HSBC North America Holdings Inc. Money Transfers Complaint

HSBC North America Holdings Inc. Money transfers department,

International money transfer Money was not available when promised Virginia

As a - retiree form a - D.C.-based international organization, I live about six months of the year in -. I have an HSBC - Account i the - and - in - and I use a service called - to transfer funds from the - to - through Internet banking while I am in -. I pay $50.00 a month for this privilege. HSBC links my - accounts and the transfers are supposed to be immediate. After having done this without problem for 5 years ( the funds would exit my - account and be credited immediately to my - account ), on - -, 2016 I tried to transfer $1900.00 and the funds never got to -. It took at east 20 calls to the HSBC - call center and the - call center. I spoke to at least - call center employees in the - call center ( probably in the - ) and - employees in -. I spent a total of at least 30 hours on the phone trying to find out


Finally, after much begging, my problem was " escalated '' to a " technical team '' and I was told I would get an answer in 48 hours ( which turned out to be 48 WORKING hours, or 6 days ). The reply I got from the - HSBC - team was, quote : " We have no access to the - systems, and therefore we are unable to ascertain whether there was a transfer ''. The call center employee who read me that incredible reply over the phone suggested sending an e-mail to the - - - in - -, if I wished to pursue the matter further. I called the - call center once again ( it was around - - by then ) and they discussed the matter with -. They were able to determine that the money had gone into a so-called " Transfer Suspense Account '' due to a technical glitch on their side. By then I was REALLY short of money in - so I had to return to the - to access funds. Once -, I continued to pursue my case and finally, - of the countless - call center employees who I had discussed it with called me back and promised I would get my $1900.00 back in my - account. Incidentally, every time you call the HSBC - center you have to answer a long list of security questions to make sure you are the account holder. However, the customer service people are not allowed to provide any information on themselves. Thus, if " - '', ( probably not his real name ) makes a promise like this -, and the next time you call " - '' is not there, no one is held accountable for his promise. In fact, they have no idea what you are talking about! To make a long story short, I finally got the funds on Thursday, - -, in - - in my - account. Of course, there was no interest added and of course the exchange rate mas most unfavorable. Oh, and by the way, I wo n't be able to use the money until I return to -. So let me state my complaint in the form of a series of questions : Why does HSBC, a banking institution with operations all over the world, offer a - service that it is not able to deliver? Why does HSBC offer a " - '' service to its best clients and then does nothing to satisfy their needs, even if they are pressing as in my case? I heard that HSBC had to pay a hefty fine for laundering funds for - recently. Could it be that their - - - in - is too busy doing that type of transaction to care about a meager $1900.00 transferred by a lowly - expatriate who needs the money to live on? I am aware that precisely due to money laundering concerns, moving funds internationally has become much more difficult and expensive in recent years. But remittances for legitimate purposes should not be made to pay the price..