Not sure if I ever posted fully about the HSBC France mess, but here's the full story to this point:
- 22 July: went to the office and signed all the paperwork to close the account. Provided the details for the new account where the money was to be transferred.
- Sometime mid-August: Money not received. Send a few emails.
- No answer
- Late August: mum says to contact them once more and to inform them that we'll be contacting a lawyer if we don't get the money (>7000€).
- This morning: called CS to ask what the hell was going on. It took her 5 seconds to find out that, though all the paperwork and procedures had been completed properly, the account had never been closed. She sent the office a message to contact me and sort it out.
- A few hours ago: re-set up my online banking for that account and transferred as much as I could to my UK account, leaving only the minimum amounts required in the bank.
- Now: waiting for that transfer to come through, hoping HSBC UK don't block it on grounds of suspected money laundering or something stupid. If that goes well, they can take their sweet time closing that account — I can live without access to 100€ for a few months. Else I'll just have to transfer little bits to the UK account and some to the HK account and suffer the fees.