Banking with HSBC in the Sultanate

It's amazing how little things in life really can get under your skin. Having lived here in the Sultanate for nearly 4 years, I've learned a lot about lowering my expectations about things. I've even found new levels of non-expectation of things to do with life here.

For example: I know full well that if I take something to a tailor and he says "2 days" I will go back on the 3rd day to remind him, and then I'll get it a day or two after that, making 2 days, actually 4 or 5 days. It's not great, I hate it immensely, but I know when to expect things and thus how much time to plan for certain things.

Ever bought some furniture? Delivery in 3 days.... perhaps a week you'll get your stuff delivered, hopefully without it being damaged.We all have lots of stories about delays for things here, its just part of life and you have to adapt or you will end up having a fit like I did this morning!

And now I shall tell you all my experience with HSBC here in Oman.I don't know what single word I'd use to sum it up, perhaps you can make a suggestion below?! I might use 'shocking' or possibly 'diabolical'. But I just feel that I need to find a word stronger than that to express my extreme amazement disappointment of doing my banking with them. I should tell you all that I have a HSBC account in another country, and after all, they are the worlds local bank. Unless you want to bank with them in Oman.

A snap from the board room at HSBC in Oman

Like many expatriate workers here, when I arrived I needed to get a loan - to pay for the rent 6 months up front (I was lucky to negotiate that!). A quick trip down to HSBC in Qurum was in order to get the loan sorted out, I had my employers salary letter and my resident card, and had been told I just needed to sign up for a personal loan. I remember filling out the forms and handing them back to the person dealing with me and sitting there while they typed things into their computer. Finally I was told ok, we'll call you.

A week or so later I received a call asking me to come to the bank to discuss my loans emphasis on the plural there. I am told that HSBC will not be giving me a loan because I have bad credit in Oman - to which I replied how could I possibly have bad credit, I'd only just gotten there, surely I just had no credit? Then, the first of a number of things that have happened to me in HSBC here over the years that has just taken my breath away happened:

The HSBC person states, "Well your wife still owes us RO 5,500 from a loan she took last year, and she has not been paying it back".

Excuse me? My wife was here a year ago? Really? I'm fairly sure she wasn't. But oh no, the all-knowing bank person says your name is "John Doe" yes? (clearly I've edited that, but emphasis on the last name here) -I replied that, yes, that was my name, they did have a copy of my passport and resident card. Then the bank person rather proudly shows me someone called "Jane Doe" in their computer who had a bad debt with them. "See - Doe - she is your wife, you can't have a loan until this one is paid". Being rather shocked that I had apparently been issued not only with a bank account but also a mystery wife by HSBC, it took me a few seconds to process this information. I mean, what would you think when presented with this shocking news?

After gathering my thoughts for a few seconds, I enquired why they had decided that this person was my wife. The answer, in it's simplistic method was that they had never seen my family name before except once, and decided that I must therefore be married to this other person who happened to have the same last name as me. I eventually persuaded them that no, this mystery woman was not my wife, and that my wife was the woman sitting next to me there in the bank (thankfully with her passport). Eventually, after weeks - I think it was about 6 weeks in the end, I got the loan and paid my land lord. I asked them at the time if this would ever happen again, and was assured that steps had been taken to ensure this would not happen in the future.

About half a year later, I needed to get a small car loan so I could buy a second car - I didnt want to continue renting a vehicle for my wife to drive around in, and so decided to buy a small shopping trolley for her, but I needed a loan to pay for it. Back to HSBC. 8 weeks later, after having to go through the exact same nonsense as before, I eventually got the loan. This time my wife and I specifically asked the branch manager to write a note into my bank account that I had absolutely no link with this nefarious Jane Doe that evidentially skipped town and never paid off her loan. We were told "No - it is not necessary". Excuse me but I think it is, but I swore never to take a loan from them again, and I haven't.

After a particularly enthusiastic evening out with some friends, I managed to lose my wallet, and so needed to get a new ATM and credit cards from HSBC. Again I found myself down at the Qurum branch waiting to speak to a bank person. I explained that I had lost my wallet and that I needed to request new cards, it was a fairly simple process, showing my ID and signing a few bits of paper. "No problem" I was told. DHL would deliver my credit cards, but I would have to come in person to HSBC to collect my ATM card.

A week later I get a call from DHL saying, "we have your cards, where do you work so we can deliver them to you"? I told them that I worked in building number xxxx, on way number xxxx in XXXXXX (being the district/village where I worked - eg Qurum). Apparently that was not good enough for DHL, I needed to give them better instructions. What? Pizza hut can find me, why cant DHL - isn't it their business to deliver things?!

But, I digress.

And so after playing "Can you see me now" for half an hour with a DHL driver, I got my hands on my credit cards. I figured, HSBC being the bastion of customer service that it is, that my ATM card must also be ready but they just hadnt found time to call me to come and pick it up yet. Once again, I'm down at the Qurum branch asking to speak to someone about my ATM card. "Oh but you picked it up yesterday" I'm told. Really? Then why am I here now then? I said that I most certainly did not pick it up the day before because I had better things to do with my time than to be standing in that bank looking for my ATM card. As it happened, my ATM card and PIN had been given to a man called Ahmed xxxxx (no where even remotely close to my name). As the incredible truth dawned on me and the bank person, I was promised a new card later that day, and I got it.

Are you still reading? Because there is more!

Recently, I cracked one of my credit cards and needed to get it replaced. At the end of March I went into the new MQ HSBC branch and explained the situation and that I'd like to have a new card issued to replace my damaged one. I specifically requested that the card be delivered to the branch so that I did not have to deal with DHL. No problem sir, it will be here in a few days. I also wanted to order a card for my wife, in her name, but decided that making two things at once with these chimps people would probably cause a meltdown.

After 5 weeks I went back and asked about where the credit card was - I'd been travelling a lot for the last 3 weeks and so had let things slide before enquiring - I never did get a phone call from them. At this point, my wife had been asking for a credit card in her name for quite some time, and so we decided to fill in an application for her credit card, again we specifically chose to have the card delivered to the MQ branch. 3 days later I get a call from a lady at DHL - We have your card - where shall we deliver it to? I told them to take it to the MQ branch, just like how the instructions were on the application.

Today, my wife went to the bank to ask about her card - knowing that she'll have to get me to leave work and meet her there to get the card if it was there. The card was there (in her name but on my account) and she was just issued the card, that was active, with no ID checking at all from the staff in MQ. She enquired again about where my card was, and handed my account number over so they could check. The mystery replacement card is active but no one can find it, and the latest line from the lovely people at HSBC is that I now did not even apply for a replacement card!

I'm now at a loss as to what to do! Have you had a bad banking experience? Care to share?

I nearly forgot - I'm still waiting for my Al Fair vouchers that I traded in my Credit Card points for in DECEMBER last year. Ugh!

More soon!

le fin.