Hi There,
I’ve had a SBI card for less than a year now and I want to share my miserable experience with this pathetic company.
It all began with the sales representative’s call which normally I dont bother with.On that fateful day I had a lot of free time so I spoke to this lady who sounded like her life depends on selling me the card.She spoke in such a sad voice literally pleading with me to hear her out.I made the mistake of listening to her sales pitch which sounded too good to be true.I was promised a card without having to show my tax return papers as I had a citibank credit card with me from quite some time.She made umpteen promises, namely-higher credit limit than my citibank card, free annual fee for the first year, so on and so forth.I fell into the trap and agreed to go ahead with the minimal necessary formalities.My card came a few days later and to my horror the credit limit was less than half of what was promised.I didn’t make a big deal out of it and decided to keep quiet.Then came the first month’s statement which gave me the second jolt.I was being debited an annual fee.I spoke to customer care who came up with a story that if the card isn’t used within thirty days from the date of issuance then annual fee is applicable which I wasn’t told about.I made a fuss so he said that the charges will be reversed.Due to the dispute with SBI over the annual charges I didn’t pay the first month charges in time so when I got the following month’s statement I received a fresh blow.I was charged 10% fine on the outstanding amount as late payment fee.I have a citibank card also as i’ve mentioned earlier and to the best of my knowledge even they don’t charge 10% as late payment fee on outstanding amounts.If this was not bad enough they called to say that they can have the cheque collected from my place.I assumed this is a free service provided by them.I assumed wrong.The next month’s statement reflected a cheque pick up fee of Rs.35/- which wasn’t conveyed to me.To crown all the crap I got from SBI I received a call from their Chennai office to enquire why I hadn’t made the payment even though I had .The caller spoke to me like I had committed an offence more heinous than murder and with such contempt that its hard to express in words.Needless to say I had such choicest words for him that he slammed the phone on me.
I have settled the outstanding amount due to them and haven’t used the card in over two months and as expected they hit me with annual fees again (I assume it is the same old reason-for not using the card).I don’t even have the inclination of calling them up and clarifying.They are hopeless.
To sum it up-Please avoid SBI card like the plague.