I am holding an Saving Account with Bank of Baroda, Hadapsar, Pune branch since June 2007. Since the beginning, there service has been very slow. Even when compared to other PSU banks. First of all, You have to visit the bank multiple times to complete all the activities of opening an account. Just look at the number of times I had to visit the bank.
Visit #1. Fill up the account opening form.
Visit #2. They will issue a passbook for the same after few days.Visit again for collecting it. Then fill up a form to get an cheque book issued. Official responsible for issuing Debit Card forms not available. So was asked by the Peon to come later on for it.
Visit#3 Visit the bank after a week to collect the cheque book and fillup the debit card form. The process of issuing a debit card is painfully slow. After filling up the form, you have to wait till you recieve the PIN number at your home, then only the debit card will be handed over to you. A month had passed since filling up the form and I still had not received the PIN from them.
Visi#4 and Vist#5. I visited the branch twice to enquire about the PIN, each time got an answer that I will get it next week through courier. Finally, I got the PIN by courier after 45 days!
Visit#6 Visit the branch again with the PIN to collect the debit card.
Finally got all the necessary things of my account in my hand. Total days taken - around TWO MONTHS! I did not dare to fill up the Internet Account form, to operate my account through the net. looking at there process of issuing a debit card.
Story not over yet!
Now for the worst experience of my life in getting a cheque credited to my account.
On Oct 6, I dropped a outstation Core banking account cheque(payable at par only at selected branches) of Bank of Maharashtra in the Bk of Baroda cheque drop drop box to get it credited into my account.(Same bank cheque, which I had credited to my Citibank account few months before got cleared in 3 days). After checking the balance seven days after dropping the cheque, the amount had not been creditied to my account. So I presumed that they might have considered it as a outstation cheque. so decided to check my balance after seven days as it takes 14 days to credit an outstation cheque. After two weeks, I went to the ATM to check if the amount has been credit, but in vain. So I decided to visit the bank to enquire about it. After visiting the bank and asking the officer about the cheque, he started searching for it. After searching through two mini trunks he could not locate the whereabouts of the cheque. Finally something striked in his mind and he opened a drawer of another official who was on leave. The cheque was lying there in her drawer. They had not even sent it for clearing! Probably the officer on leave forgot it in her drawer before going on leave.
The officer then promised me that he will send it for clearing the same day. Till now around three weeks had passed since dropping the cheque in the drop box. After assuming, atleast now the amount will be credited in next 3 days, I returned home. Then I had to go out of town for Diwali vacation.so I didnot get the time to check my account. After returning from my vacation of two weeks I decided to check my account balance expecting to see the Cheque amount credited to my account. It was Sunday, Nov 25th one and half month since I had dropped the cheque. But Alas, it was the same story . The amount had still not been credited to my account. This really left me frustrated. I then decided to visit the bank again next day. After visiting, I first got my passbook updated to see if there is any mention of the cheque in the records. And there it was. The cheque was credited and then again debited to my account on Oct 30 and was mentioned’cheque returned’. I then went to the officer to ask him the reason for returning the cheque. He checked my passbook for the cheque number and started searching it in his mini trunk containing returned cheques. After scanning through around 100 cheques, he could not locate it in his trunk. He then started checking it in his computer, and in that he found that the cheque amount has been cleared but had not been credited to my account. He then looked into one of the files and finally found a printout containing the details. Finally he told me that the amount will be credited to my account in 5 minutes. He then asked one of the officers to make an entry through his computer and finally the amount was credited to my account. It took an astonishing 50 days for them to credit the amount to my account!
(P.s. The’cheque returned’ remark was due to the reason that they had sent the cheque for local clearence but could not get it cleared. They then sent it for outstation clearence. Probably they had not sent the cheque to the right branch in the city or they were unaware of the process, as the same bank’s cheque got credited to my Citibank account in 3 days.)
Now I am really scared to deposit any cheques in my Bank of Baroda account, especially the out station cheques.
I am really disappointed with there service. I expected much better service looking at there ad campaign and new logos etc. In the end I realised you can’t expect the same level of service as that of an private bank from a PSU bank and that Bank of Baroda is afterall a PSU bank. Comparing Bank of Baroda service with Citibank in which I have my salary account, the gap is so huge. The Citibank executive comes to your place at the time of opening an account. you have to fill up the form and the account is opened on the spot. He hands you an account pack containing the cheque book, Debit card, Internet PIN, etc. The debit card gets actvated in three days.I am holding the Citibank account for last 18 months but never had to visit the bank. Everything gets done without visiting the bank. You can drop a cheque in the drop box located in the ATM centre, it gets credited without any hassles. You can request a cheque book through the net, . You can request them to issue a demand draft through the net and the same can be requested to be sent directly to the person you want to send. Almost everything can be done by acessing the account through the net. Ofcourse the minimum balance that has to be maintained in the private banks like citibank is higher.
I think the PSU banks like Bank of Baroda can really improve the basic services like opening on account, especially when the bank is computerised. I just dont understand why it should take 60 days for opening an account and get a debit card issued in an computerised Bank.