Incompetence at HSBC

An SMS from HSBC states that “A new e-statement dated 07APR23 related to your Premier credit card is now available through your personal internet banking service”.

So you login to your internet banking account in the hope of accessing the e-statement and settle the account. Alas, when you click on the link for the e-statement you are greeted with the message: “We’re sorry, we’re unable to retrieve your e-statements at this time. Please try again later.” You would think that this is a one-off hiccup and that a couple of days later you would be able to access your e-statement. Nope. This has been going on for months on end now.

I’ve contacted HSBC about this problem several times and, yet,  the problem persists. Sometimes, the credit card e-statement is not even made available before the pay-by due date.

This is not the only issue with HSBC’s internet banking website. The most annoying must be the way the automatic logout scheme is implemented. One would assume that this is applied so that if one forgets to logout, the system would protect the account by automatically logging the user out.

But in HSBC’s case, you would actually get a nagging automatic logout message even when actively using the website, such as in the process of typing in a message. In the middle of your typing, you get a pop-up message! If you are typing without even looking at the screen, you can easily be logged out without a hint of what has happened (and losing your message in the process).

HSBC, it is high time that you pull up your socks and fix these internet banking problems. If necessary, use some of the millions that you are earning and hire some competent IT people.

Victor Buttigieg – Lija

Valletta processions

The Lady of Sorrows procession had to make its way through a sea of chairs and tables. Photo: Joseph Galea

My family was involved in the organisation of the Good Friday procession for many years. My father did his best to control changes so as to keep it as authentic as possible but,  in recent years, it has become the same as those held everywhere else in Malta and Gozo, mainly a pageant rather than a religious occasion.

Lately, however, the procession in Valletta and that of Easter has deteriorated and it has to deal with the utter commercialisation of our capital city. Social media is full of anger about what they saw, a procession given second importance to the commercialisation of Valletta.

I am very proud of the renaissance of Valletta after the pedestrianisation project I started in 1997 but we worked hard to keep a balance bet­ween the needs of residents and the heritage value of our world heritage city and the commercial aspect.

Now things are completely out of hand. Unfortunately, our heritage and traditions have suffered tremendously.

Ray Bondin – Għajnsielem