Jun 21, 2007 10:50 PM
2913 Views
Alright, when I was a student in the US, I needed wire transfers on a quarterly basis. EVERY single time the friendly folks at HSBC, Mumbai managed to screw things up for me and leave me stranded and broke.
A wire transfer is simple. You need a routing number and these days some banks use a 'Swift' code. Both ensure safe, efficient and hassle-free transfers of your funds to whichever part of the world. Or so I thought.
HSBC took an average of 15 days for each wire transfer while most banks take 1-2 days. One of my payments took almost a month before it was debited into my account in the US. My bank in America is very efficient and deal with wire transfers every day. My international friends never had a problem getting their money. Of course, they didn't bank with HSBC.
Forget delayed wire tranfers for a minute. The morons at this bank somehow take a week to transfer money from one HSBC account to another! Thats just absurd.
They keep telling me that their head office is in Chennai which is where everything is processed. I own an account in Mumbai. Why the hell is Chennai being involved? This slows down everything and lands me into trouble time and again.
Their Credit Card division blows as well. Hidden charges galore. Service charges for no rhyme or reason. HSBC try draining every last penny out of you.
Their customer service is poor. The phone banking is an annoyance rather than a convenience. They ask you for a million numbers to do a simple task like check your account balance. It takes them a week to send you a replacement cheque book.
Basically NOTHING IS STRAIGHT FORWARD AND SIMPLE with these fools.
They try getting you into schemes which may appear benefecial on the surface but Please Dig Deeper. There is ALWAYS some nonsense which you'll come to know about later.
Stay away from this Banking Corporation unless you want to be fuming on a regular basis.
Sorry for the rant but I'm one pissed off customer they won't be seeing again. I've switched over to another far more efficient bank. I suggest you take your money elsewhere as well.
