Bank Of Baroda seems to be on the path to erase the idea that government run banks are just like other government institutions whose existence is to only harass citizens and reek of incompetence.
Ever since all banks began fully paperless account opening processes, BoB appears seems to be championing the system.
After filling up the forms and uploading the relevant scanned documents, an application number gets generated and the video KYC can be done from a phone if your computer does not have a high resolution camera. Now generally most banking sites tend to error out while filling up such applications or create glitches but the process with BoB was seamless.
I unfortunately didn’t have my Aadhaar card handy when I called the video KYC personnel. But she was courteous and allowed me to show a soft copy on my laptop. Now that was a pleasant surprise because government instituions are known to look for the lamest of excuses to turn people away. Why government institutions even private banks send people away asking them to bring proof of one or other thing even though it is not required and refuse to accept digital copies.
After the KYC got done, I got my Customer ID and account number within a day even though an estimate of 4-5 days was set as an expectation. After that the ease with which the netbanking account could be opened was surprising. In comparison I have had terrible experiences with even private banks in this regard. The undue delay in receiving the welcome kits and other deliverables creates hassles in making use of the bank account.
Their complaints handling system, their support on twitter are all mind-boggling. I had a concern regarding how my address was printed on the customer information page. I raised a ticket via web complaints system and also tweeted the complaint ID to the bank’s support team. The person on Twitter not just made sure that the respective department was notified but also followed up and informed me a day later that the issue has been handled and solved.
Impressive is the word if not more.