I work for a Grade A (some kind of a classification used by the credit card issuing people) corporation which has more that 5000 employees and the firm has the salary account with ICICI. Our firm has allowed that ICICI advertise and send their agents in our premises (recd a forwarded mail from senior mgr of my firm sent to him by ICICI person.) Am currently also a holder of 2 credit cards having a combined credit limit of 90, 000 (both the cards total). When approached by the ICICI credit card marketing personnel , I made it clear to them that I would want an ICICI credit card only if I get a combined credit limit of 1, 00, 000 so that I can discontinue using both my existing cards and switch to a single card (for better manageability). Having been assured that I will get a card with a credit limit of Rs. 1, 00, 000 + after receiving my salary slip, the application form was filled.
Around 7 days later I was sent the card to my residence. The card which I received had a credit limit of Rs. 25, 000/-. I promptly called the ICICI 24 hr call service arnd 25 days back. ( Please note that these days getting through to a customer service representative (csr) in these calls takes a minimum of 8-9 minutes. After having called and explaining to the csr, I was asked to send a copy of my salary slip so that they could look into the matter. (Looking back I think this was just a delaying tactic). When I asked them why they could not look at the salary slip they already had in possession (which I had provided during the application) the csr said that she will do that. After having checked it she mentioned that I will have to wait and that I will be informed. I requested that the issue be escalated to a senior person as I was not satisfied with the reply. I was put through to a customer service manager (csm ...lets call this person csm1) who started to explain to me that she will look into this Credit Enhancement Request (CER).
After having explained again (actually having to ARGUE that this was not a CER and that their people had provided me with FALSE INFORMATION, she mentioned that she will look into it and get back by Monday. (This was a Friday/Saturday). There was no call the following Monday, but on Tuesday saying that the issue was not resolved and she would call back on Wednesday. Since there was no call thill Thursday I called back and was informed that the CSM1 was not available and I would have to wait till she gets to work (at 11.30 a.m. !!!) . Not being satisfied I spoke to another CSM (csm2) whom I informed my working hrs (9 to 7 approx !!!!) and that I should be called in office btn these hrs.
I called back on Saturday again and asked for the status of the issue and was informed that they were still looking into it... Arnd 1 week later on the next Saturday, I called back and asked why noone got back to me, I was informed that csm2 had tried to get in touch with me and it was arnd 8 pm !!!!!!!! When I asked to speak to csm1 or csm2, the line was passed to csm3 who started by asking me what the problem was in the Credit Enhancement Request .
I requested him to check the history of my case ...after which he mentioned that he could not inform me of anything as the status was with csm2 and that csm2 would come in only at 3.oo pm that day (i had called at 11.45 ) . am). I requested that the issue be escalated further and the line was passed to someone who identified herself as the manager above the csm’s) and started by asking the issue. I explained to her that I was getting really angry by the callousness of the service people and that I was not interested in explaining the issue again !!!!! To this I was replied that she was aware of the Credit Enhancement request issue. At this point I had to tell her point blank that ICICI was falsifying information and that too with employees of Grade A clients which was very bad and that since our firm was allowing their credit card marketing people to use our premises and facilities (meeting room ) they should not try to cheat so blatantly. The reply I got to this was that they do not do a Credit Enhancement until after the first 6 months of usage and that this was company policy and that there could be no change in that. After being CHEATED by ICICI so shamelessly , having spent a total time of atleast 2.45 hrs on the phone with their service center and being mislead by each of the employees at each of the ranks in their firm, I am sure I do not want to bank with them . ( Have put in a request to cancel the credit card.)
The cream of the conversation with the seniormost manager was the punchline by the manager ...’’If you want an apology letter we can send you one ...’’ (If they felt like apologizing, they should, why would I want the letter, I wanted a good business relationship)
ICICI , if you are reading .....plz explainn ur idea of a business manager..is it people whose idea of problem resolution is to bluff shamelessly such that your customers get scared and run away ..( if it was company policy , why was I not informed on day 1 when I called the first time)
(Am aware that a lof of anger is reflected in this review...but please do let me know what else is to be expected...am sure if this would have been the U.S, I would have been able to sue these guys !)