Sub: Loss/Expenses incurred due to Bank's Mistake.
Dear Sir
I have a power vantage A/C with HSBC Bank. On October 29 my a/c showed a debit of Rs 1000 in Favour of Reliance Mutual Fund. I enquired the bank about this transaction as i had not done any SIP of Rs 1000 with Reliance Mutual Fund. The bank however replied that i should enquire Reliance Mutual Fund regarding this transaction as bank was just executing ECS .That time i was in South Korea and i had to make international calls to Reliance Mutual Fund customer care to sort this out as instructed by HSBC.There was no progress. Again on November 28 the same transaction was repeated.
Again when i informed HSBC the reply was same that is to check with Reliance Mutual Fund. The bank did not start any inquiry at its own end. I was still in South Korea making ISD calls to Reliance Mutual Fund customer care without any result.
Upon my arrival in India on December 5 i went to my broker's office and complained regarding the same. They showed me all the documents and there was no mistake at their end. They told me to ask HSBC to verify my signature on ECS form on basis of which this transaction was being carried out. Then i got in contact with my relationship manager Mr. Vishal Shroff and asked him to verify signature on ECS form. He promptly initiated a inquiry.
Upon inquiry it was revealed that it was a mistake on bank's part. The bank accepted its mistake and credited my account with Rs 2000 which was wrongly debited. The Chembur Branch manager Mr. Rahul sent me a apology letter.
However i am agrieved why the bank did not initiate a inquiry, the very first time i made my complaint. It appears that without anny checking, i was just given a very irresponsible answer to enquire with Reliance Mutual Fund regarding the erroneous transaction. This negligence on bank's part caused me to incur expenses of about 250 USD on ISD calls, not to mention the stress i went through.
When Mr Rahul BM, Chembur Branch had called me to apolozise for bank's mistake i had informed him regarding the USD 250 expenses i had incurred due to bank's mistake and negligent initial response and requested bank through him to kindly compensate the same amount to me. He promised to take up this matter, however later he told that bank would not reimburse any losses.
Clearly this refusal (to reimburse the loss which was caused due to bank's negligence) shows bank's attitude towards its customers and customer service/satisfaction.
i want to warn all the readers of this complain to be scrupulous while dealing with HSBC.
Rgds
Amit Pathak
0 comments