As an India based customer of ICICI Bank, I been unhappy about several aspects. Hence, the negative reviews here are not too big a surprise. However, what I would like to ask everyone is -
Is this better or worse than service from other banks?
I have accounts with Vijaya Bank, State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur, State Bank of India and Citibank for my business and personal uses.
a. Getting statements from VB is a headache - long lines, single counter, physical journey required; from SBBJ is bad - two days minimum to give a print out which is poorly formatted and sometimes unreadable; from SBI - don’t even ask; from Citi - prompt every month; from ICICI - prompt every month
b. Citi and ICICI being early movers on the ATMs are where I still tend to go, no ATMs for VB & SBBJ
c. Net banking - only Citi and ICICI feasible so far from this lot. Horror story: I transferred money on line from ICICI, Bangalore to SBI, Chennai and it took 3 weeks!!!! It would have been faster with a cheque or DD. Couldn’t find out what happened either.
d. One off requests such as change of address [as against regular banking transactions] - easier with the traditional banks where you went and gave a letter and took an acknowledgement than trying to do it over the net or telephonically.
My feeling is banks like Citi and ICICI over-promise. Some of the things where I scream with these banks I would expect as normal with public sector banks.
Specifically, ICICI Bank’s website is still slow. But then where can I have the convenience of investing over the net with my demat, banking and broking accounts being from a single source?