Agitated Customer of Banks, Financial instituitions, and other Nuisances

Working with banks should be easy right ? wrong!

• HSBC/HDFC phone banking : Some of the most IMPERSONAL banks i have ever known. Its the toughest to get thro to a "phone banker" if u forget your phone code, god save you. By the time one gets thro the maze of dial one, dial two, dial 3 for etc etc , one is at ones wits end. The result ? you make a trip to the bank to do your transaction. and Then ? the Bank CHARGES you for it!! like hello!! Whatta scam!

The other day i had a make a deposit, but didnt find the time. Sent an assistant only to be told that the Bank will levy inr 100 for that transaction since it was depositted by someone Other than the account owner. Another lovely scam!

• Phone sales callers:

1. I usually make it a point to return all missed calls.(yeah yeah, some i miss out deliberately, and conveniently forget to call back)I Had 4 missed calls the other day(was in trainings). I tried desperately to call back only to hear an engaged tone. I feared the worst. Assumed it was my domestic help who was unwell. But no, it was State bank of india. I politely declined their services. and then what ? they call back a week later. New person, obviously the old list was not updated, that i was NOT interested. ANd then again a month later. One wonders if the Bank is stupid or the staff
2. Then there were calls from this lady from one Gurgaon number. The lady says " i want to offer you INR 50,000" i said, why ? and she says "if you want" and went to drone about services from ABN Amro bank. One of the worst banks to deal with in terms of back office function.
3. A lady called for a colleague who had left from Citibank wanting to speak to my colleague. I said he has left the company and please don't call here again. She asks me "WHY"? I just asked her if they didn't learn from banks being sued for disturbing customers ??
4. Some of the most nagging callers are from ICICI or mocked as Aisa Waisa bank on the Matrix advt!

Website usage

One of the worst websites is HSBC/HDFC and of course ABN Amro. Not the easiest to navigate. and not the easiest to get started on in the first place. Right from filling a form, which i have done 4-5 times a year and still not recd an access!!

Email Apology

One thing you can learn from these banks is HOW to write apology letters to the customers. Very well drafted. Standard, one size fits all. Usually reaches no solution untill escalated.

Working over the Counter :

Beware the angry cashier at the counter at a canara Bank or an SBI. It seems like it was a mistake to have gone there in the first place. I remember on two occasions when i took it up with tye branch manager at Canara Bank and at Corporation Bank(Dahisar) about their staff being rude to my mother. The Managers ofcourse apologised and mentioned "it will not happen again" Which didnt. So, well done on that front.

Customer Services One thing is for sure there is a sure scope for improvement. Give me a co-operative bank like Greater Bombay anyday. Not so much as a musty smelling SBI, neither is it intimidating as an HSBC. Its truly service with a smile. One knows your job will be done if you walk in there,