Related topics: Bank of America, Comcast, Dish Network, Time Warner Cable, Wells Fargo
HSBC (HBC, news) proudly calls itself "the world's local bank." But credit card users in the United States are saying bad things about this neighbor.
"I just sent my card back to them, in pieces," reader "Lynn Chitty" wrote on an MSN Money message board after last year's Customer Service Hall of Shame was published, saying the company had charged her an overdraft fee after continuing to deduct $9.95 a month for a service she had canceled. "They don't care."
"(M)y due date is always fluctuating; they are the only one of my card companies that charge a fee for expedited online payment; and now they have changed all of the login/password info on my account," reader "Kstater1" wrote on the same thread. "They have mastered the art of ripping off their customers."
"DoneWithBS" wrote, "(H)ow can you expect to treat people like this and still get ahead?"
HSBC, headquartered in London, is No. 10 on this year's MSN Money list of companies that consumers most love to hate.
In the 2010 MSN Money-Zogby International survey of customer service, 28.1% of those familiar with HSBC's credit cards called the company's customer service "poor," landing the financial-services giant in the Customer Service Hall of Shame for the third year running.
Company representatives declined to speak with MSN Money but sent a written statement saying, "We have seen positive results in our internal customer satisfaction trends, and we are always seeking additional feedback and opportunities to continue to enhance customer satisfaction."
HSBC, originally known as Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp., is the largest bank in the world by some measures. In 2003, its U.S. arm made a critical deal that some say helped to legitimize risky home loans: It acquired Household International, then the largest subprime mortgage lender in the United States.
HSBC has since pulled out of subprime home loans. But it remains prominent in credit card and other consumer services. It is the sixth-largest provider of MasterCard and Visa cards in the U.S. and issues store cards for about 30 retail chains, including Best Buy, Sears, Kmart, Furniture Row and Saks.
HSBC did not take any government bailout funds during the banking meltdown. It posted income of $5.57 billion for 2009, a growth of 206.2% over the previous year.
No. 9: Citibank not too big to fail customers
Citibank is a grand American financial institution: big, old and disliked by many of its own customers.
In the 2010 MSN Money-Zogby International survey, 28.29% of people familiar with the company's service called it "poor," earning the company a repeat appearance in our Customer Service Hall of Shame. (That's just 0.01 percentage point better than No. 8 on our list.) Last year, 28.4% answered "poor."
Citibank representatives declined an interview. The bank's parent company, Citigroup (C, news), became one of the symbols of the 2008-09 banking crisis. More than a century and a half after its 1812 launch as the modest City Bank of New York, it pioneered the new era of big banking in 1998, when, as Citicorp, it merged with Travelers Group to add investment services.
As a global giant, Citigroup became active in the subprime-mortgage and securities-derivatives markets in the U.S. and took a $45 billion cash bailout from the government, along with share conversions, when those high-risk moves failed.
Citibank is the company's consumer-banking arm and the name familiar to customers through its suite of credit cards and other loan products.
But on MSN Money's message boards, readers of last year's survey offered explanations for the bank's poor service marks that went beyond bailouts. They included misplaced paperwork, abruptly canceled accounts and unhelpful or short-tempered clerks.
"I spoke with three customer service reps who all told me they couldn't help me and gave me different numbers to call," wrote "jojocrako," who was calling to refinance his mortgage. "Finally I talked to one gentleman who was supposed to email me the closing costs. After two more calls to him to get the email, I decided to stop wasting my time and go with a Credit Union."
Citibank issued a brief written response to the 2010 survey, calling its results "disappointing and simply not good enough," and adding, "There is much we have begun to do to improve the experience our customers have with Citi, but we simply won't be satisfied until our customers themselves feel the experience is the excellent one they deserve."
The company pointed to efforts to more accurately measure customer satisfaction, upgrade eligible cardholders and speed up problem resolution.
Citigroup reported an $8.8 billion loss for 2009 and a 63.3% income growth over the previous year.
No. 8: Wells Fargo getting bigger, not better?
It's not easy getting bigger -- and bigger -- particularly while having to phase in new federal regulations.
Wells Fargo (WFC, news), No. 8 in MSN Money's fourth annual Customer Service Hall of Shame, said these were the chief challenges it had faced during the past year.
In the 2010 MSN Money-Zogby International survey, 28.3% of those familiar with the bank's credit card service called it "poor." Wells Fargo last made the list in the poll's 2007 inaugural, when 21% of respondents called the company's service "poor."
Wells Fargo, which acquired troubled giant Wachovia at the end of 2008, is now the fourth-biggest bank in the U.S. and has the largest network of branches. With more than 80 business units, it does business with one-third of U.S. households.
"When you have all of those opportunities to have a relationship and you have all those connections, you also have opportunities to stub your toe from time to time," said Betty Hoople, the head of consumer credit card marketing for Wells Fargo. "But, hopefully, we can continue to look out for our customers and position ourselves to really help."
Hoople said that Wells Fargo has scored well in other customer-service surveys and that its customers appear satisfied: They use their Wells Fargo cards often compared with other cards and have low account cancellation rates.
In the past year, the company trained call agents to handle a deluge of questions from former Wachovia customers, to answer customers' questions about new credit rules and to reach out to customers in financial distress to offer solutions.
"Every team member has a story to tell about someone who is going through a difficult time," Hoople said.
