Senior multinational executive claims he was offered add-on credit cards for wife, parents and then charges deducted from his account

Lured with freebies, then gypped by bank

Senior multinational executive claims he was offered add-on credit cards for wife, parents and then charges deducted from his account

Duped? Karan Kumar alleged that the bank has deducted a total of Rs 8,691 from his account

"I have been an account holder of the bank for the past 10 years and have transacted lakhs of rupees. I have been using their several products without a single due," Karan told this reporter.

"Even then, the bank did not address my problem, and kept deducting the amount, despite their assurance of reversing it," he added.

"The bank approached me with an offer of an add-on card on one of my gold cards last year. After much persuasion that the facilities for three more add-on card to my wife and my parents are free of cost with hidden charges, I agreed," he said.
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However Karan realised that the bank started charging an annual fee for the cards and even started deducting amount from his account. When he came to know about this, Karan raised complaints and demanded the amount to be reversed.

Feeling cheated
However, the bank did not oblige, so Karan decided to close his account. The bank, though agreeing to close his account after deducting the annual fee, issued one more credit card in his name without his approval, which was not even delivered and started deducting the amount, when Karan had not even opted for ECS (electronic clearance facility).

"Agitated with this attitude, I decided to approach them through legal means and make sure that they pay compensation for my agony and harassment," Karan said adding that he has planned to donate the compensation amount towards charity, and ensure that the bank should learn a lesson out of this.

"I mailed them 17 times to bring this major goof up to the local head of the bank and even CCed to the chairman and vice president. But all in vain," he said. "The bank deducted a total of Rs 8,691. I want to ensure that this should not happen to any other customer," he added.

"We have taken up a cheating complaint against the branch head of HSBC Basavanagudi branch, and are investigating the matter," said an official from Basavanagudi police station. HSBC officials were, however, not available for comments even after repeated attempts.

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