Sounds as if I am going to praise ICICI?? Well, lets see whether they deserve or not!!
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5% cashback offer: Sounds like a great offering, save-money-while-you-shop!!!
Has threatened the competition too!! (citi has started sending its currency-wrapped dude to customer’s place!! --> of course I am referring to the Citi ad!:)..
Now, lets look at the darker side of the offering...
If you happen to book tickets from indian railways website (irctc.co.in), and got interested in ICICI’s offer of 5% cashback..
........STOP!!.........
Thats an eye-wash, coz I bought tickets (well above the minimun threshold value of Rs.2000), and never received the 5% cashback (rather had to pay transaction fee!)
When I asked the customer care about the offer, they declined to accept that there is any such offer for the purchase of railway ticekts.
Also, they refused to give me the contact numbers of relationship managers..and on constant pestering, they said that the offer is not for online transaction!!!
Does it mean that the ad was a fake one?? While I was wondering, I heard the ICICI ad ’Achhhaa lagta hai jab humme koi viswas jagaata hai’!! and I had to smile!!..
Should say thanks to ICICI for bringing smile in an otherwise frustrated day..!!!
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Customer care (or shall I say Kasht-marr care!!): When you call up the ICICI ’kasht-marr’ care, the typical verification questions are: ’Please confirm the date, month and year when the account was activated!!’ Dude! Am I supposed to remember the date when the account was opened? I guess they need to redefine their customer segment::: Only People with superior memory power apply..
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Bureaucracy::
Litmus test: Try to get a personal loan from ICICI..
Let me walk-you-thru’ the horrible steps you might have to go thru’:
- First you call up the customer care, then they will ask you the verification question
’Please confirm the date, month and year when the account was activated!!’.. if you are a superior individual and manage to remember all the dates, please proceed on to step 2.
Otherwise, please have some memory capsules before you even think of banking with ICICI!!
- They will collect all the data (your address, parent’s add..tele number..will even call them and verify whether you are their child or not..) The whole process will take 1 week (if you are lucky)
Naturally, when you want to get the status on your loan application, they will ask you your reference number (which was never told to you). So, the process ends here, or if you are damn lucky, you might cross the chasm and reach the step #3.
- Now comes the real part!! THe interest rate!!
This will be of least interest to ICICI, as they will send you the draft (without even telling you that your loan has been approved@the x% of interest).
WHen asked about the interest rate, they will play with you as if you are a football!! (you will end up talking to all the customer care executives, since no one will answer your query and will pass the buck to another executive!!)
They will give you all the different rates that you cant ever think of!!
Naturally, you will get frustrated and when you are all thinking about whether to use the loan amount (at the highest interest rate) or not, you will hear the melodious tune:: ’’Achhhaa lagta hai jab humme koi viswas jagaata hai//Hum hain na’’’’’ and smile at it!!
Its this power of ICICI to make their customers smile(~~grin~~:: what’er!!), that makes me write this review on ICICI!!
~~~Ashish~~
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