[Resolved]  State Bank of India — Premium Circle offer

THIS COMMENT IS ABOUT HSBC PREMIUM CIRCLE OFFER WHERE THEY PROMISE TO GIVE YOU SOME WATCH OF RS. 4000/- ABSOLUTELY FREE ALONG WITH OTHER TALL CLAIMS. THIS WHOLE THING IS A COMPLETE FRAUD.

Dear All,
Today, I received an email from Heritage Group/Plat5 Consultancy in relation to my Ticket Bookings. I had already paid Rs. 6055 on 30th January, 2010 by debit of my credit card amount. At that time, I was promised to give a watch worth INR 4000/-, a two nights three days stay in some resorts which I choose from the list and to and fro air ticket to certain destination. At that time, I was not told any extra payments required to be done. However, when I got a reply for ticket booking Hyderabad-Delhi and Delhi-Hyderabad, I was told to email an authorization to Heritage Holidays to bill Rs 5, 640/- ( Rs 5, 640/- towards Airport Tax/Surcharges ) on my HSBC credit card.
I not only got a shock but almost fainted by looking at such a massive fraud.
I have replied them saying that I will not authorize them to debit my credit card account and not to proceed with the ticket booking. I am also contemplating to initiate legal actions against HSBC Bank, and Heritage Group.
I agree with the Complainant. The service is pathetic. The paltinum5 Premium offer of HSBC Bank Credit card offer is a fraudulent offer. They make so many tall promises when they call you up but when you get to know details, it will be too late as the options are very limited. In fact, regarding hotels and resorts, they say that it is 4 stars and 5 star but they are not. For example, recently, I stayed in a Resort called Logoa Azul in Goa on self expense which is one of the resorts selected under this programme of Premium offer. This resort is NOT a 4 star one. Rather, this is not a resort which deserves any star. Similarly, there are many conditions and terms and very stupid policies they have which makes the offer useless most of the time. Like, there are restrictions on utilization offer like some months depending on places are excluded during which you cannot utilize your voucher. Another funniest thing for example is you can fly Kolkata to Hyderabad and from Hyderabad to Kolkata, but you cannot fly Hyderabad to Kolkata and Kolkata to Hyderabad on which point I am still fighting with them.
The whole scheme looks like a scam orchestrated by HSBC Bank in connivance with some private company. I am soon lodging a complaint on this with HSBC Bank or its banking ombudsman and if no satisfactory reply is received, I am thinking to complain it to RBI. I am not sure and do not know if there will be anything positive, but I think we must try not to let this scam happen.
Another irritating aspect is their call center heritage. Most of the time, they do not receive the calls despite phone ringing, and ask in typical Hindi accent and in a very monotonous sound and frequently say 'Haan ji' in Hindi without anything caring about whether the person calling knows Hindi. While customer will be talking in English, they start immediately talking in Hindi, sometimes leaving the customers wondering what she is saying.
Another absolutely disgusting thing about them is that it looks they are shortage of men power or have been crowded with cheap labour in the markets who do not have enough energy to respond calls. Even when phones are ringing, no one picks up the phone and bothers to respond. It happens 9 out of 10 times and this will make a really frustrating experience to you.
We must protest against this corporate scam.