I made the very unfortunate decision of obtaining a loan through the "esteemed" Citibank India. Yes, Citibank, as an organization, has an impressive international presence but then what is the use if they cannot back it up with decent customer service?
I’m writing specifically about their India operations(I’ve had no issues with the real US counterparts; by real I mean the local Americans and not the fake accented Banglorean’s). I contacted the customer service through telephone banking first and then later through email. Ideally one would expect them to be in coordination with each other but trust me the India operations works such that the left hand doesn’t have a clue what the right hand does. They just take utmost pride in making the life of their customers a constant blazing hell.
Lets start with the telephone banking. They start out with a very friendly conversation but then as the issue becomes harder for them to solve, the combination of very long working hours and the very underpaid job just gets to them. Then they ask us to follow protocols, which means, write a letter to them. It is then that all the real "fun" begins. You then send a polite letter with simple language to address your grievance but they barely seem to understand a word. Then if you contact them through email, it takes a few days for them to get to your issue(that’s proof enough as to how many people must be writing in and are as much frustrated as I’m). Finally they respond with a totally different outcome from what you wanted in the first place.
Obtaining a loan was another major nightmare with their "Know your customer policy". I had to drive for hours together to meet one lousy regional manager(who obviously didn’t seem to have a clue why I had to go through this pain). I should have realized right then that there was more trouble brewing down the road.
Have you seen their application forms? They have a standard query as to whether you know someone famous. Why is that so? Well if you know that somebody, then you automatically get a preferential treatment and if you are a nobody, then sorry buddy, you are just another speck of a particle who is gonna get sucked up and chewed into a gigantic blackhole at lightening speed from which you just can’t escape.
No wonder their famous slogan is "Citibank -Your Citi never sleeps" . How would you expect them to sleep if they have to stay up all night to take care of their backlog of complaints?
Overall, just don’t trust these large organizations. If you want to get a loan, go to your local/regional State Banks. Yes, it may take some headache initially to get things done but I’ve head from others that they are more easier to work with.
The way they are handling themselves, I don’t see a future for this bank. Well with their unreliable customer service, I can see the end of the road for them. If any of the Citibank higher ups is reading this, then fix your customer service departments and if any of the bank’s customer rep is reading this review, look for a new job cos you are a bloody shame to your organization.