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HSBC gets good business from Technopark. Their employees and agents roam around Technopark and get more business than any other credit card company. But some bitter experiences with HDFC makes one cautious of HSBC and its employees.
This is an incident which involved Mr.Arun, a software engineer working in Technopark. If you are a Credit card holder, please read on. It can happen to you too.
Here is the entire incident in his own words
“I was a credit card holder from HSBC with HSBC card No. XXXXXXXXXX9509, Since they were not giving me bills/ statements on time and added unwanted charges and interest to my card, I went for HSBC card settlement by paying an amount of Rs.7600 in 5 instalments. I paid 3 instalments on time and found only then that my payment was not updated in my HSBC Card account as per their SMS update form HSBC server. So I told the executive that I would be paying the amount at the HSBC Bank, Vellayambalam alone, after discussing the matter with the manager. Unfortunately for the next 6 days I couldn’t go to Trivandrum HSBC.
In the mean time some HSBC executives collected my wife’s home phone number from my mother and called them. They threatened my wife’s family and asked them to pay the amount. I got married only 2 months back, so you can imagine the situation.
In fact my wife’s family and none of the members have any connection with HSBC bank, and I didn’t mention their name or address anywhere in my application or any related HSBC documents. Instead of going for any straight forward action, legal in nature, they continously threatened my family members and even my relatives.
I went to HSBC Vellayambalam today (Saturday, 9 Aug) at 1 am with one of my friends, and as per the executive’s direction I met Mr. Remesh Pillai (Asst. Manager, Collection Department, HSBC). I explained the details to him and he said the normal settlement procedure is that they collect all the cheques and don’t even interact with the customer. Then I asked him why HSBC had called my home and even my wife’s home. His tone changed and he said that I was a defaulter and that’s why they took action. I asked him, ‘Why did you people call and threaten my relatives?’ He explained that I was not reachable at that time and that was their normal procedure; they couldn’t send court notice to all defaulters. He also said that HSBC would be using its own methods to collect its dues.
I told him that if this was their mode of business they wouldn’t be doing any new business in Technopark. And I told them that I would be forwarding complaints to Technopark authorities and also forward email to all employees. (He got angry with this comment). Do whatever you want, he said, and mentioned that he had started his credit card collection career 6 years back, so he knew how to handle things and asked me to get out of his office.
Then I told him, you opened an office for customers to do transactions and get their problems resolved then why do you ask me to get out. Then he and one of his colleague raised their hands suddenly and caught me by my neck. The assistant manger (Remesh Pillai) also pushed me from behind and abused me. They used expletives even in front of lady staff present. They pushed me out of the office to the exit. (If any of your relatives/friends work in the first floor of HSBC Vellayambalam you can enquire about this incident).
You might think that normal business people wouldn’t do such a dastardly act. Even I wonder how anyone could respond like that. I told this story to the Museum police and even they told me that a manager/assistant manager wouldn’t respond like that. On the matter of threats to my relatives, they took this as something casual. The SI said if the credit card payment was not paid they would naturally call my relatives; there is nothing unusual in that. They didn’t even file a complaint, they just wrote the names of the people involved from the letter of complaint I gave him and told me that they would call me after enquiring the matter. In future if someone get a chance to deal with Mr. Remesh Pillai, you will understand my experience.
I am literally down, coz I can’t face my wife’s relatives now. And this is the first time somebody manhandled and abused me. I really request you to maintain a good payment history with HSBC Credit Card. If somebody plans to go for HSBC credit cards let him be aware of such traps.
What I experienced should not happen to anyone else. So Please forward this message to your friends and beware of HSBC traps.
Thanks and regards,
Arun”
Not only HSBC, but all credit card issuers in Trivandrum get 60-80% of their business from Technopark. Look at how they treat us after they get their business? They forget all ethics and manners of doing business. How could the bank manager dare to manhandle a software engineer? It seems software people are helpless souls and there is nobody to stand for them?
Please put your comments and suggestions here…
Hi Friend,
I have been working with sales and marketing sector for the past 5 years,i can understand ur situation
Few things u want to know are..
1.If u dnt make ur payments they can do nothing
,there is no option for them,they cant go legally(dnt give any cheque n all).
2.If they call u and ur home,u can complaint against them(according to the new highcourt rule they are not supposed to do that)
3.They will say that they wl do this n that,dnt mind they cant do aything
4.we are not giving any security for credit card and mobile post paid connection,so they cant do any thing
So guys,dnt worry abt instalments n all if u have a brave heart nothing will happen,i had worked with financial sector i know A-Z
When u go for settlement the DSA is getting good amount as commision tats y keep calling
Neglect them
Thats all Guys…Dnt take tension in this..
I think you can take this as a complaint to Banking Ombudsman, which is attached to the reserve bank, bakery junction. http://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/Content/PDFs/71337.pdf, check out ths document for contact details.
As per the latest regulations, banks can face serious problems if they manhandle customers to retrieve their money.
Its very unfortunate. manhandling a customer is illegal and it should be sued. technopark authorities should ask for an explanation from HSBC, and if they are not providing a satisfactory explanation, i think we should ban HSBC and its businesses from technopark campus.
This is the time we need to stay united. forward this news to every technopark employee and decide how to proceed with such fraud banks.
Ban HSBC from Technopark. Every Technopark employee should cancel their credit cards and stop doing business with them. Most of these private banks are full of tricks to extract more money from customers. Stop them from exploiting you. There were such complaints about ICICI, HDFC and Citibank. So boycott these private banks and do business only with public sector banks.
As for my experience with HSBC, they gave me a credit card and the agent told me it was life long free, only to find out later that they charged me about 3000 Rs at the beginning of the next year. I however called them up (STD) and got it cancelled. I am planning now to cancel their credit card.
Don’t take any credit cards/loans from banks other than from nationalized banks. ICICI, STD charted, HSBC, HDFC all are butchers
Yes. Be very careful dealing with new generation banks. Ofcourse their services are good compared to nationalized banks; but remember well that nothing comes for free. The latest example is that ICICI has started charging Rs.100 from customers who visit their banks as ‘bank visit charges’. A month back I received a credit card statement from Standard Chartered bank with no errors in my name and address. But, I never had a credit card of that bank, nor applied for one, never received one and never talked to any of its sales person. Only after telling them that ‘i will go to consumer court’, my problem with that got settled. They agreed it was an error from their part. Never fall prey to such skills of sales people and respond severely to such consumer eating business.
The private banks in trivandrum has got new preys. they are the ppl working in technopark and all other IT companies. Normally they didn’t notice any slight variation in the amounts. and usually they are charging in terms of financial charges, processing charges etc. but when you call their customer care, ( you will be connected only if you are lucky) they also clueless about why the hell these terms and how they are calculating these charges.
Other thing is they have different teams and agents are handling their credit card issuing billing and customer care divisions, they didn’t know whats happening in other part of their scheme or there is absolutely nothing to trace it.
never believe the words of their credit card representatives, they will offer you many things to attract you, and their job will be completed when after your application submission. they will get their commission and look for new clients.
Please forward the procedures to cancel credit cards asap!!
please post the follow up of it. we are very curious about to know about it. because many of us are cheated by these fraud private banks.
Siju, just call the HSBC call center and request them to cancel your credit card. If you are lucky you can cancel your card with out any SERVICE & EXTRA CHARGES!!!
Hi.
A very unfortunate incident but u can take up the matter through the banking ombudsman. They have an office here
Trivandrum
Shri E. Madhavan
C/o Reserve Bank of India
Bakery Junction
Thiruvananthapuram-695 033
Tel.No.0471-2332723/0471-2329676
Fax No.0471-2321625
Please take up the matter.
Hi All
I had a problem with Axis Bank credit card sometime back. I tried my ways for 6 months, without any use.
Then I contacted BANKING OMBUDSMAN at http://www.bankingombudsman.rbi.org.in/.
It is a authority maintained by Reserve Bank of India. All the banks and financial institutions come under this jurisdiction.
After I complained online, within one week (!!!) everything was settled.
So, everyone, if you have any problem with Banking or Credit Cards, and if it out of ur hand, just contact Ombudsman.
regards
I heard that private banks are using third party teams(Actually Gundas) to retrieve the credit card due amount. So please be careful before going for any private bank credit card.
These people even come in parking lots for canvassing and all. Almost all the new generation banks are like this only. It is better not to take any credit cards from these banks. The offers provided by them are very much attractive, actually it is like a spider’s web.
Request the park authorities to ban HSBC from Technopark
If 10 – 20 peoples who are having the card cancel based on this, they won’t behave like this in future.
I filed complaint in Museum Police Station and at Banking Ombudsman.
The Museum Police got irritated with the complaint, they are saying that it is a normal thing and nothing special in that.
The SI told that he will call both the parties by tom.
The support from Banking Ombudsman was pretty encouraging, he said that they will acknowledge the complaint in 1 week time and will take action in 2 weeks time.
-arun
Hi
Full sympathies to the gentleman who was harassed by the HSBC manager. But, let us not put the entire blame on HSBC. The victim here has been in default of payment for nearly a year now if not more. The only questionable action here is the alleged harassment during recovery. That has to be protested against.
But, we should also remember it is important to keep a clean and healthy credit or be expected to be subjected to such treatment. After all, not everybody in this country follows the law!
Now, calls for BANNING HSBC from TP sounds very childish. Are you trying to say all other banks (SBI/Axis/HDFC …) are 100% right in the way they do things?
If a particular brand of car does not function the way it should, does that mean all cars of that brand be banned from roads?
If the same unison was shown against banning several eateries like Rangoli/Buraq/Amritha from TP, we could have at least saved our AS*es from being sore.
Once again, please do not listen to the verbal promises of the so-called salesmen. For eg; the DSAs of several banks who hang around TP come up to you and try to sell LIFETIME FREE credit cards. Please be aware, folks, that the DSAs are only trying to meet their target and on most occasions are forced to lie about the features. From my experience, only ICICI offers FREE for LIFE cards. The DSA of HSBC told me LIFETIME FREE but when i checked with friends working in HSBC, they said THREE years FREE. Now, that is the difference I am talking about.
Do your homework and research well.
It is not a perfect world out there after all…
I will await a initial investigation report from HSBC before believing the allegedly victimized customer.
friends,
itz not a good practise to take credit card from private sector banks..kindly try to stop all relationships with those banks like HDFC,HSBC,ICICI,Axis Bank,ING Vysya.etc..Technopark guys,please join together and submit a memorandum to your company officials to change ur salary account to nationalized banks like SBI,SBT,IOB,UBI,etc..No body can control this “GUNDA”Banks…even OMBUDSMAN will be helpless…
LOL, Maybe, if we were to go by the logic exhibited below, we will all end up working for NATIONALISED Companies???
Stop blaming a bank coz of one individual. That is sheer ignorance and stereotyping. HSBC is one of the better banks, world over. ICICI and most of the other banks mentioned by you are much better in customer service than lets say a SBI or SBT.
Please cut the crap and stop the blame game. Instead, let us try to educate people on how to use C-Cards!
“friends,itz not a good practise to take credit card from private sector banks..kindly try to stop all relationships with those banks like HDFC,HSBC,ICICI,Axis Bank,ING Vysya.etc..Technopark guys,please join together and submit a memorandum to your company officials to change ur salary account to nationalized banks like SBI,SBT,IOB,UBI,etc..No body can control this “GUNDAâ€Banks…even OMBUDSMAN will be helpless…”
Very sad to know about the misbehave by HSBC Bank staff. I think, you should move to media (AajTak or StarNews Channel or the local one) with proper evidence and post his experience to different web-sites/forum. Let these people get some lesson after losing few prospective customer and let the world know about these sxxts. I can recollect the same incident happen to one fellow in Gujarat, but the bank was SBI.
His family were too harassed by Collection Agents (Gundas) by using very abusive language. This fellow recorded their all conversation and released the same to media (AajTak Channel). Immediately the higher officials were on their knees to resolve the issue. Moreover, if you have all the proper evidence regarding his payment history, you can move to bank Ombedsman for resolution.
Sorry to hear this tragic incident.. .
I too hold HSBC Credit cards for more than 4 yrs…but, I haven’t come across any such incident till date, may be bcoz.. I haven’t made any Late Payment or Defaults yet.. As Far as Credit cards are Concerned.. its the Best Thing until u pay on time and turns Villian[ as in this case] once u delay ur payment or defaults [Wantedly or unknowingly]
But, the way the AM @ HSBC TVM handled the guy is Very BAD and uncivilized way. It need to be taken up with Severe Punishment from the Bank and from Law [??]….HSBC and other Banks should take care of this kind of incidents and make sure a “Descent” way of Banking is happening.
I support the view of BAN’ing Sales Executives and Collection Agents from any Such Financial institutions; without Proper IDs and the purpose of their visit should be Tracked. Unless, a TOTAL BAN in the Park is the Best option for the Safety of Employees inside the Technopark Campus
I re-iterate: BOYCOTT THESE PRIVATE SECTOR BANKS. THEY ARE BAGS FULL OF TRICKS.
This is not the first time such an incident has been reported about private banks in the media. There has been ample reports in popular dailies about the customer harrassing behaviour of such private banks, and all these happened to customers in Trivandrum!!!! There is no exception about X or Y bank in all these reports.
Shocking!
These thugs must be brought to justice.. This is no way to treat people. Jeez, its getting worse and worse with passing years how they are handling customers in business establishments…
A good number of these private banks are full of tricks to take out more money from customers. Discontinue them from take advantage of you. There were such complaints about ICICI and Citibank. So stay away from these private banks and do business only with public sector banks. Don’t take any credit cards/loans from banks other than from nationalized banks.
It is very unfortunate what happened to Arun. One thing everyone needs to know is that you shouldnt default on your CC payments. The way the AM of HSBC reacted was very dastardly. If what Arun is saying is right, then this guy should be taken to court. This is not the way to treat customers. I dont agree with banning all the banks here. But a warning should be issued to all Banks in such cases and taken up in court if needed.
BOYCOTT THESE BANKS. If someone manhandles you, lodge a complaint with the police for assault and battery. Find a good lawyer friend who will back you up.
Best thing is to avoid using credit cards. I am in the process of paying back all my citibank credit card dues and burning my card.
If you ask me, these guys are $%^&*() – fill in the blanks with your favorite expletive.
Ciao.
Dear All,
This issue of HSBC goondaism. I am surprised that people are trying to justify the actions of the HSBC people. This is something that MUST NOT HAPPEN EVEN ONCE. So these justifiers are part of allowing illegal actions to take place and to justify those illegal actions. I hope something bad like this happens to these justifiers, and then they will understand the corrupt system that they are supporting.
Here is something else that can be of use to many:
Government of India has an online Grievance forum at http://darpg-grievance.nic.in/
Can you imagine this is happening in INDIA?
The govt. wants people to use this tool to highlight the problems they faced while dealing with Government officials or departments like Passport Office, Electricity board, BSNL/MTNL, Railways etc.
I know many people will say that these things don’t work in India, but this actually works as one of our colleague in CSC found. The guy I’m talking about lives in Faridabad. Couple of months back, the Faridabad Municipal Corporation laid new roads in his area and the residents were very happy about it. But 2 weeks later, BSNL dug up the newly laid roads to install new cables which annoyed all the residents including this guy. But it was only this guy! Who used the above listed grievance forum to highlight his concern. And to his surprise, BSNL and Municipal Corporation of Faridabad were served a show cause notice and the guy received a copy of the notice in one week. Government has asked the MC and BSNL about the goof up as it’s clear that both the government departments were not in sync at all.
So use this grievance forum and educate others who don’t know about this facility. This way we can at least raise our concerns instead of just talking about the ‘ System ‘ in India.
Invite your friends to contribute for many such happenings.
PLEASE SPREAD THIS MESSAGE IF U WANT OUR INDIA TO HAVE A BETTER TOMORROW
Dear Arun,
I have had about 10-15 credit cards and still hold about 10 of them. What i have come to learn from the whole experience is that “a credit card is a double edged sword”. it gives you the convenience and luxury of easy credit. But also charges you high interest rate and on defaulting you are charged with higher penalties.
In you case when you have defaulted or come to a point where they you have already been blacklisted, they will treat you like a criminal. Thats how they are trained and conditioned.
i was speaking to my friend in on of the telecom cos the other day. i said my outgoing was not working…and the first thing she said was you must not have paid. i had already submitted my cheque but there was an error on the date. the executives who started calling me used language and tone which was more interrogative than polite. i repeated told them that i had paid up and this went on for a week. finally i had to go to the office to get the details of why the payment was not credited.
Same is the case for credit cards. Long waits on the IVR, bad conversations with customer service and so on so forth. the best way i would suggest is written complaints to customer service and ask for waivers on all penalties. Tell them and do not talk to them. be adamant on your stance. There is no point in getting into an argument with a person. This Ramesh character sounds seedy and i am sure he will have numerous seedy associates also.
this case is an example of how things can get out of hand. I would suggest that anyone who has a problem with any bank or service should keep all your transaction documents ready. If you guys havent kept those documents, start immediately. It will help you state your cause.
All the new generation banks are not here to serve you but to make a successful business out of your hard earned money.
Please remain calm and composed and try to figure out how to get your problems solved on your own.
HSBC is a thug bank. Believe me, I know it. After my experience with HSBC on one incident, I switched all my accounts to SBI. Also, I cancelled all my credit cards.
Now my motto is:
Have a ration card, but not a credit card 🙂
See the point is he did not make the payment on time and he should agree that. Imagine somebody borrows money from you and does not return how would you react.
Once you know you have an outstanding payment on your card make sure you pay them on time. This guy here opted for emi payment with the first payment he should have gone to the branch with his payment details and got it clarified / updated.
According to me he played smart but got hit!!
As for the Pillai fellow he should be thought business ethics.
Ok for now what is the status of the bill have you paid it or waiting to get bashed in front of your relatives this time.
Sorry for being rude but lets face it this is the fact.
Dear friend,
Please esculate this issue to RBI.(Reserve bank of india)
please find the links below
http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/helpdesk.aspx
Best Regards,
Steve Austine
ya me too had bad experience from HSBC credit card section..The details given in the monthly bill were not clear, and I had to wait in queue and talk to some customer care office in Mumbai many times. There were many hidden charges and amount due was not getting reduced after many monthly payments. The officials at vellayambalam had no idea about that, and had to talk to too many executives for even a simple issue. finally i stopped their service by paying the whole amount plus some additional amount, and i requested not to bother me again. after 1,2 months they again started sending the bills 🙁 again had to call few times to Mumbai to settle everything.
Bad incident,I think u r working in MNC co and a professional.
Already u admitted that u r difaulter.Then what is the point to discuss the matter and wasting others time.
guys,
we see here some guys mentioning that there was a default in the payment and Arun has to pay the price for not making the payment in time. Dont you guys remember that if there is a default in the payment, there are penalties. this penalty is the punishment for not making payment in time.
whatever it be, man handling a person in this case was not at all proper and they should pay the price for this atrocity. Arun and his family had to go through mental torture and who will pay for that. Once Arun pays his dues, the bank will get what they want, including the penalties. What about the mental and physical agony he and his family had to go through.
this incident should be brought into the light of public and if such incidents are allowed to happen, then tomorrow some other one will be at the receiving end.
Hang on…
Arun owes HSBC a large amount. Arun was given opportunities to pay up, but he never did.
The first thing you need to ensure is that you do not default. Well, if you do, you have only yourself to blame.
Hi Arun/guys,
if there is a way again walk in to the office again,may be two guys….every one has a nice camera phone,these days…shoot the incident on video and make copies and forward to national new channels..specially like headlines today,cnn ibn,times now etc and watch the fun.if possible get the names too
Any organization/individual that feels it can get away with murder will commit it. While it is true that Arun is a defaulter, it is a situation that can happen to a lot of people – without meaning to. And the fines for late payment are a more than adequate compensation from the bank’s point of view.
Now generalizing these incidents and boycotting all multinational/private banks is probably not the thing to do – as we all know that despite some of these negatives, there are a lot of good aspects for private banks.
What is probably required is the will to fight these kind of incidents and make it clear that we cannot tolerate this kind of behaviour. One should use all possible means of redressal and should not give up.
Why don’t you guys working in tecnopark have some kind of blog/discussion group or some kind of e-community so that people cannot exploit you guys? Put up all issues there, and if despite all efforts people are still not taking action against offenders, then you SHOULD boycott!
After all this kind of thing can happen to anybody, and it will be great if we back each other up.
I can understand your situation. But make sure that such incidents shouldnot be repeated at all.
I think this case is a personal issue not related to any company policy.So ensure that culprits should be punished.
As an Operations manager of a New generation bank What i can suggest you that contact Banking ombudsman at trivandrum RBI ( bakery Jn ) and lodge a complaint.Also file FIR if not already done.
Ban HSBC
You guys should all get together and form (if you have not already) a Technopark s/w engineer’s Assn of some sorts. It should address any issue that is of importance to the park’s s/w engineers. You have a lot of clout. Get together and learn to use it. This is outrageous behaviour. Don’t take it lying down. Fund your association well. hire some lawyers, and take up all kinds of issues from personal security of women and night time employees, to service levels of banks, restaurants and whatever else, even employers that impact the park’s engineers. Good luck guys.
Arun/others,
Even if a defaulter was given chances to pay up and he did not, there is no way a bank can resort to Illegal means to get the money back. I see some guys trying to justify the banks actions saying ” if you have defaulted, you should be ready to face these sort of actions by the bank”. I can’t believe that we have to put up with this sort of behavior. If a person is not paying up, there are courts the bank can approach, why don’t they register a case there???
How can you ask people to accept getting beaten up and harassed by these banks like this???
If a person defaults and its is legal for the banks to resort to such measures, then yes, I agree we should be prepared. Otherwise, to hell with these banks!!!
A bank only understand the language of money. The strong arm tactics they use is to collect money from customers. The only way to make it stop is to let it be known that the cost of the loss of goodwill due to this is more than any money they can collect this way.
Dear Friend,
An Asst. Manager (Sales) is so, b’cause he’s got to that position not by virtue of qualification or any professional skill. He’s there b’cause of the volume of collection he managed during the six years of his ‘collection’ career. Then, how can you expect ethics from him.
Don’t worry. Let this be a learning experience for you. And learn to land a big punch wright at the nose (splitter) all the time you are held by the scuff of your neck.
Credit Cards will always lure you into traps (debt). Use it judiciously! (easier said than……)
Regards
Dear friends,
the issue here is : how we (the technopark employees) can stand united for genuine cases.
Of course agreeing to the govt. denomintaion of not having a union – we need to stand united on genuined issues.
For instance, even though one Sales Agent is doing bad , not all to be blamed : just think why the situation happens!
If a collecctive decision from our part not to use any of the so-called cards , say for instance – the HSBC Cr card, then the bank management will ensure no such bad incidents happen with any of us.
but how we all can have common understanding..? we don’t have a common mail id to share with – we need to take informal initiatives and need to decide on some working body – with some basic code of conduct – and deciding to act on genuine issues.
People then should pass the information through other companies’ doors that we all need to check such a site etc.
we all should have a clear understanding – for ex: if a security misbehaves, with whom can we complaint , and if complaints are not getting noticed, where further could be escalated .. and so on.
what are your suggestions..?
Regards
Dileep
HI ALL CREDIT CHAPS AND FELLOWS,
FIRST PAY THE DEBTS OF YOUR CARD WITHOUT FAIL,THEN U BARK.
WHAT WE GIVE AS CREDIT AS ALMS IS NOT FROM YOUR DAD’S POCKET.
Hi all,
The thing we can do is STOP encouraging CREDIT CARD mode of purchases.
Now a days, it became a status symbol of having credit cards. Think about the keralates 7 to 8 years back. Out of 10000 employees just 1 might have had the Credit Card. How the remaining kept their life going??? without creditcard, rite??. Why dont we follow it?? Let us plan the expenses based on the money we have in our hand. Use DEBIT cards. As u know discounts made for CASH purchases are more that Credit Card purchases. Why should we unnecessarly borrowing money????
Think about this seriously dudes..
Jai Jai DEBIT CARD!!!!
Manesh