Has HSBC's think tank gone bonkers?

Question

One of the charities I'm treasurer for banks with CAF bank, who have an arrangement with HSBC for fee-free pay-ins.

This being the provinces (Edinburgh), HSBC has only one branch in town (only two others in Scotland (Aberdeen and Glasgow)), inconveniently located right in the middle of the city where -horror of horrors- I actually have to *pay* to park.

So off I go, find a space, put my 90p in the meter for

30 mins (because I was going to go to a particular shop after having transacted my bank business), walk up to the branch only to find that it's closed for refurbishment. The notice explaining this apologises for the inconvenience, but also says they've just openend an "exciting" new branch about half a mile away.

So off I trot, get there, and discover that what is "exciting" about it is that it doesn't have any counters. There are only machines for getting money out and machines for paying in.

They still have counter staff milling around trying to help the befuddled customers. No Sir, you can't pay in cheques and cash together, just discard the pay-in slip you've already filled in before you came, and write out two new ones, one for the cheques and one for the cash, then come back to me and I'll help you pay them in. OK, so I find a desk and try to write out the new slips, but the pen has dried out. I find another one, get the slips filled in, find the chap, and then *he* couldn't get the machine to accept our account number. He disappears offstage and comes back with an envelope, puts everything in it, and goes to a special machine which just east the whole envelope up, i.e. similar to the express pay ins other banks have. But I don't of course get my counterfoil stamped or a receipt which shows the amounts, which was the whole point of visiting the branch in the first place - otherwise I could have just put the cheques in the post and laundered the cash through my personal account.

What a bloody waste of time, and what a damned fool idea. I mean, having banks without branches is bad enough, but brnaches without counters is just the height of folly.

Martin · Accepted Answer

< snip >

It's a few years since I used CAF, but IIRC they provided pre-paid envelopes, and assuming the cash bit is the only reason for requiring receipt you could replace that with a personal chq. Laundering, I think you called it :-))))

In the old days, HSBC and Clydesdale were fully "reciprocated" - does that not still apply today?

Virgils Ghost · Answer

< You can, just bung it all in the envelope along with the paying in slip. You  will notice the envelope also has a nice space labelled "cash" and "cheques"  and "total" on the outside. Beats standing in a queue, especially if some irate old fool is standing in  front of me.

John Boyle · Answer

In message , Ronald  Raygun  writes NO NO NO!!!! Dont you ever leaRn anything!! THEY DONT WANT CUSTOMERS WHO  PERFORM TRANSACTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ronald Raygun · Answer

Well yes, other banks have them, but there were none obviously available in this exciting branch for customers to use. The clerk fetched one from a back office only as a work-around because paying in the "preferred" way didn't work.

There is nowhere to put them either, except into a machine which you need to unlock first by using your card. But not being an HSBC customer I don't have a card.

I may be an old fool, pal, but I can assure you I was on my best behaviour. I may have been a bit irate on the inside, but I didn't let it show. There wasn't much of a queue anyway.

Ronald Raygun · Answer

Oi! Pay attention there at the back. They *DO* want customers to perform transactions *instead of* having them performed by counter staff. I think in due course these helpful hand-holders will be phased out, and they'll save tons on staff costs, because the branches will be "staffed" by machines. Saves on staff training too, of course. Erm, wait a minute, no, that's already been taking place on the cheap for ages.

John Boyle · Answer

In message , Ronald  Raygun  writes Sorry Sir! Beg Pardon Sir! Exactly. AIUI HSBC's return back into Midlands previous territory of Scotland and  NI is based on a non branch banking model. They dont really want counter  based banking, the model is for commercial lending. Money transmission  can be handled by somebody else.

dave · Answer

Usual trend, less customer service (preferably none at all!) and more  customer penalties and charges (as much as they can bleed out of us).

Colum Mylod · Answer

Commiserations.

As an infrequent submitter of cheques, HSBC use 2 different type of cheque swallowing machines in various branches. Type A takes the cheque(s) and lodgment slips, so ordered, one on top of the other in a very specific orientation. As slip and cheque are not the same size, they have to be carefully lined up and submitted gracefully and purposefully yet not too fast or slow in case the box times out or crushes the paper.

Type B begs for the slip first, then the cheque. No obvious sign which type of box you face until screen instructions appear.

Virgils Ghost · Answer

It's amazing how badly HSBC treats people that aren't even their customers.  It may sound harsh but they don't owe you anything.

Ronald Raygun · Answer

Well, actually they do, albeit indirectly.  They have an arrangement with CAF Bank to offer a branch service to their customers, and I expect them to honour it.

Has HSBC's think tank gone bonkers?

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