and have also added late payment charges, finance charges and taxes on those charges.

Yes they reverse the charges if you call and fire them and spend about 20-40 minutes each time. On the fourth instance I had asked them why they do it then-just pushing their luck and hoping we pay up?

Of course not Ma’am it is all system generated.//

I never knew how this term will come back to haunt me…

27^th April 2009:

I call up office, reschedule work because I am going to be late and am at HSBC, M.G. Road Bangalore Branch at sharp 10.00 am (And I thought only Govt. offices opened after 10). There are two employees of the Bank smoking outside a locked door-Ma’am today is a holiday-it’s Basavraja Jayanti (or something similar).

Oh but all offices I know of are working, the kids are at school……anyway, since you are here, can’t you just accept my papers…

No Ma’am you have to submit it at the counter, or you can drop it in the collection box

Heck, I’ll have to take time off tomorrow also, but no, I am not risking the drop-box.

28^th April 2009:

Again a round of explanations and I leave office early to arrive at the same bank at 5.00 pm-and learn that they close customer hours at 4.00pm. Oh I am so sorry,( I never thought a Multinational Private Bank would do that) anyway I just need to give you these papers….

I think it is enough to say I have had much more professional experiences in our much maligned “sarkari” departments.

I am pointed towards the drop-box, I recall my experiences, and decide to take a half-day off the next day and come back.

29^th April 2009:

I finally get to a collection counter, where the guy is not interested in listening to me or looking through the papers. I insist on a receipt; he stamps the photocopies of my complaint and the only response I am able to get out of him is that they’ll investigate and get back in 30-45 days. I am thrilled I finally did it!!!!!

27^th July 2009:

I have been calling HSBC customer-care every week…

• Ma’am your card is still under investigation.. please call us in 5 working days……….
• Ma’am the bill is System Generated.
• Yes Ma’am you can delay payment for now. Yes the charges are System Generated— these will be reverted…
• Please wait for the investigation to be over……..
• Yes Ma’am, it’s still under investigation, I have logged a fresh complaint, please note down your complaint number and call us after 5 working days……….

On the other hand, HSBC had generated three monthly bills for the disputed amount levying the finance charges, the late payment charges, the taxes on the charges, the fine for not paying the minimum amount and the collection department of HSBC has been hounding me to the point that I am heading towards a nervous breakdown and recurrent asthma attacks.

I was getting an average of 5 calls per day and they were really nasty……..

• Yes, the System has generated my number among the defaulters…
• No, they do not have any “System Generated” update from investigation department…could I fax them the details..

I faxed the entire set of documents to a number given by the collection department of HSBC, and to another number for Credit Card products that I found on the HSBC website…….

• I get more calls……no they have not received the fax, neither has calling customer care again helped….

I fax the papers again……

• The calls continue……..

I threaten to go to the police and report them for harassment….

• I am very sorry, the guy changes his tone, but Ma’am your number has come to the collection department because you haven’t paid the minimum amount due…….
• Yes, I know the details, but Ma’am we are not even dialing the numbers manually, it is System Generated..
• No Ma’am, I cannot update it my end…..yes you know what he said.

Meanwhile………

• I also wrote to the Nodal Officer for customer grievances…the only email id I found on the HSBC website.
• I got a System Generated response saying I would get an update in two working days.
• After 6 days I wrote back asking for the update.
• I got the same System Generated response saying I would get an update in two working days.
• Same response on the investigation from the customer care number.

Isn’t it quite like the Gabbar Singh sequences where he sets a prisoner free to run for his life and sets the dogs and the bullets after him?

What can I do to make them stop? To make them tell me what they have been investigating for the last three months? To make sure others don't have to go through a similiar experience?