I am an NRI customer of HDFC Bank since about 10 months now. I had opened both NRE and NRO savings accounts, as well as FCNR FD’s. At first I was disappointed that the accounts took so long to open even though all documents were picked up from my doorstep in USA by courier service, at no cost. After that, though, I have been having only positive experiences. Whenever I have any small issue or question, I can send message through NetBanking and it is usually addressed within 1 day. If I have to call, even when it is "busy" hour in India, there is never any waiting time. The customer service reps have good Hindi and English skills and usually talk to me in friendly manner. Once I just sent message with question about some charge that was completely valid, but they reversed it all out of courtesy, without me even having to request it.
I have also held large accounts in ICICI Bank and Citibank and never received such outstanding service as I have with HDFC Bank. They treated me right when I had smaller amount of money and now I have kept larger amounts with them and get the same great service. :)
Net Banking and Phone Banking app have both been great, unlike ICICI who doesn’t even let me download the app since I am not in India >:( regardless both services are very user friendly and let me to send transfers easily through IMPS/NEFT/RTGS and do many other things that I cannot do with other banks’ systems. There is some downside though, they have recently started charging for IMPS and also do charge some minimal amount for NEFT. Some of the IMPS transactions I made don’t go through and end up being reversed after some days or credited much later than they should be, which is stressful since nobody knows where my money is for some time. FD’s however can be booked very easily at great rates, I love being able to make FD’s instantly wherever I am, and the ability to liquidate FD instantly too if I end up needing to use the money.
I got a free ATM card for my NRE account and opted for a debit card for my NRO account with a small Rs.100/- charge. I have not been back to India to try out the ATMs or my cards, but I will update this review once I go back and try the same. My debit card doesn’t work online, I’m not sure if it has the Verified by Visa feature or not, or whether it is due to RBI regulation.
Also I had some people I know in India attempt to deposit small amounts of cash, which was sometimes denied with an excuse that NRO accounts can’t accept cash deposit (although they actually can- my ICICI account is also NRO but I’ve never had cash deposit denied there). This is a bit of a disadvantage but once I go back to India maybe I can try for myself.