(Shady) commission fees when opening HSBC a/c?

[practicaltour]

I opened an ''Advance'' a/c in HSBC a few weeks back and the girl told me that it was normally HK$2000 to ''activate'' an a/c there. So I told her I woud need to go to the atm because I had only HK$300 on me at that moment and she then told me that amount would suffice. She then proceeded to almost march me up to the teller with my card and kinda waved her finger at the teller like some sort of code, the HK$300 is not in my a/c and nothing was made clear about fees.... Is this commission, I feel like I have been duped. Opinions please???

[Claire ex-ax]

edit .................

[PDLM]

That's simply wrong. Go back to the branch and speak to the manager. Take the receipt if you have it, and any other details of the staff involved.

[krypton]

There is no fees for opening an Advance account with HSBC. In fact the minimum balance is also waived this summer.

[Crocodile]

Agree with PDLM.
Go and ask to speak directly to the Manager.
Maybe there has been a genuine misunderstanding, but not commissions or fees should be taken for opening an account.
If you feel like you are not being listened to, then contact their Head Office.

HSBC (and other banks) take this sort of thing very seriously.
If you mention that you will talk to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, that should get their attention.

[Flat Hunter]

Plus the security cameras cover each teller position. There might be a video record, depends how long they keep the recording for.

[PDLM]

I suspect that it is most likely a data entry error. The audit trails on who keyed in the account opening information should be very clear so there's no real opportunity for someone to steal the money.