I was sold a ’’Free Lifetime Gold Photo Card’’ by one of the sales agents of HDFC Bank, standing outside my company gates. The agent came to my house to collect my and my wife’s photographs.
Finally when I received the cards, they were neither Photo cards, nor ’’Lifetime free’’ cards. I contacted their call center (which is extremely difficult to reach - once in 25 attempts you might reach an agent) and was told that HDFC bank doesnt have any ’’Photo cards’’ at all. Wonder what happened to our photographs then. The call center agent did tell me though that while my card wasnt a free lifetime card, they would not levy any charges (annual fees etc.) on it.
Then, I used the card and did not receive the statements and called up their call center again (ah, what a pain) to check the outstanding balance due on my card, and, I was informed that an annual fee of Rs. 1665 was being levied.
To cut the long story short, I talked to many people in the bank (ranging from their Call Center agents to some credit card managers) and they kept insisting that they have no such scheme of Free lifetime cards. Goes without saying that I have cancelled the card.
*PLEASE BEWARE OF ANY CREDIT CARDS SALES AGENTS OF HDFC BANK (AND PROBABLY OTHER BANKS TOO) AS THEY ARE ONLY TRYING TO MEET THEIR SALES TARGETS. THESE GUYS ARE EXTREMELY UNTRUSTWORTHY.