HSBC Business Banking - Serious problem
Discussion
Oh wise ones of PH, I hope someone can help with this one.
I have a business bank account with HSBC. I have lust logged on to their website to discover that I am unable to make any transfers out of the account.
I've called the 24-hours number to be told that my account "is being closed". Why? "Our safeguarding team has been trying to contact you since July and have had no response, so we are closing your account". They (apparently) require some key information from me and have written to me to ask for it. I have had letters from them but nothing that has required a response - i.e. standard changes to T's&C's and statements. No telephone calls, eMails, texts. I have called them on the 'phone since July and this was not mentioned during the conversation.
I have the number of the 'Safeguarding' team who open at 9.00am tomorrow. Has anyone had experience of this sort of thing before, does anyone have the contact number of anyone at HSBC who will be able to do anything other than trot out platitudes, does anyone here work for HSBC Business who may be able to assist?
I will of course be raising Cain with them tomorrow as leaving a small business unable to pay suppliers and unable to access their money is not something I will take lightly. (Besides the small matter of a six figure sum in the account, which I will need some pretty solid reassurances is safe.)
Any advice will be more than welcomed. Thanks.
I have a business bank account with HSBC. I have lust logged on to their website to discover that I am unable to make any transfers out of the account.
I've called the 24-hours number to be told that my account "is being closed". Why? "Our safeguarding team has been trying to contact you since July and have had no response, so we are closing your account". They (apparently) require some key information from me and have written to me to ask for it. I have had letters from them but nothing that has required a response - i.e. standard changes to T's&C's and statements. No telephone calls, eMails, texts. I have called them on the 'phone since July and this was not mentioned during the conversation.
I have the number of the 'Safeguarding' team who open at 9.00am tomorrow. Has anyone had experience of this sort of thing before, does anyone have the contact number of anyone at HSBC who will be able to do anything other than trot out platitudes, does anyone here work for HSBC Business who may be able to assist?
I will of course be raising Cain with them tomorrow as leaving a small business unable to pay suppliers and unable to access their money is not something I will take lightly. (Besides the small matter of a six figure sum in the account, which I will need some pretty solid reassurances is safe.)
Any advice will be more than welcomed. Thanks.
Chaps,
Thanks for your reply. I've just spent nearly 45 minutes on the telephone to them. Their amount of customer service was staggeringly low. Their response to the problem is to raise a complaint, which they have said will resolve in no more than 6 weeks and they may be able to re-open the account once that has been done. I asked what I should do about lacking a business bank account in this time and they said that I would have to "make other arrangements". They refused to allow me to speak to anyone more senior than the person who answered the call, although he said that 'as a favour' he would refer the case to a manager to see if things can be handled 'any more quickly'.
Apparently it is to do with the on-line form which popped up every time I opened the on-line account, which they agreed I had completed but they 'required more information'.
Refusing me access to my business bank account has effectively suspended my business. I will need to open another account somewhere else (how long will this take?), and I guess make a loan from myself to the company into this other account in order that I can pay suppliers. To say I am livid is a vast understatement. This situation is abysmal.
Two more questions:
- Is there anything further I can do to kick them very hard where it hurts? For the first time in my life I am seriously considering legal action for the time and disruption caused. This is completely unacceptable.
- Who offers good business banking? There must be someone better than HSBC. This debacle means that I will have to move elsewhere.
Zubzob - thanks for your answer. I run a London-based letting agency and we deal with a few HNW international clients so I do occasionally make transactions with non-EU accounts. However I haven't done this for over 12 months now. Yes I do use internet banking a lot (almost daily) and saw the pop-ups, and I followed the link and completed their form. Thanks for the recommendation of Starling.
Sheepshanks - thanks for the link. Looks like I am not the only one who has suffered.
Steviebee - Interesting, thanks. Maybe I will take a trip to my local branch.
Thanks again for your help.
Thanks for your reply. I've just spent nearly 45 minutes on the telephone to them. Their amount of customer service was staggeringly low. Their response to the problem is to raise a complaint, which they have said will resolve in no more than 6 weeks and they may be able to re-open the account once that has been done. I asked what I should do about lacking a business bank account in this time and they said that I would have to "make other arrangements". They refused to allow me to speak to anyone more senior than the person who answered the call, although he said that 'as a favour' he would refer the case to a manager to see if things can be handled 'any more quickly'.
Apparently it is to do with the on-line form which popped up every time I opened the on-line account, which they agreed I had completed but they 'required more information'.
Refusing me access to my business bank account has effectively suspended my business. I will need to open another account somewhere else (how long will this take?), and I guess make a loan from myself to the company into this other account in order that I can pay suppliers. To say I am livid is a vast understatement. This situation is abysmal.
Two more questions:
- Is there anything further I can do to kick them very hard where it hurts? For the first time in my life I am seriously considering legal action for the time and disruption caused. This is completely unacceptable.
- Who offers good business banking? There must be someone better than HSBC. This debacle means that I will have to move elsewhere.
Zubzob - thanks for your answer. I run a London-based letting agency and we deal with a few HNW international clients so I do occasionally make transactions with non-EU accounts. However I haven't done this for over 12 months now. Yes I do use internet banking a lot (almost daily) and saw the pop-ups, and I followed the link and completed their form. Thanks for the recommendation of Starling.
Sheepshanks - thanks for the link. Looks like I am not the only one who has suffered.
Steviebee - Interesting, thanks. Maybe I will take a trip to my local branch.
Thanks again for your help.
StevieBee, thanks. I can't disagree! I'll certainly try Metrobank.
Just been to my local HSBC branch and spoken with the branch manager. In fairness I think he did all he was able to do to help, although that amounted to no more than calling the 'Safeguarding' team and telling me everything that they had already told me this morning. Apparently they posted me a letter two months ago telling me that they were closing the account and the branch manager printed me a copy in the branch. It is clear and unequivocal and had I received a letter like that then I would most definitely have acted on it, and I am 100% confident that it never arrived. Did they send it recorded delivery? Almost certainly not.
Branch manager told me there was a 48 hour SLA on resolving the complaint (although called me while walking home to tell me that actually it was 10 days, taking us to the 26th December. I asked him where the 48 hours notion came from and he couldn't tell me that either.) I asked how I was expected to pay my suppliers for those 48 hours and he said he didn't know.
Primary problem is to get a working business bank account up and running, possibly with Metrobank. Second problem is to make a very fulsome complaint to HSBC. If anyone has the contact details of a lawyer who specialises in this sort of thing then I will be very happy to have them. Am I over-reacting? Someone effectively closing down my business without giving any notification doesn't sit well with me.
Thanks again for your help.
Just been to my local HSBC branch and spoken with the branch manager. In fairness I think he did all he was able to do to help, although that amounted to no more than calling the 'Safeguarding' team and telling me everything that they had already told me this morning. Apparently they posted me a letter two months ago telling me that they were closing the account and the branch manager printed me a copy in the branch. It is clear and unequivocal and had I received a letter like that then I would most definitely have acted on it, and I am 100% confident that it never arrived. Did they send it recorded delivery? Almost certainly not.
Branch manager told me there was a 48 hour SLA on resolving the complaint (although called me while walking home to tell me that actually it was 10 days, taking us to the 26th December. I asked him where the 48 hours notion came from and he couldn't tell me that either.) I asked how I was expected to pay my suppliers for those 48 hours and he said he didn't know.
Primary problem is to get a working business bank account up and running, possibly with Metrobank. Second problem is to make a very fulsome complaint to HSBC. If anyone has the contact details of a lawyer who specialises in this sort of thing then I will be very happy to have them. Am I over-reacting? Someone effectively closing down my business without giving any notification doesn't sit well with me.
Thanks again for your help.
Update: access has been restored. I am breathing a sigh of relief.
Am now in discussions about who was at fault and what happens next. But that's for another discussion.
I'll be opening a business bank account at another bank in the New Year. Moving everything over will be a royal pain in the arse but so be it.
Thanks for your input chaps.
Am now in discussions about who was at fault and what happens next. But that's for another discussion.
I'll be opening a business bank account at another bank in the New Year. Moving everything over will be a royal pain in the arse but so be it.
Thanks for your input chaps.
Update: HSBC have admitted in writing that the mistake was theirs - i.e. that I submitted the relevant information on their on-line form but they had a technical issue which meant they were unable to access it. A complaint to Amanda Murphy (head of Commercial Banking) has produced a letter with a very mealy-mouthed apology and a 'Thank you for bringing this matter to the attention of Amanda' from a member of her staff.
Things weren't helped by a second threat to close down the account subsequently, again for failing to provide the relevant information. Thankfully that threat was never carried out but it took more time and effort to head off.
I therefore have two remaining questions;
- Who should I change business bank accounts to? Santander, Metro Bank and Handelsbanken all get well recommended but Metro Bank charge per transaction (first 50 free per month) which will make it quite an expensive exercise for me. Handelsbanken sound pricey (and there are no straight answers to anything on their website, which looks like it came out of the 1990's) but their customer service is meant to be superb.
- This little fracas has cost me about 2 days of downtime and the mistake was entirely HSBC's. I loathe the 'compansayshun' culture but in this instance am disinclined to take gross inconsideration for a long-standing (15 years) customer lying down. Am I better advised to go back to HSBC and ask for something, take it to the Ombudsman or simply think of a sum and try my luck in the small claims court?
Al help welcomed, and thanks for the help thus far. The more I dig into the reputation of HSBC Business Banking the more I discover what a shower of s
t they are.
Things weren't helped by a second threat to close down the account subsequently, again for failing to provide the relevant information. Thankfully that threat was never carried out but it took more time and effort to head off.
I therefore have two remaining questions;
- Who should I change business bank accounts to? Santander, Metro Bank and Handelsbanken all get well recommended but Metro Bank charge per transaction (first 50 free per month) which will make it quite an expensive exercise for me. Handelsbanken sound pricey (and there are no straight answers to anything on their website, which looks like it came out of the 1990's) but their customer service is meant to be superb.
- This little fracas has cost me about 2 days of downtime and the mistake was entirely HSBC's. I loathe the 'compansayshun' culture but in this instance am disinclined to take gross inconsideration for a long-standing (15 years) customer lying down. Am I better advised to go back to HSBC and ask for something, take it to the Ombudsman or simply think of a sum and try my luck in the small claims court?
Al help welcomed, and thanks for the help thus far. The more I dig into the reputation of HSBC Business Banking the more I discover what a shower of s
t they are. Thanks for the various answers guys.
They have admitted their mistake, written me a completely fob-off letter and have now sent me yet another letter saying that they need to ask more questions about my business and will shut my account if I don't comply ....
Given there is an admission of error and that it cost me two days of time to sort out (or, more accurately, there were two days when I could neither make nor receive payment) then what am I best advised to do to get recompense. As said, I am not a fan of the compensayshun culture but this is a clear case of poor service on their behalf, failure in their duty of care and breach of their own T'sandC's. Should I approach them and ask for a figure of recompense, or take it to the Ombudsman? (Clearly if I try the former and they decline - which I am sure they will - then I will need to go to the next step which would be Small Claims, but we'll deal with that if/when it comes to it.)
Thanks for your suggestions.
They have admitted their mistake, written me a completely fob-off letter and have now sent me yet another letter saying that they need to ask more questions about my business and will shut my account if I don't comply ....
Given there is an admission of error and that it cost me two days of time to sort out (or, more accurately, there were two days when I could neither make nor receive payment) then what am I best advised to do to get recompense. As said, I am not a fan of the compensayshun culture but this is a clear case of poor service on their behalf, failure in their duty of care and breach of their own T'sandC's. Should I approach them and ask for a figure of recompense, or take it to the Ombudsman? (Clearly if I try the former and they decline - which I am sure they will - then I will need to go to the next step which would be Small Claims, but we'll deal with that if/when it comes to it.)
Thanks for your suggestions.
Autopilot said:
I would trust a fairly detailed email to his email address to catch somebodies eye quite quickly and deal with it straight away. I speak from experience. The Safeguard team closed my business account down despite me even having been through the Safeguard process.
When I discovered my account had been closed, I spoke with the Safeguard team who informed me a queque was in the post. I phoned numerous times to chase this as it just didn't arrive. HSBC even sent me a letter saying my account closure date was wrong and was actually a month away. After a few phone calls, they said they won't be reopening my account at all. After months of chasing my money and not sleeping at night, I wrote to Stuart J Guliver and within 25 minutes they had transferred every penny in to my personal HSBC account. They phoned 45 mins later, apologised and gave me some compensation of several thousands of pounds.
If only the rest of HSBC's support lines worked as well as the CEO's office. The lady I spoke to was friendly, apologetic and got it sorted quickly. in fact, it wasn't just because I could breathe a sigh of relief that I finally had my money back, she genuinely was brilliant.
I no longer have any accounts with HSBC. Santander offered the least resistence and have been pretty damned good!
This sounds like the person I need to talk to, and I'd be quite interested in the email address you mentioned for Stuart J Guliver. When I discovered my account had been closed, I spoke with the Safeguard team who informed me a queque was in the post. I phoned numerous times to chase this as it just didn't arrive. HSBC even sent me a letter saying my account closure date was wrong and was actually a month away. After a few phone calls, they said they won't be reopening my account at all. After months of chasing my money and not sleeping at night, I wrote to Stuart J Guliver and within 25 minutes they had transferred every penny in to my personal HSBC account. They phoned 45 mins later, apologised and gave me some compensation of several thousands of pounds.
If only the rest of HSBC's support lines worked as well as the CEO's office. The lady I spoke to was friendly, apologetic and got it sorted quickly. in fact, it wasn't just because I could breathe a sigh of relief that I finally had my money back, she genuinely was brilliant.
I no longer have any accounts with HSBC. Santander offered the least resistence and have been pretty damned good!
I like your approach - a similar one worked for me to get my account re-opened. Amanda Murphy (amandamurphy@hsbc.com) is head of Commercial Banking and it was an eMail to her (but answered by someone else) that gained enough traction where several hours to various call centres and a visit to the branch manager of my local branch failed.
Teddy Lop said:
are metrobank where's its at now?
Possibly. I started to open an account with them only to find out (somewhere near the end of the process, to my annoyance) that they only allow 50 free transactions a month, charging a certain amount for each transaction over this. I run a lettings agency and have rather more transactions than 50 per month so this would get very expensive very quickly. Next port of call is a Santander, when I have the time. I continue to use HSBC for now.
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