HSBC Intimedating phone calls

[dinahjl]

Hi, We are on day 14 since the "Request for repayment of Charges" letter was sent on our First HSBC account (We have 2 accs and have written separately to make sure they are treated as separate claims). We have not heard anything, so plan to send the "Letter Before Action" tomorrow. Four days later will do the same for the second account if we have no reply. We ARE seeing this through to the end!

 

We are currently overdrawn by about £30 (due to charges) and as a result a loan repayment of £100 to the bank can not be paid this month. They have previously seen fit, without prior overdraft facilities being in place, simply to take the funds and make us incurr charges.

 

However - We have started to receive phone calls from them (well from the call centre in India actually). We have been with the bank for 19 years and we have NEVER had calls from them before! I wonder if they are trying to claim "actual intervention by staff" to try and justify their charges?

 

Having spoken with them on the first four occasions (all calls received within 2 days), we are now leaving the phone on answerphone as they are calling every evening, every hour until about 10pm!!!

 

We wondered if anyone else was receiving similar treatment and if so how you are handling it?

[Cornucopia]

Hi, We are on day 14 since the "Request for repayment of Charges" letter was sent on our First HSBC account (We have 2 accs and have written separately to make sure they are treated as separate claims). We have not heard anything, so plan to send the "Letter Before Action" tomorrow. Four days later will do the same for the second account if we have no reply. We ARE seeing this through to the end!

 

We are currently overdrawn by about £30 (due to charges) and as a result a loan repayment of £100 to the bank can not be paid this month. They have previously seen fit, without prior overdraft facilities being in place, simply to take the funds and make us incurr charges.

 

However - We have started to receive phone calls from them (well from the call centre in India actually). We have been with the bank for 19 years and we have NEVER had calls from them before! I wonder if they are trying to claim "actual intervention by staff" to try and justify their charges?

 

Having spoken with them on the first four occasions (all calls received within 2 days), we are now leaving the phone on answerphone as they are calling every evening, every hour until about 10pm!!!

 

We wondered if anyone else was receiving similar treatment and if so how you are handling it?

 

You have my full sympathy, we are constantly harassed by HSBC from about 7.30 am through until about 9.00 pm. I am going to write to them and quote the Telegraph Act (there is more about this on the site, could somebody help with that?). It is harassment and you need to tell them so. We have decided to ask them to remove our phone number from their records. I did this with my work telephone number and they haven't contacted me there since. Also, I was mugged recently and lost my purse with everything in it. The police told me to be very careful about phonecalls from people purporting to be from a bank (ie : phishing) as this was common after such a crime. You could quote that and say that you would prefer to conduct any future business via letter.

 

I am pretty sure they can't claim manual intervention for phonecalls, I am sure others will confirm this. Hope this helps and good luck!

[Michael Browne]

These calls are not MI, they're harassment

 

Send them this letter:

 

Re: Harassment by telephone

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER: XXXXXXX

Dear Sirs

I am writing to express my serious concerns regarding both the quantity and frequency of telephone calls that I have received from your company.

I have verbally requested that these stop, but I am still receiving calls. (Delete if necessary)

I am now formally requesting that all further correspondence be made in writing only.

I demand that these phone calls stop immediately. I am now familiar with the terms of Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, and the Protection from Harassment Act 1970 and I believe your harassment places you in breach of these acts.

If you continue to call, you will also be in breach of the Wireless Telegraphy Act (1949) and, as such, I will report you to both Trading Standards and The Office of Fair Trading.

You will be deemed to have been served notice of my request no later than 2 working days after postage and I am advising you that any calls received after this date will be recorded with the intention of them being used as evidence. (Even if you don‘t yet have recording equipment!!)

 

Yours faithfully,

[dinahjl]

THANK YOU BOTH FOR YOUR RESPONSES. Michael - your letter is great - will go in the post tomorrow - recorded delivery of course! Many thanks for your help.

Cornucopia - thanks for the words of encouragement - and so sorry to hear about the mugging - isn't life fun! Keep your chin up and your efforts against HSBC determined.

[justanothermuppet]

I have recently received phone calls from HSBC too. They phoned me to tell me that they are charging me £10 for reversing a Direct Debit for £19 (the strange thing is that the actual direct debit doesn't show up on my statement, just te charge )

 

Anyway, this is the first time I've received such a phone call, and supspiciously it is just after I sent off my letter to get a list of my SAR (that also says that if the fees are disproportionate, I sahll be reclaiming them)

 

hmmm...

[dinahjl]

I will be keeping a log of when they call now, and sending Michael's suggested letter today too. Boy, we really are rattling their nerves aren't we!

 

I have also noticed that they will not leave messages on our answerphone - perhaps they think that if they hang up we can't be sure they were calling - have they never heard of 1471?

 

I also received a letter today, from ebay telling me that my account had not been paid by the bank this month, as the "account has been closed" !? What do they know that I don't?

[rmoody70]

This sounds murky. look up the telephone preference service TPS on the net, enter your number and calls may stop after a while.

 

If that dont work play a wav file down the phone

 

http://www.grsites.com/exec/public/soundview.cgi?dir=people&fn=people001.wav&desc=Woman%20screaming

 

I bet Mr Bowden is behind this. The devils work indeed.

[dinahjl]

Love it!! I will look for TPS tonight. Thanks

[dinahjl]

Received a response to our letter of complaint about the phone calls, from HSBC today - worth writing to them if you are getting lots of calls, as their response is as follows...

 

"I am sorry that you have found it neccessary to contact us with regard to the service provided by HSBC We endevour....blah blah...

 

When contacting customers we do so using all contact numbers that are linked to an account. TO PREVENT YOU FROM RECEIVING CALLS IN THE FUTURE I HAVE REMOVED ALL TELEPHONE NUMBERS FROM THE CONTACT DETAILS WE HAVE ON OUR SYSTEM"....

 

Letter is from:

Matthew Miller, Quality Assurance Officer at 365 Chartwell Square, Southend on Sea, SS99 2UU - so get writing to him to stop those annoying and harrassing phone calls!

[stuart264]

I have exactly the same letter quoting removing the number as a "one off".to make matters worse HSBC did their phone harrasment when they knew in writing I couldnt speak due to an adverse reaction to a painkiller causing me aphasia.

 

My complaint over that is currently with the banking ombudsman as when I tried to escalate it under their complaints proceedures I got told by HSBC I couldnt as I had not kept a list of the exact time they called!

[dinahjl]

I shouldn't be surprised by anything they do anymore - but honestly!!!

 

Hope things progress with with the ombudsman - it makes life a misery when you even feel they are hassling you in your own home. Especially when you are not well.

[Digger61]

I am through that myself ( 140 calls within a fourtnight every month ), I tried everything. My advice to all of you is, if HSBC is not responding to your complaints, contact: The Financial Ombudsman Service/ South Quay Plaza/ 183 Marsh Wall/ London/ E14 9SR, phone 08450801800/ fax 02079641001!

HSBC is clarly breaking the Harrassment Act 1992 and a letter from the Ombudsman shut them up, once and for all! And as far as I know cost them £ 375! So more complaints the ombudsman received, so better for all of us. It weakens HSBCs defence.

If any of you found my advice helpfull, please tip the scales on the right.

[dinahjl]

Pleased to say the calls have now stopped - I received a letter telling me they had removed our contact numbers as a means of contact. Well worth writing to them as I did - it has worked.

[brandedcentaur]

Another ploy is to buy yourself an 0870 number. While I detest this system (0870 numbers when used to charge people for advice on faulty products etc) I feel it is justified in this case.

 

Google "0870" & you will find numerous offers to supply you with these. I found one for £10 - for LIFE! I think it can pay you up to 6p per minute but I imagine you would need a large volume of calls to obtain that much.

 

When applying for a credit card or opening a new bank account (perhaps a "parachute account"?) - simply give your 0870 number. Then, if the unfortunate happens & you receive constant calls, you will have the quiet satisfaction of knowing they are paying a small percentage into your account.

 

I hope this helps?

[keepitunderthemattress]

Hi

Really interested to hear about other peoples's experinece of phone harrassment.I was bombarded earlier this year by HSBC; all hours all days, again from India.Wish I'd know earlier that you can take action against banks for doing that because it is appalling that they can behave in that manner.

However, will send the letter to Sainsbury's Credit Card instead, as they are they are currently racking up a very large phone bill.

[vespapx125]

I have a question I would like to ask....

 

I have received 35 phonecalls in 2 weeks, mainly 5 times a day.. Luckilly it is to my mobile (luckilly for two reasons - I can put it on silent and it keeps a log of all the calls recieved) I have 1 and 3/4 A4 pages of logged calls...

 

The questions I would like to ask are as follows:

 

* I informed the caller who claimed to work for HSBC bank that I was at work between 0830 and 1745 on the 17th March and I was unable to discuss the situation with them, between that date and today (3rd April) I have had another 35 calls all except 5 have been between 0900 and 1630 - all rejected obviously - is this in itself harassment (calling at work)?

 

* I made an offer to start to repay my overdraft at £5 a month (I've got my bankruptcy hearing on 7th May) just to get them off my back - refused by caller - wanted at least £150 (I owe £400) payment by credit card NOW!!!!!!

 

* Googled number - found out it was One Global Communications Ltd based in Philapines

 

* Next call, asked speaker to confirm from HSBC 'John' confirmed he was, asked again - "do you have an employment contract with HSBC, are you an employee of the bank"? - "Yes" - "So, you don't work for One Global then"? "Ermmmm..." "Can I speak to your supervisor"? - "no" - line disconnected by 'John' - Is this deception?

 

* Informed next caller 'Jolean' that I wanted all communication in writing and to confirm refusal to accept payment - she refused and informed me calls would continue - I informed her that it was harrassment and she claimed that because they were based in the Philapines that UK law did not cover them - ohh, how I chuckled at that

 

* Called HSBC Complaints Department - woman was about as snotty as they come, the phonecalls were nothing to do with the bank, she claimed I could't complain to OFT or FSA as it was a phone issue and not a banking issue - again I had to giggle - asked for confirmation in writing - refused - call terminated by HSBC

 

Have today registered complaint with OFCOM - Am writing to FSA/Trading Standards and OFT...... And emailing and writing to HSBC complaint manager

 

I think the issue stems from a letter I recieved by mistake when I challenged my PPI - (I can scan it and post it in a bit if you want) I asked for a copy of the original PPI agreement that was (if I remember right) attached to the application for an HSBC credit card.... They sent me a letter saying that due to the passing of time (I got both accounts when I was a student in 2000) they could not find and provide the original documents - now since reading these forums I assume this was a major booboo by someone (I have my £1 postal order ready) as they have already admited that the documentation is not available but have refused the PPI claim... and I sent a stroppy letter about the Data Protection Act and keeping documents safe (well, my misses wrote it for me) and this is when the calls started.......

 

What are the chances of skinning HSBC for harrassment - deception by One Global and winning the case against my credit card company who already admit the documentation is not available?

 

Sorry about the size of post but it is sending me mental....

 

Cheers

 

Gaz Walker

[Castlebest]

Hiya Gaz, I think these may throw some light on your situation

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/hsbc-bank/151458-proof-metroplitan-credit-services.html?highlight=Metropolitan

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/hsbc-bank/151559-truth-about-mcs-metropolitan.html?highlight=Metropolitan

 

Now you might like to ask them about the legality of sending your data to not only another company but another company in the Philippines on the other hand just tell them to stuff off and wait to hear what your bankruptcy judge has to say.

 

Good luck on the 7th May

 

pete