Make do with the online service to avoid the staff (HSBC)

Member Name: stokx

Product:	HSBC
Date:	13/01/09 (63 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good savings rates.

Disadvantages: Poor customer services.

HSBC have a history of offering good savings accounts, I remember 10% regular savings and 6% instant access with monthly interest.
At the moment you can get 8% on their regular saver when you have your salary paid into a fee free current acc.
Their internet banking is not as fast or intuitive as Lloyds or Halifax and I'm not sure about security; you don't need to enter as much log in info as other banks and there is nothing to stop key logging (Lloyds have a drop down menu) or phishing (Alliance and leister display a unique picture - phrase combination for each user).
Online customer service is poor; they take a long time to respond and ignore half of your message so you have to send separate tickets for each related question, re-explaining the context in each one.
I don't do a lot of banking in branch but I haven't had problems with queuing, I found the phone service relatively fast as well but the staff are poorly trained:
I was given contradictory information on eligibility requirements for an account , another time they printed a paying in book for an internet only account and the people online thought I had a different type of account than the one the people on the phone had on record.
When I came to close my current account I was told I had to pay £100 in annual charges which corresponded to a different type of account to the one I could see online. While I was never charged it still cost me time.
Most of the staff were friendly and the problems were due to them being badly informed but I'm guessing someone tried to get a commission changing my current acc.
I am happy to put up with poor customer service for a higher rate and their regular savings are market leading, plus you can collect £50 cash back at we promise to when you open a fee free current acc so I must reluctantly recommend.

Summary: The rate comes first.