I signed up for a HSBC Reward Zone card from the Best Buy site a little over a month ago. At the end of the application I am told to call HSBC Customer Service to verify my identity. I answer some questions from my credit report (that would identify me) and over the next week I receive 2 more calls from HSBC (in hard to understand English) asking me for the exact same information over and over. They end up pulling my credit report information three times after already giving me credit on the first call.
When I get the card the next week, I read through the Cardmember Agreement and find that there is a Annual fee of $59.00 (on a credit limit of $300). On page 7 the Annual Fee states that If you close your Account within the first 90 days your account is open, the annual fee/periodic membership fee(s) are refundable so long as you have not used the account.
Also on Page 1 it says that if I do not agree to the terms and definitions it says that you may close your account before using it without paying any Account Fee when you call within the first 90 days using the customer service number on the back of your card.
I called the day I received my card to cancel my account. There was one snafu, somewhere along the way with their 3 calls to verify my identity they took a verbal password. Without this password they say that if I close my account I will not be able to reopen it in the future without 3 forms of ID. I ask them to close this account, I had not used the card before and it had not been activated in any way.
2 weeks later on Oct. 15, 2009 I get a Bill in mail with the only transactions on my account for a Annual Fee Assessed for $59 (reference # 10000060900009994360) According to the Cardmember terms and Disclosure Statement they have violated this agreement. I closed my account within 90 days (13 days to be exact) and should not have been charged this fee.
Today I call customer service and I give them my "CLOSED" account number but they can not verify my identity without this "verbal password" they tell me that they can ask my information via my credit report, however it ends up that they can no longer access my credit report info because they already wasted it 2 times when they asked me duplicated information 3 times during the week I opened the account. I am told that I will need to send in 3 forms of ID in order to reopen this account in order to remove the $59 annual fee, that should not have been there to begin with and was not there when I closed the account (and I did not use the account). I tell the service rep. that I cannot send in my 3 forms of ID because they have a 14 day review process (and they conveniently don't have a Fax number) that would have a Late Fee assessed to my Credit Report for a fee I shouldn't have received to begin with. (There is now a $15 min. Payment due to this annual fee due less than 15 days from the timestamp envelope).
I asked to speak to a supervisor. Chris (no id #) tells me that he can credit the $59 but that he will have to place a security hold on my account that will also alert the Credit Agencies of a fraudulent account (even though there would be a $0 balance). I tell him that this is unacceptable as I cancelled my account 2 weeks prior (I could have cancelled up till 11/14/2009 and experienced no Annual Fee) and this annual fee should not have been posted to my account to begin with. My account was already identified when I received the card in mail, and I was told when I cancelled in September that I would not need to send in 3 forms of ID unless I wanted to reopen the account. I am told that unless I want a security hold and credit score blip I need to send in my identification. I ask to speak to his supervisor and I am told there is no one else.
The phone call ended after being put on hold for 14 minutes by the Supervisor as he credited the account placed it on security hold.
At this point after being on the phone for over an hour I just want this removed, I did not activate this card, I called within a week of receiving it to cancel, and I still get charged an annual fee, and a customer service department refusing to accept my identity in order to close my account.
I have written down all the appropriate information to give to Consumerist, BB & HSBC corporate, Mastercard, and my attorney general. I feel that after not being able to solve my problem with HSBC I would contact Best Buy's customer service and community first before going any further. I just want this taken care of if at all possible. My contact and account information can be provided at any time.
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