HSBC customer services now angers Canadians

TM in Canada said: “I have been a client with HSBC for two years in Vancouver BC at the Granville location. I have had a checking account with them for the full two years but had never written a cheque. I went in to another branch as it was more convenient and asked to have some temporary cheques made up. I was then told that there was a note on my account saying that I had no cheque writing privileges, I was told to contact my own branch.

When I contacted my branch no one could figure out why that note was there. I was passed to several people when I was finally informed that I couldn’t write cheques because my credit score was too low. I asked why I needed a high credit score to access my own money; the money was in the account so why couldn’t I use it?

They asked if they could do another credit check (lowering my score of course) and they informed me it was still too low. The number the woman gave me was absurd, she told me my score was 218, a number that doesn’t even make sense, I then checked it myself, with the same credit company they use and discovered that my score is in fact over 700 (not great but not too bad either.)

I called and explained how displeased I was with the service and was told that if I wish to close my account I should go into the branch and they would arrange it. No one even tried to right this situation. Infuriated I called their Canadian customer service and was transferred back to my branch so that this could be further investigated. No one ever called me back. When I called back I was told that there was no record of any of this happening and that there was no note on my file saying that I couldn’t write cheques.

I was given some cheques and wrote one for a small amount. When my friend cashed it his bank called him saying that my bank doesn’t allow me to write cheques and so he could not deposit it, even though there was about ten times as much money as needed in my account, it bounced. When I called my branch they told me that they had already explained to me that I couldn’t write cheques.

Not one person apologized for the huge inconvenience I had incurred; they blamed me for the situation. Does HSBC not have concrete policies with regards to checking accounts,…and why do I need credit to access my own money? After two years of always having a rather high balance in my account, I still couldn’t write a check. I have now had TD do an easy switch for me, and I couldn’t be happier.……I can actually access my own money. Lesson learned…..HSBC, worst customer service ever!”