Hopeless Society for Banking inCompetence
Trip Start
Oct 22, 2005
1
99
224
Trip End
Ongoing
London,
United Kingdom
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Now once you have your accounts they will then kindly allow you to make it a joint account and repeat the above verification process with the nominated joint party. BUT DON'T BE FOOLED! Although they will graciously allow the joint party to deposit their wage into the joint account they will not allow them to then access the deposited money. How crazy is that? Although they have verified the nominated persons details and recorded it onto the computer system they will then send out letters asking for proof of their identity before allowing them to have an account. Quite confusing really when they have already mailed you the 12 required cheque, deposit, withdrawal and statement books in duplicate with your name clearly printed on them. Then to make matters even more confusing they send you a letter refusing to give you a card for the apparently non existent account because you "don't meet their criteria at this time".
So you take the letters into the bank (queuing up for 50 minutes of your 60 minute lunch break) to check what other identification is required. The lady at the desk is as confused as you because there you are on the computer as an account holder with everything verified so she puts it down to the fact that the identity verification people don't actually access the computer that holds all the information on you saying you have been verified. I mean why would they? It would make everyone's life easier. We are beginning to realise that some British need things to whinge about and that's why everything is so difficult in this country.
So with that's sorted you walk away happy in the fact you are a fully fledged HSBC customer. As a customer, with your identity verified, you would imagine it would be easy to ring HSBC and change your address right? Wrong! Although you are a customer they will not allow you to change you address because you can't tell them what the last transaction on the accounts are. You don't have a card to access the account so how the hell would you know? After a frustrating 20 minutes on the phone they recommend you get your partner to change it when she gets home from work.
After a long hard slog at work you inform your partner that she has to ring the bank and change the address. She reluctantly agrees and spends the first ten minutes pushing one button after another trying to get through the computerized answering service to a real person. Finally she hears a human voice on the line but what's that, she can't quite understand through a thick Indian accent what the guy is asking her. Eventually with both parties getting quite terse and short with their sentences she gets through the round of security questions and is allowed to give him her new address. Still more problems arise when the database the guy is using fails to show flat number 10 as the address. After much discussion on why the address doesn't exist in their database and the fact were actually standing in flat 10 he finally gives in and agrees to change it. But alas, even though it is a joint account he will not agree to change your partner's address as well. He insists on talking to him in person.
The phone gets passed to Rick. After ten minutes it is established that although he is a customer and has the 12 different withdrawal, deposit and cheque books, has money being deposited into the account along the whole process of setting it up and reconfirming their identity the bank didn't bother to send him out his security number that would allow him to access it! So what is the solution? Give him one over the phone? Oh no, the only way to get one is to have it sent out to you and the problem with that is what? The time delay or the frustration? No, it's the fact that you are ringing the bank to change you address because you no longer live at the address they have listed and you want you mail coming to your new address but they wont allow you to change it because you don't have a security password but their solution is to send you a password to an address you no longer live at and have no access to.
What the hell is wrong with this country?
PS. It took another two visits to the bank to again reconfirm the reconfirmation of Rick's identity, another visit get the address changed and request a bank card, followed by a final visit to pickup the card as they didn't trust the fact I'd just changed address and wanted a card (why would I want a card to access my hard earned money I wonder?). The security details finally arrived in the post. HSBC's motto is The World's Local Bank and our business with them this lifetime will be localised to our experiences in London.
