I cant believe what I am going thru with HDFC Credit Cards. About
three months ago they more or less forced me to have "free"
credit card on to me - OK I fell for the "FREE" bit(and even cancelled
my citibank card). Then I got a "second" statement that
showed a late payment charge for the first bill(that never arrived of
course). I complained and they reversed the charge but TWO
more late payment fees appeared in the next statment in any case, with
a demand for IMMEDIATE payment. I complained once again and was
promised a NEW statement with NO late payment charges AT ALL. He
also promised that if I gave them my email address a soft copy will
also be sent RIGHT AWAY. Two days later I got a call from their debt
collectors(AKA as thugs) who wanted to me clear the balance
amount. I explained that since I dont have the(correct)
statement I am not able to do so. He said that not recieving a
statement is not really a problem since he is TELLING me how much I
owe!
So this morning I did a follow up on the missing NEW statement(which
did not arrive even via email). Was told blithly(AS ALWAYS is
the case with HDFC Call Centre Staff) that it was sent last week and
that my payment date it the 25th Jan - TOMORROW. I
explained that I have not got the statement and it being the 25th
tomorrow. Anyway they eventually promised to fax me the statement,
which duely arriveed and guess what? It was the old one sent THREE
weeks ago. HDFC call centre is staffed with either totally
incompetent people or
they are taught to lie and misguide as part of their customer care.
Called uo their Grievance Cell based im Chennai(tel 044 2374 4704)
and was told that yes there was a mistake and ALL late payment charges
are or will be reversed. However it " was not possible" for her
to write a lettter of apology! Nor was it possible for her to
escalate the call to her boss. So I said OK send me a final
statement with a letter clearly stating the due amount(minus all the
false late payment fees that is routinely applied) and once paid I am
clear and that my card is cancelled. On requesting this she
immediately responded with an offer of escalating my call the her
manager. I said fine he can call me back(since I was calling Chennai
from A’bad on my mobile) but that was NOT POSSIBLE - HDFC Grievance
Cell CANNOT MAKE STD OUTGOING CALLS - If it wasnt so pathetic ti would
funny? Anyway so there we are - No new statement, no apology,
and still the threat of them debiting my account(as HDFC tend to do in
such situations - see
https://meowlife.blogspot.com/2006/10/hdfc-bank-totally-sucks.html for
more experiences like the one had).