I'm beginning to hate banks

Dorsetmike

Member
My bank (HSBC) has seen fit to "temporarily block" my debit card as they suspect there may have been "fraudulent activity"

The only thing I've done different recently was buying a cheap Canon Scanner (£49.99) in Curry's on Sunday,the old one failed when I went to use it so had a quick browse and found the Canon in stock locally so went for it.

I used the card again Sunday evening on Amazon, then on Monday spent about a tenner more than usua in Lidl on Mondayl - few chrimbo bits - made an Ebay Paypal purchase yesterday, after which the letter arrived, dated 9th Dec saying the card was blocked - so how come I could still make purchases using it? It didn't help that I could only get unintelligible persons at the call centre somewhere a long way east of UK

I could understand it better if I had spent a few hundred in Currys, or made a number of £50+ purchases in a couple of hours.

To be unable to see somebody in the bank within an hour or so that could do something is not acceptable service as itis I have to wait until Monday, the fact that they have a call centre might be of some use if you could understand the person at the other end of the line, and the "security" proceedures are getting beyond a joke; one minute they tell you not to divulge your details, yet expect you to go way beyond what should be necessary with them. It's becoming more and more difficult to get service; it's all call centres on the other side of the world or a web site with a FAQ button which is usually of little help or "Contact us" button which you may be lucky to get an automated reply which is no help & that may be followed in a week or so with a few more FAQs

I have not signed up for internet banking and don't intend to, for a start I have difficulty remembering pin numbers, let alone the rigmarole for online use such that I only use one card, I don't have a clue what my other three card numbers are. If online sellers (other than Amazon) don't take Paypal they normally won't get my business. Very occasionally I have used a credit card over the phone with a dealer I know.

I'm reminded of "Stop the world, I wanna get off" but probably should rephrase the ending to "You've passed my stop"
 
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teddy

Duckmeister
A few years ago I switched my business banking back to HSBC. The one thing I insisted on was that I had a branch number to ring in case of problems. Any trouble and I phone the local branch and get it sorted out. The day that arrangement stops is the day I leave HSBC. I refuse to discuss my business with someone in a foreign country, especially if they think Margate is near Glasgow.

teddy
 

JHC

Chief assistant to the assistant chief
I'm reminded of "Stop the world, I wanna get off" but probably should rephrase the ending to "You've passed my stop"
I actually saw that with Anthony Newley it was hilarious,
imagesCA7CZCSR.jpg

I use my credit card for on-line purchases and have had no problems up to now.
 

Krummhorn

Administrator
Staff member
ADMINISTRATOR
I'm very careful with my online transactions ... usually use PayPal which is directly linked to one of several banks that I do business with. I do not keep all my eggs in one basket ... if one fails, I still have other back-up options.

I do use POS (point of sale) for dining, petrol and grocery purchases so that I can keep an accurate record of spending.

I too loathe those 'call centers' ... nothing against the country of India, nor the Indian people, but good gosh, they are almost impossible to understand on the phone, and I don't hear too well on the phone anyway, even with my hearing aids. Louder doesn't make it any more understandable :crazy:.

And why is it that problems always creep up on a Friday afternoon ... right before the weekends ... go figure. :lol:

Kh ♫
 

JHC

Chief assistant to the assistant chief
And why is it that problems always creep up on a Friday afternoon ... right before the weekends ... go figure. :lol:

Kh ♫

The worst time to be sick in NZ is from 5pm Fridays the health system is just about closed unless you are a drunk teenager and they take up 99%of the resources
 

teddy

Duckmeister
It has long been known that you must not be ill at the weekends, or have an operation on a Friday. More people die in hospitals over the weekend than at any other time. There are no staff available and no specialists on duty.

teddy
 

Dorsetmike

Member
Well, an even lower opinion of bamks now, the cause of the fuss was a £3 paypal donation to Wikipedia; they were asking for donations one day just over a week ago so I thought, well I've been using Wiki for some years so £3 is not going to break the bank, obviously the bank thought otherwise.

Strange thing I still don't understand why I was able to use the card in shops, also on Amazon and on Ebay/Paypal. Some really effective blocking huh?
 

JHC

Chief assistant to the assistant chief
Strange thing I still don't understand why I was able to use the card in shops, also on Amazon and on Ebay/Paypal. Some really effective blocking huh?
Why not phone them? they must have a free phone.
 

musicteach

New member
Banks are...well...a handful. Since moving jobs - so am now obviously using my debit card in two states - they have blocked my card TWICE for "fraudulent activity". Yes, I realize that my card sometimes gets used in Virginia and then in North Carolina. I realize this because it is me doing the using. I have explained to them on both occasions that my work location has changed therefore if I need gas or something in Virginia, that charges will appear. I'm waiting for the inevitable third block - mostly because the morons at the bank don't listen. But I do have to give them credit, they will actually block the card and deny charges made to it. Which is incredibly annoying when your tank on your car is flirting with "E" and your debit card gets denied!
 

JHC

Chief assistant to the assistant chief
I really can't understand why you get these problems I have used my Visa in Aussi, UK, Hong Kong, South Africa, and in California but that was a long time back and have had not one problem?? am I just a lucky fella?
 

Dorsetmike

Member
Colin, they don'thave a free call line, it's one of the 0845 numbers which although notpremium rate still rack up charges while you sit there on hold, plus the call centres are in India or some other asian country, which usually means a poor/noisy connection and somebody speaking with an accent which combined with the poor line makes meaningful communication well nigh impossible.

As to your second point, I understand that nowadays the monitoring of the account is done by computer, and anything "different" from your normal usage results in a computer imposed block; the fraudsters also now try small "test purchases" to see if they have the card numbers correct. The reason behind it all is that the bank don't need bodies doing the monitoring which obviously saves them money, just another nail in the coffin of customeer service in order to stack up more dividends for the fat cats.
 

Dorsetmike

Member
MT, I now tend to carry a bit more cash than previously so I'm less likely to get stranded, say enough for a tank of gas and a few days food.
 

teddy

Duckmeister
They block small charges on cards but allow ATM fraud running into hundreds of millions???????

teddy
 

JHC

Chief assistant to the assistant chief
I was not referring to ATM machines as that is limited to NZ$1000 per day with my bank, but just a normal Visa transaction say for groceries petrol booze motel etc etc also the card is a wave card for amounts up to $70 no pin or signature required and at no risk to the card holder, I think our card system is a bit more leading edge than some countries it does actually have a chip not a magnetic strip.
 

Chi_townPhilly

Sr. Regulator
Sr. Regulator
Well- I have accounts with several banks [once received legal advice suggesting I do so]- and I'm content with the service for the most part- but I'd like to single out one for special demerit. [Our mortgage and one of my checking accounts is with this bank.]

1. In the early days of our marriage, my wife and I would pay separate elements of the mortgage with separate checks. One of us would write for the Principal & Interest, the other would write for the Taxes- then we'd switch up... Well anyway, one fine month, they fumbled one of the checks- and we were sent a "not-paid-in-full" notice. Okay- it happens- lesson learned, now we're only enclosing one check- but...

2. I visited one of the ATMs for this bank (as I've done many times before), and went to withdraw $400.00. The ATM gave me $180.00- and a receipt as if I'd pulled out $400.00. [Yeah- of course this was a Friday evening.] Long story short- it took the bank roughly two weeks to sort it all out- and was (un)impressed most of all with the lack of urgency on the part of virtually every staffer with whom I spoke.

3. Not long ago, I noted a new $5.00 "account service fee" added to the checking account. I phoned and was told the recently-added fee could be avoided if I arranged for direct-deposit, or kept a $500.00 average monthly balance. I made arrangements for the latter.

[I'd previously read that 'enhancements' in fee-structure are frequently done around the holidays- as many banks calculate that it's the likeliest time for them to float something by you, unnoticed.]

So, I'll retain this particular account (from a Northeastern US bank taken over not long ago by a Spanish bank that will remain nameless) until such time as I've written all the checks I currently have. Then, I'll close it. I also think I'll have plenty of motivation to seriously look into re-finance options with other mortgage-lenders, down the road.
 

teddy

Duckmeister
There is no customer loyalty with banks any more. You are just a number and some faceless person is dealing with it. You do not matter.

teddy
 

JHC

Chief assistant to the assistant chief
There is no customer loyalty with banks any more. You are just a number and some faceless person is dealing with it. You do not matter.

teddy
Well I can't quite agree with that teddy, most of our banks were brought by the Aussies years ago and your statement is true regarding these banks. I switched to one of two remaining banks that refused to sell and remain kiwi owned, providing your balance is a min of NZ$5000 they charge no fees what so ever for any of your accounts plus you get a free Visa card and ATM card also with no fees, any transaction can be done by internet but I am still a bit wary of this so I do all contacts etc by free phone, also the term dep rates are at the top end of the scale. I hope I have not tempted fate!!!!
 

Dorsetmike

Member
I enquired about taking a loan to pay off credit cards to try and get a reduced interest rate; but for a loan under £5K the interest rate was 18.9% if I wanted £15K the interest rate was under 10% - go figure!
 

teddy

Duckmeister
Often the way Mike. I see there is a new company advertising a rate of 1% a day. That is 365% PA. Good huh.

teddy
 
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