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I'm not entirely clear why the author felt it was a productive use of his time to write several thousand words on this. HSBC aren't likely to be swayed by such
by lushn 9y ago
I'm not entirely clear why the author felt it was a productive use of his time to write several thousand words on this. HSBC aren't likely to be swayed by such an article. They've been fined billions, they're probably not worried about being "called out".
First of all:
Why are you depending on only one bank account to run your business? It's very easy to set up two or more business bank accounts and use them both. Just like you have back-ups for your data (right?), it makes a lot of sense to also have financial back-ups for your business.
Same with the debit/credit card - is that all you've got for business payments? Why don't you have more than one card? Why don't you move things over to a personal card while you open a second business card?
It's too late for that now as the author didn't set that all up ahead of time, but instead of complaining on the internet, why don't they start moving things ASAP. I've found Santander incredibly easy to get up and running with (same day almost), compared to Barclays...etc.
Look, you're running a business, and your job running a business is to keep it running. If you haven't thought ahead to such possible events, you're doing your business a disservice.
So my advice - call Santander, start switching things over, stop broadcasting things online, and focus on keeping your business running. You can always do a recap later once things have died down.
And I agree, HSBC are a complete PITA. It's far too much trouble even getting a personal account with them, so a business account would be far more effort than I would be looking for.
Even Barclays wanted an in-person meeting (even though I've banked with them for decades) to open a business bank account. And the only date they had available was a month in the future. Yup, I cancelled that appointment.
So, build redundancy into your business. At the very least a second bank account. It's easy, but as you can see, so very important. Just IMHO.
- 0x0 9y agoI think it was an interesting article, and if I ever will have to deal with HSBC I'll be sure to think twice and twice over. Bad customer service shouldn't get a free pass.
- Spearchucker 9y agoI think you're being a bit hard on the guy. He had (as anyone would) a reasonable expectation of a banking service, coupled with acceptable customer service. Hindsight is 20/20, and what he describes is not the norm. As to "writing several thousand words" - the intent is not to sway the HSBC. It's to sway others who may be similarly stung by the HSBC.
- retSava 9y ago> I'm not entirely clear why the author felt it was a productive use of his time to write several thousand words on this. HSBC aren't likely to be swayed by such an article. They've been fined billions, they're probably not worried about being "called out". Likely the author is thinking it's the last resort, and it has been shown to work a number of times before for other persons (eg problems with google/apple/and so on).
- larsiusprime 9y agoWarning others from making the same mistake is extremely valuable. Also please don't kick people when they're down. You probably wouldn't have gotten caught by this issue but I'm sure you have your own blind spots in other areas.
- ruleabidinguser 9y agoYou will literally never see someone working at a successful business write something like this. Wonder why...
- sctb 9y agoThis account has been making way too many unsubstantive and/or uncivil comments. Please stop. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- bluetooth 9y agoDid you read the article? > HSBC aren't likely to be swayed by such an article. The article is clearly aimed at small business owners. He's doing people a favor by steering them clear of HSBC. I never got the impression he was speaking to HSBC, or attempting to call them out. > It's very easy to set up two or more business bank accounts and use them both. This is literally second on his list of takeaways.
- ABS 9y agoalmost everything you write was mentioned by the OP under the "Hints and Tips for your bank screwing up" heading. RTFA
- _red 9y agoI don't know about the OP's actual banking needs, but in many cases your choices narrow considerably depending on what services you want. Its a little naive to think "but you can just have banking redundancy", I mean you're right if you are running a very simple business (ie. lemonade stand). However once your requirements become: Need presence in County A, B, C in Currencies A and B with integrations to Partner X, Y, and Z your choices get really really tiny. Banks are monopolistic for a reason.
- mgiannopoulos 9y agoActually, the article worked (see update at the end). HSBC called him and "magically" the problem is gone.
- jackvalentine 9y ago> I'm not entirely clear why the author felt it was a productive use of his time to write several thousand words on this. HSBC aren't likely to be swayed by such an article. They've been fined billions, they're probably not worried about being "called out". Well you were certainly wrong there.