HSBC purports to be a global bank, however it seems that their global reach does not quite stretch to Salalah. “The world’s local bank” boasts their marketing slogan, yet HSBC Salalah frankly comes about as close to global banking as the Earth does to the moon. Seriously! My husband and I first attempted to open a joint account around 4 months ago. We have still not succeeded. You would think that something as simple as opening an account might be one of the core, basic tasks of any banking institution, however I don’t think the staff here in Salalah could have looked any more confused if I’d gone in asking for a bacon sandwich! What the hell?! At one point there were 3 different members of staff around the computer terminal, each as clueless as the next. For nearly 3 hours (really!) they tortured us by pressing buttons (apparently at random), keying in the same information repeatedly, ignoring our requests to correct wholly incorrect details (Me: “it says Muscat, our address is in Salalah”, Bank: “it doesn’t matter”, Me: “That is my old phone number”, Bank: “it doesn’t matter”, Me: “That is not where I work”, Bank: “it doesn’t matter’), and asking us what to do when the computer kept saying no! Of course I quickly realised why “it doesn’t matter” what was input since no account was ever set up and nothing will ever be sent to us and no-one will call us to follow up (despite promises to do so – but of course how can they when they have the wrong number?!).
Where did it all go so wrong?! I actually remember the old Al-Salam Street branch (now replaced by a Mars Hypermarket) as being pretty good. The new branch further down the same street is a different story entirely. Usually businesses move premises to upgrade or improve things, whereas here they seem to have taken some huge steps backwards. The branch is much smaller, or at least seems so, since half the space is taken up by the manager’s glass box office (which helpfully allows waiting clients to watch the men inside chatting and drinking tea and generally demonstrating no concern for the increasingly impatient customers). There never seems to be more than one bank teller working and no more than 2 advisors. I have yet to visit and wait less than 45 minutes just to speak to someone. Why have they done away with the welcome/enquiry type desk that they had in the other branch? People need an initial point of contact so that they don’t sit waiting for an hour to speak to an advisor only to discover they needed one piece of documentation that they don’t have and will have to repeat the whole sorry exercise the next day! Oh, and don’t bother paying extra for a Premier Account, since the exclusive Premier desk is never manned. One optimistic lady stood in front of the desk anyway obviously expecting that her Premier status would mean a member of staff would miraculously appear, however they didn’t and she eventually left (presumably not willing to join the throng of slooooooow moving people at the regular desk).
Rumour has it that it is HSBC’s merger with Oman International Bank that has caused the problems (integration of staff, systems etc.). Whatever the reasons, it is unacceptable. HSBC has a global reputation to uphold yet here in Salalah it is like a bunch of kids just playing at banking. At times I could barely believe what I was seeing. On one visit there seemed to be a lot of people waiting to collect debit cards. Instead of having one person dealing with handing out the cards (a very quick process and easy way to clear some of the massive queue), these people were having to wait whilst people like me spent hours trying to open an account. Eventually in his impatience one of the old men just picked up loose bank cards from an advisor’s desk and started passing them around! People were reading out names, asking if that person was there and passing debit cards back and forth. What on earth happened to security? or data protection?!
I have heard that a new manager is now in place at the branch and, if that’s true, then not before time. Here’s hoping that he or she can make some clearly needed changes. I in the meantime am not sure I have the stamina to try again. My husband did manage to open his own solo account in Muscat and, right now, I’m at the point where the inconvenience of sharing his bank card is less painful than the torture of trying to set one up for the two of us!
Any other HSBCs (Harassed Salalah Bank Customers) out there?!
