Customer Service

I never intend to use this blog to bash people. I have always intended this blog for the advancement of people for personal and work growth.

However, today, I was a victim of bad (worst in my life) customer service. The culprit, Pauline of HSBC's Check Fraud Department. She was rude and very demeaning. She acted as if she's at the zenith of the banking institution. Her first words for me: "You are a security threat to the bank, we are closing you account for depositing a fraudulent check."

I was stunned, why in the world would you deposit a fraudulent check into your personal account? Even stupid criminals would go the long mile of cashing a fraudulent check in a different state under a different name.

The call came in at 10:25AM. She was rude and adamant about giving any details or explanation. She kept on reiterating that my account would be closed since I am a security threat. I went on posing questions to draw out the bottom line issues to the problem. Before the call ended, I had to stop her and tell her that she crossed the boundary of just being rude and her customer service is all out of place. I even mentioned that the someone in the branch could vouch for my character since they know how I handle my business with the bank.

Apparently she called the bank after that first call. At 10:41AM, she calls me and tells me that she would be giving me a week to talk with whomever to ratify the situation. She hangs up, with no remorse for her earlier attitude with me.

At 10:52AM, she calls back to tell me that everything has been resolved that she called up the issuer of the check to verify its validity that everything will be reinstated in five minutes. Again, with no apologies.

My question is: could you have called the issuer before you called me at 10:25AM and ruined my entire day?

So Pauline from HSBC's Check Fraud Department who could be reached at (716) 841-1184, brush up on your customer service skills. You may be a supervisor for a big department, but that doesn't give you the right to talk rude to your customers.

By the way, the branch that I deal with, HSBC's Chelsea Branch is the total opposite of Pauline. The people at the branch are very courteous. I even see managers get out of their cubicles to help out with deposits when lines starts to get long. Kudos to the branch. A big thumbs down to corporate.