I have a bank account with them since 1997 and I do not have any problem in this regard. In fact I will rate their internet banking as the best.
I have been using their Electronic fund transfer which has surprised my friends and relatives when they receive money without any action on their part. When I transferred my bank account to my home city it was done in four days flat. Something which requires appreciation. But My interesting experiences were with their subsidiary ICICI Home Finance co Ltd.
I started a Home loan account with them in 2002 by transferring my existing Home loan from LICHFL. This is where I believe in destiny.
The initial processing was with their customary speed and I was asked to send the blank loan agreements signed (without filling up) since I was working in another city and the property was in my home city. I sent the same with a written protest . The cheque was handed over to LICHFL and the EMI commenced with auto debit from my ICICI bank account from Feb 2003. I got back the original documents from LICHFL and was waiting for my Loan agreement copy for handing over the title deeds to ICICI.
To my Horror the loan agreement I recd had our signatures alright but the address of the property was diff and the loan amount was about 10 times more than mine. I returned the agreement and informed ICICI that I am with holding the title deeds till I get the loan agreement corrected. This was in Feb 2003.
There was no response from ICCI till Jun 2003 when I decided to shift to my native place. I transferred my bank account to the new place in Aug 2003 and then went to the ICICI Home office to request for the correction in loan agreement, handing over of the title deeds and handing over the auto debit mandate for the new account and a cheque for the next month EMI (sep 2003) so that there is no default.
I recd a letter after one week stating that the property address has been corrected but the letter had my old city address but reached my new city address (handwritten on the cover) There was no mention about my other issues.
Meanwhile the Sep EMI was not debited to my account and I went to their office to check. Nobody could answer my queries and hence I had to give another cheque to avoid default and stop payment on the old cheque for which ICICI bank levied a penalty. I asked them to confirm reg the new auto debit mandate operational -they checked and replied that it will be operational from Oct’2003.
I contacted the Branch manager who was very courteous and promised to resolve the issues . Even after one week nothing happened . I called the branch manager but could not reach him. Hence sent a mail detailing my problem. I recd some indifferent replies not addressing my problems at all.
Finally I wrote a strong letter to him stating that I am holding the title deeds of the property for which they had given loan . Then he realised the problem and called for the original agreement from Mumbai and called us for correcting the same. While we were in his office for signing the agreement and handing over the original document we requested him to once again verify whether there is any problem in our new auto debit mandate being effective from next month. He talked to somebody on the phone and confirmed that there is no problem. This was at around 1 P.M on that day.
When we returned home my mother informed that there was a call from ICICI reg the default of my home loan account . I discovered from my caller ID phone that the call had come from the same office where I was sitting till 1.00 p.m and the time of the call was 12.50p.m. I called them back to explain the issues but the lady was adamant that I come down to their office and give fresh cheques since Sep EMI has been defaulted.
I informed them that my old auto debit is no longer valid and hence I had given a cheque which has been debited to my bank account already. I asked them to write to me on the default so that I can take legal action. Then they went into a shell. I called that branch manager and demanded an explanation how a person form the same office call us for default when the branch manger confirms that there is no default. He once again verified with his staff and gave a mail that there is no problem.
I thought everything is over but it was not to be. Again my October EMI was not debited till 15th and to my query the branch manager sent a mail that ? My auto debit instructions for account no (Old account no ) are in force? whereas I had given mandate for the new account no in august. When I explained this again to him he came out with a reply that he has only the auto debit for my old account which has defaulted and hence I had to give auto debit for my new account. I requested him to give it in writing that the auto debit given by me in Aug is lost so that I can give a fresh mandate. This he could not give for obvious reasons.
After a prolonged wrangle I gave a revised auto mandate eff. Feb 04 and gave cheques till that time and the issue finally came to a conclusion.
The climax is still to come.
The October 2004 EMI was not debited on 7th I sent a mail. No response. Finally I got fed up and informed them That I am foreclosing the loan which they gleefully accepted . They asked me to come to their office , made me to wait for 2 hrs and gave me a quote which included about Rs1500 as penalty for late payment of EMI?s. I lodged my protest and asked them to give details for the late payment penalty . Immediately they took back the quote given to me and promised to come back in few days. I was there from 11.30 hrs to 13.30 hrs and I later learnt that the man who discussed with me had called my house during the same time to inform that I should lodge my complaint reg non debit of my October EMI with their call center.
Yesterday they have confirmed that my Late Payment Penalty has been waived off but still I am not sure till I see it on paper. These people have been trained to work like robots ? any problem you have they have an automated reply . They are simply not capable of giving customized solutions. Moreover all the staff are so hard pressed for time they hardly understand your problem when you talk to them. Worse still there is no systematic way of maintaining customer correspondences. All the letters I had sent were simply not there in their office . It is a free for all day in and day out.
In my 5 years of dealing with LICHFL I hardly talked to them, never corresponded with them. It was a smooth affair. Though they do things in their own way LICHFL is lot more sensible than ICICI in the sense that there is somebody in control at LICHFL-right or wrong but even god cannot decipher what goes on at ICICI. You realize the value of certain things only when you no longer have them.
The management of ICICI bank has to take some sensible steps to ease this pressure on the employees . They corner bulk of the business but never do justice to it. It is case of taking more than what one can chew..