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June 17, 2008
Deceptive Business Practices
I am so fed up and disgusted with this bank; it by far the WORST bank I have ever dealt with in my life. As for my specific complaint: HSBC Customer Service Reps appear to have a policy that encourages them to deceive customers about their actual and real available balance so that customers will go into overdraft and incur fees. On three separate occasions I called up HSBC customer service and asked for an accurate balance, taking into account all pending charges (that they can see right there on their screen) and all three times I was given false information, leading to my going into overdraft and incurring fees. The last and final time this happened was this past Saturday, when knowing full well that I had a pending transaction for $150, I called up customer service and asked them if the $150 in my checking account was available or if there was a pending transaction to which it was already tied. I was told that it was totally available and that there were no pending transactions - this was a flat out lie. I took the money out of my account, and sure enough, the next day I was at a negative balance, with all types of overdraft fees. I went to a branch and told them that I had evidence that either they had criminally inept customer service reps, or (more likely) they had a policy of withholding information from their customers when doing so would incur fees. I was thanked for pointing out the problem, and promised that it would be kicked up to upper management. Bottom line: HSBC engages in deceptive, fraudulent, and criminal practices, and I STRONGLY recommend that you consider another bank.
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