An HSBC Bank Error Cost Me $105 and a Headache
About a week ago, I scheduled an online transfer to move $1,400 from my checking account to my HSBC savings account. A few days later, HSBC pulled $1,400 from my checking account…TWO TIMES!! During one of my random, daily reviews of my bank accounts, I noticed a big fat, red, NEGATIVE number. *eyes stretched* Huh?
At first, I was more curious than upset. So I began digging around to investigate the problem. It appeared that the HSBC transfer was going to post twice…hmm. I logged into HSBC to make sure I had not fat fingered my transfer request. Nope, just one request. In my checking account, both transfers were pending, so I assumed it was a computer glitch that would work itself out. But nooo! The next day, I receive this email from HSBC:
SUBJECT: Important Update About Your HSBC Account
Dear SINGLE MA
On Friday Oct 30, 2009, there was an error in our processing of transfers that resulted in your account being debited twice. I apologize for this inconvenience. We are correcting this problem and the balance of your account will be up-to-date by Wednesday Nov 4, 2009.
If you incurred any third-party fees due to our error, we will reimburse you. Please log-in to your account and send us a bankmail with your request for reimbursement detailing the fees charged. Any HSBC fees that may have occurred will be reversed automatically. In addition, any interest owed on an HSBC interest-bearing account will be credited to your account accordingly.
I again apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. We have put in place processes to prevent this from occurring again.
Sincerely,
xxx,
EVP Personal Financial Services, HSBC Bank USA
Ok, no problem. Banks make mistakes too. They said they’ll reverse the debit made in error and refund any fees. Cool.
Then of course, I get an email notice from my other bank to inform me that I have insufficient funds in my checking account. No surprise. However, not only have I incurred one insufficient funds fee, I’ve incurred THREE at $35 a pop! Here’s THAT lovely email:
SUBJECT: Account Has Insufficient Funds
To: SINGLE MA Account: Account Nickname Ending in xxxx Date: 11/02/2009 Transaction Number: 1 Insufficient funds amount: $83.99 Transaction Paid: Yes Fee Assessed: $35.00 Date: 11/02/2009 Transaction Number: 2 Insufficient funds amount: $100.00 Transaction Paid: Yes Fee Assessed: $35.00 Date: 11/02/2009 Transaction Number: 3 Insufficient funds amount: $1,400.00 Transaction Paid: Yes Fee Assessed: $35.00
Whoa! I was VERY surprised by the amount of fees. I haven’t incurred any of those in a LONG TIME! Obviously banks are hurting and they’ll try to collect fees whenever and as often as they can. Here’s a prime example, look at the email again. Why are the transaction values listed in ascending order of 1, 2, and 3? If they had gone through in that exact order, my checking account balance after 1 and 2 cleared would have been $745.54. Then, only the last transaction (#3 with the extra $1,400 pulled in error) would have incurred an insufficient funds fee – one $35 fee instead of three $35 fees. But noooo, they had to process #3 first, followed by the smaller transactions, to collect a fee on each one of them. Hmph, I’m going to deal with them sneaky bastards too. But for now, I’m focused on HSBC.
So I follow the instructions in HSBC’s email to “[p]lease log-in to your account and send us a bankmail with your request for reimbursement detailing the fees charged.” To make sure my request was crystal clear, I copied and pasted both emails for reference purposes. When I clicked send, the confirmation page said a customer service rep would be in touch within 12 hours. Hmm…shorter than usual for a bank’s online messaging service, but I wanted this fixed PRONTO! Not wasting another minute, I called them up…and this is when I got annoyed.
I explained the problem to the customer service rep and politely requested a refund of the fees. I even offered to forward him a copy of the emails from both banks. Why did this dude tell me I needed to 1) download a form, 2) complete the form to describe the problem and my request, 3) sign and get the form notarized, and 4) fax it to some special refund request department?
*SCREEEEEEEEEEEECH* Umm…how about NO!
Single Ma: This was an HSBC error and I am not going to do extra work because YOU caused a problem with my account.
HSBC Customer Service: Ma’am I understand, but these are our procedures to refund fees. I need to be able to verify the fees you were charged by the other bank.
SM: I really don’t care about your “procedures” right now. HSBC caused a problem and HSBC needs to fix it.
HSBC CS: How much were the fees charged by the other bank?
SM: $105
HSBC CS: $105 for an overdraft fee?!?!?!
SM: *sigh* Tell me about it. But no, it was not an overdraft fee, as in overdraft protection. It was an insufficient funds fee – $35 on three separate transactions – because HSBC took $1,400 MORE THAN I AUTHORIZED!
HSBC CS: *accusatory tone* Ma’am, I will need some verification of that fee?
SM: You have my name, the bank’s name, and the account number that you took the money from. YOU do the work and figure it out.
HSBC CS: May I place you on hold for a few minutes?
SM: Sure. [on hold for 7 minutes - yes, I was counting]
HSBC CS: Ma’am, I just need to verify a few things on the account you have with us and I will forward your request to my supervisor. [run off a list of questions]
SM: [answer his BS questions to verify my identity and ownership of account] How long will it be before I see the refund in my account?
HSBC CS: I will forward your request to my supervisor. If she has any additional questions, she will contact you.
SM: I don’t think you understood my question. How long should I wait to receive my money or call your corporate office?
HSBC CS: May I place you on hold again?
SM: [getting very annoyed] Mm hmm…[on hold for 5 more minutes - yes, I was still counting]
HSBC CS: Ma’am, you should see a credit for $105 in your HSBC account by the end of this week.
SM: That is not acceptable. I want to see a reversal of the unauthorized debit and a refund of the $105 fee within 24 hours.
HSBC CS: [pause] Umm… [pause] …I will note your account and try to get your request expedited.
SM: Thank you.
I am so annoyed with HSBC right now. If they don’t fix this problem – a problem THEY caused – within 24 hours, I’m pulling my money out. All $46,880 of it. I’ve already stopped the $1,000 bi-weekly allotment and I will take my business somewhere else.
The mistake, I can forgive. Fix it and we’re good.
Giving me the run around to fix YOUR mistake? Unacceptable!
