I don’t know whether you people will agree with me .... but ICICI Bank is the worst bank that I’ve done or ever attempted to do business with.
My unfortunate experience with ICICI started approximately a month ago (I would say March 2003) when I moved to Pune to join a software firm. I was in a world of dreams, thanks to their never ending ’’get your account before you finish your coffee’’ advertisement that I didn’t even think of opening my a/c with any other bank.
I am a net saavy guy and so I decided to try their link on the website...’’Open new a/c’’...but it never worked. I tried the link for atleast four or five days, after which I gave up.
Then I contacted their customer service by e-mail. Thankfully I got an acknowledgement countersigned by some lady with a sweet name. She promised that a customer service executive will be in touch with me ’’As early as possible.’’ Today is April 9, 2003 and one month down and it’s still not ’’early enough’’ for the bank to send an executive. I didn’t know that their executives are too too too busy!
But still I didn’t give up. Last saturday I walked into their Pune (Aundh) branch with a filled up relationship form along with too many supporting documents (introduction by a customer of 6 months, passport, employee id card etc). But the sweet lady gave some non-sense and silly issues which rivals even the most bureaucratic officer in the most bureaucratic nationalised bank. And I confess that I was pretty irritated by that and that became worse when the office boy came with the coffee:-)
She promised me that she will send me her representative to get my application again. She scribbled my contact no and address in her scribble pad. And again no representative turned up, may be because she has lost her note pad.
But I’ve decided that enough is enough and I am no longer going to have any relationship with this bank. I walked into another bank and opened my a/c in less than 5 minutes and I am happy with them as of now.
I would say that we are the culprits. We are giving out of the world image to banks like ICICI Bank, whereas, they actually do not deserve it. I have done business with banks like State Bank group, Central Bank of India, Bank of India etc and I found the staff of these banks much helpful and responsible to the customers.
So ’’Have you opened an ICICI Bank Account yet’’. If no...You are lucky and I would say ’’Please never do’’.