Copy of the Email sent by me to SBI Grievances section with some alterations:
Sirs,
I became the SBI member on 29-4-2004 in the SBI Civil station branch Palakkad with SB A/c No. 0119000XXXX and operated my account there till 10-1-2005 and since I wanted the Internet facilities I transferred my account to the SBI Palakkad Main branch and I received passbook on 13-1-2005 and is still continuing there with the SB A/c No. 011900XXXXX.
Since I joined the SBI Creditcard one month back I got the SBI Card bill some days back and in it the last date for payment of the due amount was stated as 9-5-2005. When the bill came I tried to electronically transfer the amount to the SBI Card from the Onliesbi site, but the response turned up was “you do not have transaction rights”. Since Joining the SBI Palakkad branch I applied for the transaction rights within one month, I contacted the Asst. Manager (Systems) again and eventhough he did not attend to my application for transaction rights till that date, he made my account having transaction rights within 12 Hours. On accessing the Onlinesbi site I found that it does not allow the SBI customers to pay their SBI Credit card bills online. Hence I went to the SBI Cardsite. When I tried to transfer the amount again it seemed the website is faulty and I called upon their customer service personnel who said their website is having complaints and they are looking forward to it. Eventhough I asked they expressed their inability to process my request to register the account.
Finding that the Electronic transfer is not possible with the outdated system of SBI, I looked upon the other avenues opened to me. Since taking the DD every month is a time consuming experience at a public sector bank like SBI, I thought about remitting by cheque. Since I have not applied for cheque facility till then and SBI is not providing it on account opening I approached an young man who seemed is handicapped and is sitting 2nd next to the counter the payments are disbursed to know about the procedure for getting cheque book and he was really courteous and nice man and he told me the procedure for getting cheque facility and since I didn’t had paper he gave me one and I wrote the letter requesting the Branch manager for the Cheque facility, in which it was specifically written it is for the SBI Card payment. I approached the man (who is handling the locker facility I think) who is dealing in the cheque section and he without even reading my letter ordered me to “sit” and I sat there for more than 1 hour waiting for my turn and when it is seen that the guys who came after me were called up and their problems solved I approached the long man sitting in the revolving chair who was handling the ATM Card loading and asked what I should do now? I told him I am sitting here in the seat for more than one hour waiting for a cheque book and I have other jobs to do other than to waste my time in a bank he told me he did not know I was waiting there for more than one hour for which I responded that if the job is not in the man handling the lockers then why he made me sit there all the while?
On looking through my letter and SB passbook the man in revolving chair said “you cannot have cheque facility to transfer the amount to SBI Card and if you need you have to take current account. I said if it is for hearing this then why wasted my time and I went out and wrote the amount in the ICICI Bank cheque which was issued to me with their welcome kit when I joined their bank and deposited it in the dropbox and left. Getting out I withdrew the Rs.9000 left in my bank account from the ATM and went to the ICICI Bank and deposited it there.
Now compare this with the experience at the ICICI Bank since I wanted to trade in securities I asked the desk at the ICICI Bank branch at Palakkad and since they did not have facilities available at the branch they introduced me to their branch manager and he said next day he has a conference at Cochin and he will enquire and call me back, since I have lots of bitter experiences with the public sector banks I did not give much attention to his words thinking that it is just a gimmick, but to my surprise the very next day night one man introducing himself as the ICICI Webtrade manager for north kerala called me and said the branch manager of the ICICI bank Palakkad contacted him and he will come to my house and get the necessary documents filled up and within one week I could do the trade in securities (they done it by linking my ICICI Bank account with the Cochin branch offering webtrade).
Coming to the point I want to see what you could do for me in this cheque issue to repose the faith I once had in Public sector banks restored. Since I want the public to know about the difference in service approach of SBI and ICICI Bank, I will publish a copy of this letter in the web and may be seen in the https://mouthshut.com in the Home>Personal Finance>Banks>State Bank of India.
Yours faithfully,
Xxxxxxx.X.X
The Final result: After sending this email in the night around 11Hrs I received several calls from the SBI Palakkad branch over phone at my office, home and cellphone from the concerned section saying they have issued a cheque book for me and since I could not find time to visit their bank on the same day due to heavy workload at the office I preferred to go next day. I received an email from their customer grievances section also. On the next day I was introduced to the AGM of that branch by the officer in charge of Cheque issue and the AGM was such a nice man and really his honesty is touching I must say, and he apologized to me for the miseries I had to undergo and the the Manager of PB Section also talked with me on their limitations and I expressed my viewpoints also. Since I got my problem resolved I left their bank a happy man. I hereby express my sincere thanks to the SBI Grievances section and the AGM of the Palakkad Branch for the concern they showed on me.