HSBC "customer service" has deteriorated terribly, particularly the 2 or 3 years. There used to be effective staff, I guess they left Qatar or moved to other banks. Unless they deal with customers having millions QAR with them, they have no inkling what customer service is all about.
Even as a "status" customer, when following up on an issue in my statement I get answers from an officer saying on the phone to me: "I'm too busy.". Best an officer can do is to say something like, "I'm headed for a meeting. What time can I call you?". In the first place I followed-up many times personally with her an told me she will call me, but she didn't. She forgot. And when I follow-up by phone she tells me she's busy. "I'm busy." is a no-no word to say to a customer! Too busy to do business with a customer?!?!
Then there were strange deductions during summers, with incomprehensibly acronymned transation names. Bank officer later tells me that "somebody deducted twice the amount for a loan because expats take holidays during summer season. I never leave Qatar during summer and I never informed HSBC on any of my holidays! So after a week they revert the transaction.
Sometimes there are transactions that officers at the desk can't explain. Calls internally another department
- still no answer. How can the customer understand, when they themselves internally are lost? Says "will get back to you on this" - but they don't.
They charge QR70/mo for "status" customer, but let me wait in queue anyway.
They charge me for replacement of a worn out debit card that "I failed to collect". They said they sent SMS to my phone -- I was out of the country and it never reached me, so they destroyed the card and charged it to my account. The officer lectures me that their SMS system never fails even after telling him I have worked in the IT field for more then 25 years, including design and management of long haul data communication systems, connecting many countries, as well developing databases and configuring the nuts-and-bolts of integrated mission-critical applications. HSBC could have simply sent me an email to both my Yahoo and company email, to increase chances that communication with the customer is successful. Simply no electronic comms system is perfect or impervious to tech failure or human errors.
Not that I think Doha Bank is any better but I'm leaving HSBC and moving to Doha Bank, if only to forget my frustrations with them the last 2 or 3 years. I have been patient far too long.
Perhaps it's not only HSBC, but banks must continually invest in training their employees on how to communicate effectively with customers. Otherwise customers move away.
If others in this forum are happy with HSBC decide to stay with HSBC (perhaps any bank for that matter) I advise them to spend enough time and have diligence in double-checking their account statements. Sometimes SMS coming in the phone are not in-synch with ATM statments and internet banking.
HSBC "customer service" has deteriorated terribly, particularly the 2 or 3 years. There used to be effective staff, I guess they left Qatar or moved to other banks. Unless they deal with customers having millions QAR with them, they have no inkling what customer service is all about.
Even as a "status" customer, when following up on an issue in my statement I get answers from an officer saying on the phone to me: "I'm too busy.". Best an officer can do is to say something like, "I'm headed for a meeting. What time can I call you?". In the first place I followed-up many times personally with her an told me she will call me, but she didn't. She forgot. And when I follow-up by phone she tells me she's busy. "I'm busy." is a no-no word to say to a customer! Too busy to do business with a customer?!?!
Then there were strange deductions during summers, with incomprehensibly acronymned transation names. Bank officer later tells me that "somebody deducted twice the amount for a loan because expats take holidays during summer season. I never leave Qatar during summer and I never informed HSBC on any of my holidays! So after a week they revert the transaction.
Sometimes there are transactions that officers at the desk can't explain. Calls internally another department
- still no answer. How can the customer understand, when they themselves internally are lost? Says "will get back to you on this" - but they don't.
They charge QR70/mo for "status" customer, but let me wait in queue anyway.
They charge me for replacement of a worn out debit card that "I failed to collect". They said they sent SMS to my phone -- I was out of the country and it never reached me, so they destroyed the card and charged it to my account. The officer lectures me that their SMS system never fails even after telling him I have worked in the IT field for more then 25 years, including design and management of long haul data communication systems, connecting many countries, as well developing databases and configuring the nuts-and-bolts of integrated mission-critical applications. HSBC could have simply sent me an email to both my Yahoo and company email, to increase chances that communication with the customer is successful. Simply no electronic comms system is perfect or impervious to tech failure or human errors.
Not that I think Doha Bank is any better but I'm leaving HSBC and moving to Doha Bank, if only to forget my frustrations with them the last 2 or 3 years. I have been patient far too long.
Perhaps it's not only HSBC, but banks must continually invest in training their employees on how to communicate effectively with customers. Otherwise customers move away.
If others in this forum are happy with HSBC decide to stay with HSBC (perhaps any bank for that matter) I advise them to spend enough time and have diligence in double-checking their account statements. Sometimes SMS coming in the phone are not in-synch with ATM statments and internet banking.