Till now, I've always felt that Rhuthun/Ruthin needs its remaining bank. After all, I wasn't happy when Nat West or Barclay's closed. You take banks for granted. I am an HSBC customer. But not for much longer. After 35 years, why have I decided to dispense with the HSBC? It's over the way they have shabbily treated me—over £15.
So, it's time to go. Well, I shan't actually close the account. I'll leave 1p within, on the basis that (a) I can revert (unlikely) and (b) it'll probably cost *them* money to keep an inactive account open. Hopefully, more than £15.
The catalyst was some HSBC phone monkey in some call centre sweat shop definitely on the other side of the world treating me as if I'd picked up dog dirt on the bottom of my shoe. They offered someone else to phone me back, to go over my complaint. No one bothered. Their loss? My salary and a portion of my savings, after tax and deductions totalling £42,000. 2,800 times more than that £15.
HSBC from June 21st will be extending its Rhuthun banking hours from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. to 9.30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
So, it's time to go. Well, I shan't actually close the account. I'll leave 1p within, on the basis that (a) I can revert (unlikely) and (b) it'll probably cost *them* money to keep an inactive account open. Hopefully, more than £15.
Not having been inside a branch since February 2020 and last using an ATM in May 2020, it seems to me that branches are now fairly superfluous. And, they continually try to force you down the internet banking route anyway, which I have never adopted on principle, because I was concerned that if you don't use your branch then the inevitable will happen. And I really valued the Rhuthun and Dinbych branches.
Funny how attitudes change when it comes to £15 and poor customer service.
So, what I've done is skip internet banking and become a thoroughly modern baby boomer, by leapfrogging directly to a smartphone solution. I've had a smartphone since as long ago as 2008 (it was a Blackberry—remember them?) and I doubt you could even use it back then for banking. In the end, it was a choice of two such banks, Starling and Monzo. Problems in downloading one app resulted in my using the other. Do I feel guilty about abandoning the HSBC after so much time? For the staff in the Vale, certainly. For the corporation, not a chance. That £15 has left a bad taste and I am no longer prepared to put up with my own inertia. It may seem easier to stay where you are but setting up a with a smartphone bank took a few hours only.
Overall customer satisfaction in the 2021 banking survey indicates how likely we are to recommend their bank. It seems like the less human interaction, the higher the rating, with HSBC coming in joint 10th...
The catalyst was some HSBC phone monkey in some call centre sweat shop definitely on the other side of the world treating me as if I'd picked up dog dirt on the bottom of my shoe. They offered someone else to phone me back, to go over my complaint. No one bothered. Their loss? My salary and a portion of my savings, after tax and deductions totalling £42,000. 2,800 times more than that £15.
And I shall still be able to use HSBC's ATM free of charge. There's a post office for depositing money (and I haven't partronised one of those, since December 20th, 2019!).
Current HSBC branches in this part of the world. No doubt subject to change
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Banks