Kicked out of HSBC

It finally happened, the straw that broke the camel's back. I went back to my old bank, NDB. HSBC, the World's Lousiest Bank finally drove me out.

It took a while. I put up with their indifference, impersonal automated service, lousy rates, sky high charges and god knows what else for a fair while. I'm a patient man and a lazy one. Its a nuisance to maintain multiple accounts and because NDB does not have a credit card I am forced to retain that but HSBC is not going to make any money out of me anymore. Well maybe just a little, but no longer will they enjoy my deposits, which is what they want.

I found HSBC's internet banking convenient and my credit cards were linked up to auto settle so I had minimum interaction with them. The little I did have however resulted in poor and increasingly worse service.

My relationship with HSBC goes back to 1994, when I first got a credit card. Service was terrible but I stayed. Then in the late 1990's I encountered a wonderful manager at the Bambalapitya branch, thanks to her service, over time I transferred everything to HSBC. After she left things began to go downhill again, a little at a time. She left me various contacts, through whom I was able to get some things done and I would also ring her occasionally to get extra help, but there is a limit to which one can bother staff who are now in different departments. I am also reluctant to use the corporate muscle that comes with my position to keep ringing the senior people to get things done on my personal account. When I'm really stuck I will, but for routine, simple things, I can hardly bother them can I?

The last straw was when I tried to ring them yesterday. I tried several times and no one would even pick up the phone and on the one or two occasions that they did the call was on left on hold and then cut.

This morning I rang my old account manager at NDB. She saw me right away, almost an hour before the bank even opened (they let me in through the staff entrance) and I made my deposit and was back in my office within fifteen minutes. Now THAT is what call service. They also paid a much better rate than that other blasted place.