I am a regular online user of HSBC.
However, on January 6, I had to transfer an amount over the online transfer limit from my account to another local HSBC account.
I went to the bank's Sha Tin Centre branch at 4pm. The queue to get in was snaking outside the bank. I had been waiting for half an hour and still could not get into the premises. I thought it was just my bad luck that a lot of customers had come at that time and decided to return the next day. However, the next morning when I went back I found that the queue was just as long as it had been the day before. It took more than one hour to reach a counter.
Would HSBC care to explain why it does not increase the number of counters, or open another branch near Sha Tin Centre? There are two large day and night banking centres nearby (one in Lucky Plaza and another in New Town Plaza), but the staff do not undertake any banking operations. Why can't the transactions that do not involve cash-handling (such as inter-bank transfers) be handled at these centres?
While queuing on January 7, I observed that most of the people in the queue were elderly and infirm. It is quite inhuman to make these people stand in a line for more than one hour.
As these people cannot be expected to switch over to online banking, surely HSBC could make special arrangements for them.
