Will we get our money back?

by lauralaura 15 April 2010 |

11 comments | Love

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Hi

I desperately need some advice.

To cut a VERY long story short, my boyfriend and I travelled South America last summer, my boyfriend is with HSBC and all our money was in his account. We tried to get £100 out of 5 different cash points at different times during our trip in Peru and Argentina and were told we couldn’t get any money out, but the money DID leave the account, but HSBC won’t believe that we didn’t receive the money.

After managing to borrow money and fly home we are still fighting this, HSBC say they have contacted the Peruvian/Argentinean banks and they say we DID receive the money-which is a lie! They offered us £50 as an apology over bad customer service, which I just think is an insult as they are still saying they do not believe us over the banks in South America. We have been told twice the case is closed, but recently sent ANOTHER letter to try to get this money back, but as yet, no response.

What can we do? HSBC owe us roughly £500 now, please help I need this money so much!

Many thanks

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Comments (11)

212

SoftwareBear posted
The money left their system I guess ... they have no proof you didn't get it ... they may well have proof the responsibility for the money was accepted by the receiving system.
You need to work back from the other end and find out where it went.
Would your travel insurance cover this ?
Were they HSBC banks you used abroad ?
What systems (like Link or Meastro) did the ATMs use ... you need to contact those companies to trace the transactions.
Posted on 15 April 2010 | Love 1 love Report
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lauralaura posted
Thank you so much for your response and good point about the insurance, I havent checked...
They weren't HSBC banks we used, they were just random peruvian and argentinian cash points and we didnt get their names as we werent aware any money had come out of our account until we checked online banking a few days later when we had moved on.
The only proof we have is just common sense really- The first time we tried to get money out and couldn’t we called the bank and they said there was a block on the card as we hadn’t told them we were going away, they said this would be removed, but it still wasn’t off by the next day which meant we had to go into a peruvian bank, show my boyfriends passport and get cash out that way. But money left the account every time we tried to get cash out of the cash point even though we weren’t getting any. But we have proof there was a block on the card as a letter was sent out, however, they are now claiming there was never a block on the card!
If they think they are right and we did receive money each time we went to the cash point the bank statement shows that we would have apparently got £100 out at a cash point and then called HSBC (we have phone records to prove this) then got more cash out of the machine, then immediately went into a Peruvian bank and got money out there. Why on earth would we do all this if we were able to get money out the machine, if this was the case we could have just got all the cash straight out and made no phone calls to HSBC! Why would we call HSBC if the money had actually come out?? It makes no sense.
But this is literally the only prof we have, does it seem hopeful if we fight long enough we will get the money back?
Posted on 15 April 2010 | Love 0 loves Report
212

SoftwareBear posted
Given you have written proof the card was blocked at their admission then you might get those phantom withdrawals repaid.
Problem is for the other cases is you could have been being dishonest and there's no way to prove you weren't.
As to likelihood of payment ... for the provable cases then yes ... they can't squirm if the letter is explicit and withdrawal and blocked times overlap.
For the others ... I don't know.
Posted on 15 April 2010 | Love 1 love Report
130

Donna Ferguson posted
If HSBC hasn't resolved your complaint to your satisfaction within 8 weeks, you can make a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
If I were you I would warn HSBC that you are going to take it to the Ombudsman if they don't resolve it. It costs banks around £500 each time a case goes to the Ombudsman so they may be willing to just give in.
Good luck and don't give up!
Donna
Posted on 15 April 2010 | Love 1 love Report
159

JoeEasedale posted
Donna is correct, the Ombudsman is the way forward, but to access them you need to exhaust hsbc complaint procedure.
To do this write to them giving them 7 days to either give you a refund or a letter of deadlock with their final reponse as you are taking it to the ombudsman.
Ask also for the leaflet about how to do this.
Once you have their final response or deadlock then you can read the leaflet and download the form from the website, its pretty straitforward. Remember to forward copies of all proof.
Posted on 15 April 2010 | Love 1 love Report
824

MikeGG1 posted
To get the block into perspective, it sounds as though there wasn't a block in place. What happened was that suddenly out of the blue you tried to get money in South America without any warning to HSBC. Their automated systems picked it up as an anomoly and blocked the transaction.
If you had been back in UK you would still have been able to use your card, so it wasn't actually blocked.
The fact that you have a letter from them is proof that at least one and probably all attempts failed.
Obviously, the South American banks are telling porkies. They are the one's who are the problem.
Next time you go abroad, tell your card company so that you will be able to use the card if necessary. A Santander card is best for overseas transactions and cash.
Mike
Posted on 15 April 2010 | Love 0 loves Report
410

manzanilla posted
Obviously, the South American banks are telling porkies. They are the
one's who are the problem.
sorry Mike, but I don't agree. It just isn't credible that multiple banks are telling lies in a situation where there are obviously complications arising from whether the account is blocked.
Apply Occam's razor:
Either lauralaura is telling porkies (sorry, I am not saying that you are, but it at least a possible explanation) or there is some problem with HSBC's system which debited the money from their account but sent a message to the ATMs saying that they should not pay out.
manzanilla
Posted on 16 April 2010 | Love 0 loves Report
1

AshishPatel23 posted
Sorry manzanilla, That made so much sense ?????
Posted on 17 April 2010 | Love 0 loves Report
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lauralaura posted
Many thanks for your responses
I just don't understand what has happens at all, which is why is proving so difficult to get our money back as it does look like we could be lying, but we really are not!
We really did have 5 separate occasions from 3 different cash machines where it said we couldn't get money out but the money left the account. I personally thought it was an error and the SA banks are lying so that they do not have to give out the cash.
But from these posts am I correct in thinking going to the Ombudsman is my only option now and even then it doesn't look likely I will get the money back??
Posted on 19 April 2010 | Love 0 loves Report
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lauralaura posted
HSBC have offered to pay us the money to end the dispute! Very happy!
Thanks for all the responses
Posted on 23 April 2010 | Love 0 loves Report
130

Donna Ferguson posted
awesome! did the advice help?
Posted on 29 April 2010 | Love 0 loves Report

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