It has been announced that HSBC are to close their Welsh language telephone line contact centre citing “an extremely low level of calls” to the service.
Calls to the Welsh Language Line contact centre will now be transfered to HSBC’s main contact centre and will be answered by ‘English speaking’ contact centre agent.
A HSBC UK spokesperson commented,
“We remain committed to supporting our Welsh language customers, but due to the extremely low level of calls into our dedicated Welsh-speaking line – fewer than 2 dozen calls a day on average – we need to make changes.
“If a customer does want to speak with a Welsh speaker, that still can be arranged. We will also continue to have Welsh speaking colleagues in half our Welsh branches and will continue to respond to customer correspondence in Welsh.”
Plaid Cymru’s Llŷr Gruffydd said:
“HSBC still has an opportunity to do the right thing by reversing its unacceptable and wrongheaded decision to bring its Welsh language phone service to an end.
Executives at HSBC should remember that many customers use their banking services because of its Welsh language phone service.
The bank argues that there isn’t sufficient demand for the helpline because it receives 22 calls a day on average.
But it’s abundantly clear from the data that with only 6% of those calls being answered in Welsh, they’ve not been coming anywhere near to providing an adequate service.
“Phone calls that are made to the helpline in Welsh should be answered in Welsh. It’s no wonder that a lot of Welsh speakers have given up on phoning it.”
