A day after going public over a lost $1,000 wire transfer, meteorologist Rob Giglio said he finally got his money back from HSBC Bermuda.Mr. Giglio, who was out-of-pocket for three weeks while trying to get HSBC to find his money, said the bank also gave him an extra $100 for the inconvenience.Following Mr Giglio’s complaint, and a flood of similar complaints by readers on our website yesterday, HSBC Bermuda moved to assure it’s committed to retail banking on the Island - and continually improving customer service.HSBC Bermuda head of retail banking, wealth management & marketing, Blake Hellam, told The Royal Gazette in an interview that Mr Giglio’s complaint should not have taken so long to resolve.“I would have liked to have resolved it the day he came in,” Mr Hellam said, adding: “We take any complaints, concerns or issues seriously ... customer satisfaction overall is our primary concern or aim and we always do our level best to ensure whenever we do receive a complaint that we are doing our best to deal with it effectively. Do we always get it right? The answer is no.”Readers complained yesterday about everything from call centre reps who “can’t speak English” or spell Bermudian names to lost wire transfers and deposits, and unresolved fraudulent charges.Many were also concerned about not being to able to speak to an HSBC rep in Bermuda when they had a problem, and felt HSBC Bermuda was no longer a local bank. HSBC made a deal to acquire what was the Bank of Bermuda in 2003 for $1.3 billion.Mr Hellam assured: “I am in charge of retail banking and I would say unequivocally that the retail banking business in HSBC Bermuda is an incredibly key part our value proposition. We have been very successful in this market and we are very much committed to the retail and wealth management market here.”He said the majority of the tens of thousands of transactions HSBC Bermuda deals with take place without any problem, however, he noted wire transfers have been increasingly subject to “layers and layers” of controls and security due to increasing fraud and regulation.“It is for the best interest of customers but does not always translate into the best customer experiences,” he said.He said customers today wanted 24/7 access to the bank and the overseas call centre generally had a high degree of satisfaction.However, he said: “Again it is not perfect and obviously from the perspective of the jurisdiction of Bermuda we are always working to enhance the service provided.”He said HSBC has been trying very hard over the last number of years to make sure the call centre experience was positive.“The criticisms have become a lot less, we have become a lot better and I am confident we are heading in the right direction,” he said.Mr Giglio, who works for the Bermuda Weather Service, said he transferred $800 to a US bank three weeks ago.The money went out of his account but never made it to the US bank.He sent another $200 to cover one of the bills the $800 was for, which never made it either, and he was then stung with late fees.Mr Giglio said despite numerous calls to the call centre and visits to branches, the bank did not get his money back.He said he became irate yesterday when earlier in the day the bank offered to refund the money in instalments. HSBC finally then later refunded the full amount.Reacting to Mr. Giglio’s story, “Frank” wrote on our website: “It also happened to me about 3 weeks ago. A large business deposit disapeared for over 4 business days, then with no reason suddenly appeared in my account. To this day no reason has been given by HSBC.”Omar James wrote on our Facebook page: “I had a very similar experience ... I had made a wire transfer to my university to pay for an upcoming semester. Two weeks later I started receiving e-mails telling me that if I didn’t pay my tuition I’d lose my spot in classes I had registered for.”He said he called HSBC Bermuda and was told his transfer had been selected randomly for extra screening.However, the wire was still not completed a few days later, so he called again and said he was told the wire had been processed but they didn’t know where it went.“An investigation was started and almost two weeks later my university finally received my money,” he wrote. “Luckily I started the process early enough but it was the final straw in a long list of bad experiences at this “new” HSBC. I’ve since moved the majority of my banking to BNTB.”Another reader said she deposited $1,000 cash with a teller, checked her account three working days later and found the funds were not there.“I rang the bank and was sent to an outsource worker, who tried to understand what had happened but failed miserably,” she wrote.“I followed up twice a day for several days, got late fees because the money was to pay my car loan, and it took me three weeks to get the money back.”Cheki Smith wrote that the had transferred money into a Canadian account a while back, but it got sent to the wrong bank.“I called RBC to speak to customer care and they told me that HSBC had the wrong SWIFT code. I went back to HSBC and told the women I dealt with that they had the wrong code after speaking to RBC, she then argued with me and told me if it was wrong I’d have to pay transfer fees all over again. Surprisingly the funds went through without a problem using the SWIFT code I got from RBC. It took over a week and cost me almost an extra $200.”Another reader wrote: “A friend of mine withdrew cash from their Butterfield account using a HSBC ATM. They got the cash but the withdrawal from their account never took place! HSBC must have money to burn.”Reader K Johnston wrote: “While I was abroad an Arabian company hacked my account and stole close to $4,000. I have called the bank numerous times and have even went in to speak to a rep. They have done NOTHING for me. I went to the customer service desk and the fire alarm went off and she actually hung up the phone and threw my card down and left the office without saying goodbye or anything and I had to ask someone else to pass me my card.”Candy Lane observed: “Much rather deal with Capital G or Butterfield. At least when I call with a problem or to complain, they can speak n spell English!”Rick Hudson wrote: “Missing deposits also happened to both myself and a friend of mine. US cheques were deposited at the teller window and disappeared for three weeks!!! There is something askew with HSBC and their customer service has gone downhill since last year!”Teodora Nan said: ”Glad to know that I am not the only one ... suddenly, three weeks ago when I had made a transfer the money did not go into my account. I called the bank and I had been told that the transfer was on pending, waiting for confirmation. However, three days later I called back again and I was told that the money was supposed to be into my UK account. I got to the point when I start calling the bank every single day; I was sent from one department to another, I was kept on the phone for several minutes up to an hour, as they don’t have any idea what’s going on ...”