HSBC Premier - Great idea, terrible implementation

I recently got swayed by the promises of HSBC Premier. The premise is, if you are willing to devote your finances (or at least a large chunk of them) to be held by HSBC, you get great benefits, like free ATM withdrawals in the US, free international transfers, commission free foreign card use, etc etc. If you have international finances, the package should be perfect.

The idea is great - HSBC will lay on a much better service for the members that it can potentially eke more money out of. I have no problem with that - capitalism at its very finest.

However, HSBC don't really seem to understand customer service. It's as if the entire company just skipped the training seminar on customer communication, and went to the bar instead. In my job if I left emails unanswered for days on end, I would (and should) be reprimanded for doing a slack job.

Some examples:
- You are assigned a "Premier Relationship Manager" (PRM) - someone who will answer your calls and emails and do what you need doing. Only emails go unanswered for weeks on end, and your chances of not getting voicemail when you call are so infinitesimally small, we'll just call them zero.
- When you first sign up, an account opening 'specialist' deals with all the paperwork, before you are given your PRM. But your PRM does not seem to get any handover communication at all so you have to go over everything again.
- There's no welcome pack, no welcome letter. Just a slow trickle of letters, cards, check books on a daily basis. In the last five weeks I've probably had something from HSBC in the mail 90% of the time, but there's never any structure to it. Some key pieces you need for some accounts may take weeks longer to arrive than they did for other accounts. 2 months after first trying to open my account, I'm still missing the debit card for my checking account. There doesn't seem to be any logic to when it does or doesn't go smoothly.

So if you're thinking about applying for HSBC, it's not that I would actively recommend against it, but you should set your expectations right. This is not a "Premier Experience" from a customer service point of view. The products might be worth it, but expect your timeline to look something like mine:

August 2nd, 2010: Apply online for HSBC Premier Account
August 16th, 2010: Send a chaser email as I still haven't heard anything back whatsoever from HSBC
August 17: Finally hear back from HSBC "Client Sales Officer"
August 18: Ask two really simple quick questions via email back to HSBC Client Sales Officer
August 23: Still no answer, chase again
August 23: Finally get answer, submit signed paperwork needed for application

At this point you get no contact from your CSO or indication of a PRM. You just seem to be cast into 'drift mode', where you gradually drift toward having the accounts you need over a period better measured in months than days.

August 25: First automated email from HSBC regarding activating eBanking arrives. This is your first indication that your account is being opened.

August 25: Miss call from PRM. That was quick. This seems almost efficient.
August 26: Call PRM back. His voicemail says he is in the office today. Try several more times, never get call back.
September 8: (Two weeks later) Finally get call back from PRM. PRM was actually out for two weeks, despite voicemail message specifically saying he was in
September 9th: Point out to PRM that only half the accounts required have been setup by CSO, and the international ones have also not been set up.
September 13: No change, no response, no contact. Chase again.
September 15th: No change. Chase again.
September 17th: Told missing US accounts are 'progressing', will be called regarding international accounts that week.
September 27th: Chase again. Still missing checks, debit card from missing accounts. Still no word from international accounts.
September 29th: No response from PRM, but get a call from someone to set up the british HSBC accounts. Miss that call, call back but get VM.
September 30th: Repeat missed call, voicemail loop. Still no word from PRM. Still no personal account debit card that was meant to have been fixed September 9th.
September 29th: Received email from HSBC asking for an MDA form, which I sent in to CSO months ago. Email PRM to check all is well. Receive no response.

So, 2 months after I first apply. I'm still waiting for my check card. I'm still waiting for my international accounts. I never received any kind of welcome letter or explanation of premier benefits. Even things like how to pay checks in (when you don't have HSBC branches near you) are unclear - turns out you have to mail them in (on your dime). And of course I have many many unanswered emails, voicemails left with no call back...

HSBC Premier...it's a great idea but WOW can they screw up customer service.

[Update 10/5/2010]
- October 4th, receive email from PRM saying he called me got VM. Ignores my email queries re missing Australian Accounts, missing checking card, missing welcome pack. Ignores sentences like "A colleague asked me today if I would recommend HSBC Premier to him. I struggled to give an outright recommendation as to date it has all seemed fairly haphazard. I can't quite tell if I am just unlucky, or if this is typically how HSBC operate. It hasn't seemed like a Premier experience to me so far."
- I reply by email, repeating the three things I'm waiting on, and include this sentence "Sorry I missed your call. I think email is probably fine anyway. Please do reply to this email ASAP though. I was somewhat offended and disenchanted to have my email of September 27th completely ignored (and still unreplied to) by you."
- Receive a reply the next day, completely ignoring above sentence. He does at least reply to each of the three points, though not in a way that actually solves the problem.
- Still no reply re MDA form, of course.

Watch out for scam artists on Oodle and other SF bay area apartment listinsg

Disclaimer: The real Jeff Moroso is a perfectly good man. This story reflects someone impersonating Jeff Moroso.

I nearly got scammed by a Nigerian. It was phenomenally well executed and quite believable.

The deal involved a 2 bed apartment listed on oodle.com for rent at 2296 Vallejo St. The ad was listed as from Jeff Moroso.

The apartment looked great, and you could pay month by month or in multi-month blocks to get a discount.

Alarm bells started ringing as my email chains with 'Jeff' continued - poor english, not willing to speak by phone or meet in person, etc. Finally when he asked for the first month rent and deposit wired to a bank account, I got even more suspicious. I googled For Jeff Moroso and rang his construction company. I spoke to a very nice lady there who was very adamant that this had nothing to do with Jeff Moroso.

Then 'Jeff' emailed me again this time direct from a Yahoo account, where I could get an IP address from the sender. The IP address is located in Nigeria.

Received: from [82.128.81.45]

Using http://www.ip2location.com/free.asp:

82.128.81.45

NG

NIGERIA

LAGOS

LAGOS

CDMA EVDO POOL

Yeah. Go figure. Nigeria.

Full email transaction posted below to try and help anyone Googling on their suspicions of any future scams.

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Al Cook

Date: Fri, Aug 6, 2010 at 2:55 PM

Subject: Re: Lease Contract/Payment Instruction.

To: Jeff Moroso , "Jeff M." <2081334298s43210886@anon.oodle.com>

Cc: Sarah Cook <@gmail.com>

Hi Jeff,

I have called Jeff Moroso Construction Company as I wanted to verify that you were who you say you are before sending any money. The internet can enable people to easily mask their identity.

Sally at Moroso Construction didn't have any knowledge of you owning 2296 Vallejo, or of your property manager Clarice, and was confident that the person I am communicating with (i.e. you) is not Jeff Moroso. While I really like the look and sound of this apartment, I am not comfortable enough that this is legitimate for me to send money at this stage.

If I have mis-read the situation, I apologize and I would like still to rent the apartment. However I will need to meet you in person and view the apartment before I can hand over any money.

I'm sorry to be so suspicious if my suspicion is misplaced, but the internet is a dangerous place and several things about this transaction have set off warning bells to me.

Regards

Al Cook

On Fri, Aug 6, 2010 at 1:47 PM, Jeff Moroso wrote:

Hello Al Cook,

I have received your tenancy application form and I am comfortable with your move in. In regards to your questions, do see my response below.

- What is the fastest way we can get our deposit checks to you? I'd like to make sure we are not too slow here. Can I come to you and physically give you the signed contracts and checks?

*Please note that I do not accept check payment as first time payment from my tenannts, so you will be making the payment to reserve the apartment to my manager's account details so that the apartment can be reserved for you immediately your payment is confirmed.

- Do I understand correctly, that if we pay you $4000 for the first month and damage deposit and lock ourselves in, that if come August 18th we wanted to back out for any reason, we would get the $1500 deposit back but *not *the $2500 first month payment?

* If you make the payment to reserve the apartment now and come August 18th you change your mind for any reason both the first month rent and the refundable security deposit will be refunded back to you on the spot, but I am very certain you will fall in love with the apartment when you see it.

- Your earlier email indicated a Pool, sauna and tennis court were also

available. I am wondering if this information was about a different unit, as

I am not aware that 2296 Vallejo has such amenities?

*Please note that those amenities are not available as that three amenities is for one my propery in Hawaii, because I was actually responding to someone else who was also interested in renting my property in Hawaii.

- I am anticipating that we will pay you 1 month plus damage deposit to start off with, and then all being well we will move to paying you in 6 month installments of $12750 for the next ~ 2 years at least. Does that sound OK?

*No problem that is fine with me, so you can sign for a six months lease and with option to renew since the six months lease has the same discount with the one year and 2 Years. So you go ahead and sign for as long as you which to.

- I assume that once we are tenants in the unit, we can renew as many times as we want - i.e. you won't put it back on the open market if we want to remain tenants?

*Of course you can renew it as many times as you want, and I will not be putting it on the market.

You can have the apartment reserved for you until your move in, with the payment of the first month rent plus a refundable security deposit. You will also be filling out the lease contract form and the completed form should be emailed to me along with the receipt of payment to reserve the apartment now.

Do see the attached lease contract, and also see my manager's account details for you to make the payment into and as soon as I receive the filled lease contract and the receipt of your payment I shall reserve the apartment for you immediately.

Please you are advised to make payment to my manager's account as soon as you can, so that the apartment can be reserved for you immediately. Though someone else just

Submitted his own application form but I have not responded back to him so I will expect you to make the transfer as early as you can so that I can reserve the apartment for you. So do make payment to the account details below, and as soon as my manager confirms your payment the apartment will be yours. See my manager's account details below:

Bank Name: La Capitol Federal credit union Account

Account Number: 406412

Routing Number: 265473582

Account Name: Clarice Lewis Wallaker.

I await your earliest response to my email as soon as possible with the filled lease contract and the receipt of payment.

Warmest Regards,

Jeff Moroso.

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Al Cook

Date: Fri, Aug 6, 2010 at 11:30 AM

Subject: Re: Unit Update.

To: "Jeff M." <2081334298s43210886@anon.oodle.com>

Cc: Sarah Cook <@gmail.com>

Hi Jeff,

Please find attached our completed rental application form. I have also attached a list of our past tenancy references, and contact persons for verification of employment, should you need them. Finally I have also attached my Credit Score Report.

I have a couple of questions for you:

- What is the fastest way we can get our deposit checks to you? I'd like to make sure we are not too slow here. Can I come to you and physically give you the signed contracts and checks?

- Do I understand correctly, that if we pay you $4000 for the first month and damage deposit and lock ourselves in, that if come August 18th we wanted to back out for any reason, we would get the $1500 deposit back but not the $2500 first month payment?

- Your earlier email indicated a Pool, sauna and tennis court were also available. I am wondering if this information was about a different unit, as I am not aware that 2296 Vallejo has such amenities?

- I am anticipating that we will pay you 1 month plus damage deposit to start off with, and then all being well we will move to paying you in 6 month installments of $12750 for the next ~ 2 years at least. Does that sound OK?

- I assume that once we are tenants in the unit, we can renew as many times as we want - i.e. you won't put it back on the open market if we want to remain tenants?

Please let me know if there is anything I can do to move faster in confirming this tenancy with you. We really like the look of this place, and I can assure you we will be excellent tenants for you. Please call me if you have any questions or if it can speed the process in any way.

Regards

Al Cook

On Fri, Aug 6, 2010 at 8:31 AM, Jeff M. <2081334298s43210886@anon.oodle.com> wrote:

Hello Al,

I am in receipt of your email, and the content noted. In

regards to your question, do see my response below.

You can secure the apartment now for your proposed move-in date,

because if you secure it now you can move-in then. The discount for the twelve

months and twenty four months has the same 15% discount, you can sign for as

long as you wish to. Please note that to secure the apartment now you will need

to pay just the first month rent and the refundable security deposit.

Please note that the apartment will be available for move-in

or viewing from August 18th, as that is when the current occupants lease will

expire. The present occupants lease will expire 12:00noon and that is the

earliest viewing date (August 18th) so if you are really interested I will

advice you try and secure it now so that you do not loose it to other potential

tenants who are also in contact with me in regards to this apartment and like

you know who ever make is deposit first to secure it gets it.

Please if you will like to move ahead in securing the

apartment now with the payment of the first month rental fee and the refundable

security deposit, do let me know by filling the rental application form and

return it back to me so that I can forward the lease contract for you to go

through it and then reserve the apartment. I hope you understand what I am

saying here? Because if you secure it now, and come that viewing that you

change your mind for any reason I will simply refund your deposit back to you

in full value.

I will await your earliest response to my email, so that we

can proceed with you securing the apartment for your self as soon as possible.

Warmest Regards,

Jeff Moroso.

[ARC] ---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Al Cook

Date: Thu, Aug 5, 2010 at 1:54 PM

Subject: Re: Unit Information's.

To: "Jeff M." <2081334298s43210886@anon.oodle.com>

Cc: Sarah Cook <@gmail.com>

Great thank you so much for your reply. We are probably looking to rent for two years, and would be very happy to pay up front in 6 month chunks at least.

We would ideally not want to start the lease until August 21. Would you consider letting us sign the lease now to start on that date, given the rental security of continued tenancy and 6 month rental payments? I would like to avoid paying double rent for this and our current place as much as possible.

If we paid you 12 months in advance, would you give a higher discount rate or still 15%?

Would I be able to view it today or tomorrow? I work from home on Fridays so can be flexible on timing, though would prefer evenings so my wife can join me.

Thanks

Al

On Thu, Aug 5, 2010 at 1:33 PM, Jeff M. <2081334298s43210886@anon.oodle.com> wrote:

Hello,

My name is Mr. Jeff, I’m the owner of the apartment. This apartment is a two bedroom/two bathroom apartment. The apartment is fully furnished and can also be rented as unfurnished and if you care about security this is the place to stay. The apartment is a pet friendly apartment. This apartment is available so book it now.

Lease term available are month to month, 3 months, 6 months , one year and two years lease term....... it can be renewed when it expires.

# 2296 Vallejo St.

San Francisco, CA 94123

State: CA.

1. ONE MONTH PLAN: Pay one month rental ($2500) and security deposit ($1500) and get... 0% discount. Total is $4000.

2. THREE MONTHS PLAN: Pay the three month rental ($7500) and a security deposit of $1500 and get a discount rate of 10% which will now amount to $6750.

3. SIX MONTHS PLAN: Pay for six month rental fee ($15000) and a security deposit of $1500 and a discount of 15% will be given to you so it will now amount to $12750 plus the refundable security deposit of $1500. This is the plans available to my tenants and I offer them the freedom of choice.

- The kitchen is equipped with refrigerator, dishwasher, stove and microwave.

The apartment is 1048 sqft.

Amenities included in the rent: Electricity, water, covered garage, gas, heat, AC, sewer, Cable/Satellite TV.

Other amenities available: Pool, furniture, Package Receiving, Sauna, Fitness Center, Elevator, High Speed Internet Available, Near Public Transit 24-Hour Availability, Courtyard, Blinds, disposal, floor tile, Recreation Area Security Guard, Tennis Court , Security Patrol, Washer/dryer in unit.

I will strongly advice you to book this apartment now because of the high demand and as well to ensure that all necessary arrangements are put in place in anticipation of your move in to avoid any hitches and delays when you come to the apartment.

To book the apartment, you will fill the booking form and make payment for the first month rent and security deposit...

Hope to hear back from you.

Jeff Moroso.

RSA SecurID issues with Mac OS X Snow Leopard

I have a PPTP RSA SecurID VPN setup for connecting to my workplace. It works just fine on my MacBook Air, but when I did the identical setup on my new 27 inch iMac, it wouldn't connect.

The symptoms were that when I told the VPN client to connect, it would just sit trying for ages and never bring up the RSA window. Meanwhile my MBA on the same network running same OS was connecting just fine.

After a lot of beating my head against a wall and Google being completely useless, I dug out this line from system.log (my highlighting):

Dec 16 13:22:53 Al-Cooks-iMac pppd[554]: Error loading /System/Library/Extensions/EAP-RSA.ppp/Contents/MacOS/EAP-RSA: dlopen(/System/Library/Extensions/EAP-RSA.ppp/Contents/MacOS/EAP-RSA, 262): no suitable image found. Did find:\n /System/Library/Extensions/EAP-RSA.ppp/Contents/MacOS/EAP-RSA: mach-o, but wrong architecture

Dec 16 13:22:53 Al-Cooks-iMac pppd[554]: Couldn't load EAP plugin EAP-RSA.ppp

I checked the file sizes of /System/Library/Extensions/EAP-RSA.ppp on my two machines, and sure enough it was larger (602KB) on my MBA than on my iMac (463 KB). It seems apple have started shipping new machines with PPC only builds of this package. I have no idea why.

I copied the larger file across, and bingo. VPN works.

US Immigration - appropriate control or mindless bureaucracy?

I'm British, and my fiancee is Australian, which means that every other year while we're in the US we have to go through two rounds of immigration pain - having done this four or five times now between us, I hope our experience (and mistakes) can help someone else.

Now I'm all for immigration control - within reason. This blog focuses on the borders between countries, communities, societies - but that doesn't mean those borders are always bad. Having immigration control and conditions means that only those truly motivated will apply. That's a big help - you want motivated, focused and determined people in your country - and hopefully those sort of people can bring something of value to the country in terms of their skills.

However, I'm often forced to assume that the US immigration policy is designed to only test that people are willing to put themselves through a tortuous path of bureaucracy, and who can afford to go through the arbitrary cycle of required paperwork.

Let me give you my fiancee's situation as an example. As an Australian, she can apply for an E-3 visa, thereby avoiding the pain of having to compete with hundreds of thousands of other people for an H1-B visa. In theory there's barely any contention ratio for the pool of E-3 visas, and it should be easy to get. Right? Wrong...

My fiancee is an Occupational Therapist (OT). In order to get an E-3 visa, you must have an actual specific job offer from an employer in America. I was already living in California, so that meant we needed a job offer from a California Hospital. To work in California, OTs must have a licence from the California Board of Occupational Therapy (CBOT). But you can't get that without two things:

• Your licence from NBCOT (the national OT board) - which requires taking an OT exam from within the US
• A social security number

Now here's the kicker - many things in America revolve around your social security number, and very rarely does any bureaucrat give any consideration as to what happens in the situation where someone is not American. Surely everyone of any worth is American, right? Well if you don't happen to be American, and therefore don't have a social security number (SSN)...well...it turns out you need a visa before you can get your SSN. But before you can get your visa you need a job offer. And before you can get your job offer you need your OT licence. And before you can get that you need your SSN.

Uhhuh - that's actually how it works. The official, formally recognised process for immigration involves an unresolvable Catch 22 situation. Joseph Heller would be proud of you America!

So we tried to resolve this situation by getting a job offer from an OT recruitment agency - we had a legal letter drawn up to say they would definitely give her a job once her visa is approved and she can then get an SSN and then her license. A great idea, we thought. Only it turns out jobs through recruitment agencies are not acceptable for visa applications, as the agency makes a cut of money and that's against the regs...

So our visa application was rejected, and tucked away in the small print there was the small statement that people with a rejected visa application may not enter the United States. That's right - I was in California, and she was legally barred from entering the country to see me.

4 months later, a different job offer and everything was sorted - but surely this is not what immigration control should be designed to do? You want to have high value, motivated people enter? Whether they want to do Occupational Therapy or pick grapes, what should matter is whether they're motivated, can fulfil a job position and improve the US economy. Australia solves this problem by issuing credits - depending on the current climate you get a different number of points for different skills - reach the point threshold and you're in. Now that's the way to do it - simple, straight forward and sensible.

I hope Obama's administration does something to improve this. America if you make it too hard for talent to enter the US it will go elsewhere - China, Dubai, wherever. And don't think you don't need anyone from outside - this is a global economy, global society full of global industries. Embrace the world, or be left out in the cold.

Al

If you're looking to immigrate to the US on an L1B, L1A or E-3 visa please feel free to contact me, providing you realise I am not a lawyer...

One World - With Borders

As someone who works in a California High-Tech firm, I watch how technology makes the world ever smaller. As someone who has lived in California, Britain and Australia, I see how society drives us apart.

This site covers insights on how we're making our world a more connected place with technology and knowledge - or how we're dividing our world with bureacracy, violence or ignorance.