Consumer complaint received 2020-12-22
Company: HSBC NORTH AMERICA HOLDINGS INC.
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2020 two unauthorized purchases were made on my card in an amount of {$100.00} dollars each from an unknown merchant XXXX. After noticing the unauthorized charges on my card on XX/XX/XXXX, I promptly contacted my credit card company ( HSBC ) and reported it to them. I was assured that I would not be responsibly for any authorized charges and investigation would be launched within 10 business days.

HSBC makes claims on their site about {$0.00} Liability, Online Guarantee ( You don't pay for unauthorized charges. ) See : XXXX XXXX XXXX  # liability After 3-4 days of not having hearing anything back from HSBC and not seeing any provisional credit in my account I once again contacted HSBC to try to figure out what was going on. After about 40 minutes of given the runaround by a customer service rep I was transferred to the fraud department and was told that investigation was ongoing and that I would be provided back with credit within 10 business days. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, two {$100.00} adjustment charges were credit back to my account. Once again I have heard nothing back from HSBC and assumed the investigation was concluded and the charges were reversed. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I noticed the reversal of the charges again and once again two unauthorized charges appeared back on my card. Once again, without any communication whatsoever. 


Upon noticing the reversal of charges on XX/XX/XXXX I once again called HSBC to get clarity of what was going on. I was connected with one of the customer agents XXXX but after spending over an hour on the phone she couldn't explain to me what was happening or why the charges were back on my card. At one point even mentioning that it was " bizarre to see the charges back while the investigation was still open ''. I asked XXXX to keep on investigating and give me a call back when she had more info. On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX called back and left a generic messaging asking me to call HSBC back. Unfortunately she did not provide me with her direct phone number and instead left a general help number XXXX. 

Upon calling back HSBC on XXXX XXXX, the new customer support agent XXXX spend an hour keeping me on the phone while giving me the run around. At one point she was " trying to connect me back to XXXX '' and her supervisor when I got frustrated after being holding for 45 minutes. When requested that I connect to a fraud department supervisor I was told that wasn't possible but the finally found some notes that my claim was denied. When I pushed XXXX for me details of who made the purchase, what was purchase and when was it shipped I was told she didn't have those details but since I requested them a supporting proof of documentation would be emailed back to me and I would receive a call back from a supervisor. 

On XX/XX/XXXX i received a letter in the mail backdated back to XX/XX/XXXX, stating that " After careful review of the circumstances and the information you provided, we have denied your claim. Therefore, you are responsible for the Account Balance as set forth in your Cardmember Agreement and Disclosure Statement. If you would documentation supporting our decision please contact us ''. 

Having not heard back from the supervisor nor having received the supporting documents of the investigation like I was promised on XXXX XXXX, I once again called HSBC on XX/XX/XXXX to get more details of the investigation and " proof of purchase '' they had previously promised me. I once again re-iterated to the agent that I never made the purchase and the charges were not authorized by me. After spending another 36 minutes on the call i was finally told that the reason my claim was denied was because HSBC received supporting documents that the merchant shipped the merchandise to the " address on file ''. They refused to provide me with basic details of what was the purchase, who purchased it, when it was shipped or a tracking number. The agent claimed that she " did not have access to view the supporting documents ''. They stated that the decision was final, there is nothing they could do about it and I should contact the merchant if i wanted any further action. I was once again told that supporting documents would be emailed to me to review. When pressing to speak to someone who can access the documents I was once again place on hold and 5 minutes later promptly hung up on. 

After once again waiting few days to receive a copy of supporting documents and hearing nothing back from HSBC I decided to contact the merchant to see if they could shed some light on the situation. After XXXX  the merchant XXXX XXXX I quickly discovered that the merchant was an XXXX company that had no US phone number or US based operation. This reaffirmed that the transaction was a fraud but decided to proceed anyway to see what info the merchant had. 

After chatting with XXXX XXXX 's customer care agent XXXX ( see transcript of conversation attached ) I quickly discovered that nothing was ever shipped to my address since the fraudsters used my credit card to purchase gift cards. Those gift cards were then used to purchase other merchandise on the site. Upon requesting to confirm that the purchases made with the gift cards were not shipped to my address the agent would not provide any more info but did reassure me that all that info was previously provided to my bank. 
" We apologise that we are unable to provide any further details on this to you. The original purchase made on your card was for a gift voucher which looking further has since been used to purchase product online. Please know that all relevant details surrounding the purchase do follow protocol and your bank will have all of this information to provide the authorities ... '' It is now becoming perfectly clear that HSBC never conducted a proper investigation or established that the charges were authorized by me. Instead all they confirmed was that my address was used to purchase the card, yet did not even bother to confirm that nothing was ever shipped to me. I have no idea how they are substantiating the claim that the merchandise was shipped to the " address on file ''.

The whole investigation is a sham of a process. HSBC failed to protect my account. Violate my rights under FCBA by failing to conduct proper investigation. Failed to provide me with evidence ( as required by law FCBA and previously requested ), and making me responsible for unauthorized charges that were never authorized by me ( another FCBA violation ). They are simply trying to get out of their responsibility under FCBA and their " {$0.00} Liability guarantee '' and simply make me the responsible party for the fraudulent charges.

HSBC has a history of shady practices, money laundering and covering things up and this example is no different. Looks like their never learned from their mistake. https : XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation