I have been an HSBC customer for many years. Contactless technology was released in 2010, whilst I was an HSBC customer. Finally, in 2012, HSBC signed on, releasing a statement around this that it would not be reissuing cards to now include contactless, it would gradually roll this feature out when customer cards were due for renewal. Based on this knowledge I sat back for another three years - meanwhile not enjoying the same benefit as my friends and family in other banks - waiting for my card to be renewed in October 2015. You can imagine my surprise and disdain, therefore, when my new card arrives in October 2015 - when contactless technology is all but standard - to find my card is STILL without contactless. Whilst this frustrated me, I thought perhaps (unlike at most other banks) I had to opt in. So, I researched this, and found the policy at HSBC was actually that customers would need to OPT OUT of receiving contactless on their new cards. I had never done this. I definitely wanted it. So, I rang HSBC customer service, and the lady at the end of the phone had a look at my account. She told me that my account didn't QUALIFY for contactless. I receive a steady income of over £1800 a month into my bank account, and have never been in any overdraft debt. I puzzled with the lady therefore as to what more I needed to do to qualify. She was absolutely no use in this, simply telling me I didn't qualify, she didn't know what the rules were, but the "contactless verification review team" were in charge of evaluating my account. They would look at my account "at least once a year." Faced with the prospect of never qualifying for whatever obscene standards HSBC have for granting contactless - in an age where contactless is more standard than not - I plainly told the lady I would happily switch bank accounts. When the rate offered by HSBC is little incentive compared to competitors, perks (not that it should be!!) like contactless are what makes the difference. Backed into a corner the customer service lady FINALLY told me how I could get a contactless card - if I upgraded to an Advanced account (which apparently I DID qualify for?!). Frustrated, I accepted this offer, and she told me I would be contacted by my local branch within the next three days. A week later, no call. So I called customer service again to try to arrange an appointment. Again, I had to wait. Finally two weeks after my initial phone conversation with customer service I had a call to arrange an appointment. Once at my branch appointment - by this point pretty frustrated with the whole experience - the advisor I dealt with was most helpful. She in fact seemed shocked that I had been told I could only get contactless by upgrading to advance, but nonetheless here we were, and the process was completed. I was now on an Advanced account, of which one of the perks was contactless, and my new card was in the post. SO you can imagine my absolute frustration with HSBC and the whole shoddy system it operates, when my new Advanced card arrived, and.. can you guess.. WITHOUT contactless technology. I have rung customer service who assured me they would send out a new card immediately with the technology enabled this time, but WHY should it be this hard? When HSBC claims to be so customer friendly, firstly why should it be up to me to fix this, and secondly, why is the whole damn process so slow, unreliable, and clearly full of bumbling errors. I am very disappointed in the service provided, and if I'm honest the whole experience has been a complete joke. Almost two months after receiving my new card for Oct 2015 and here I am, still without the issue being resolved. The standard set here is pretty low.