That’s the thing about the services sector. where one may have a fantastic experience, another may not necessarily. I was surprised to read the reviews on Kotak Mahindra Bank on this forum, and thought. thank God, I’ve not had such an experience.
Having previously banked with the other two biggies, viz., ICICI and HDFC Bank, I can pretty much conclude that so far, Kotak has far exceeded my expectations.
I was fed up with my then bank -ICICI [Bundgarden Br], because slowly & discreetly, they’d started to charge all things that previously were complimentary, and increase the charges of the things that they did charge. In line with that the service just didn’t match up. call centers were a pain to reach, and often in vain, the ATMs outside their branch perpetually had atleast 7-8 people in queue, and inside the branch atleast 20-25 people waiting to be attended by overworked tellers.
The contrast between KMB and ICICI/HDFC couldn’t be starker.
Branch visits:
in the 2-odd years that I’ve banked with them, i’ve probably visited the branch just 3-4 times- of that one visit was to open a new account for my wife.
Phonebanking:
Phonebanking is quite friendly to access- you don’t have to endlessly keep pressing 3 for this. 5 for that. 1 for something else. it takes probably just a couple of mins to get a human voice on the line.
Netbanking:
Very userfriendly site. About as versatile as the other bank-sites.
ATMs:
The type of account that I have offers me free access to any bank’s ATMs. That’s really a BIIIIIG advantage. so many times I’ve experienced this: I ask someone- "idhar kahin ATM hai?" - "kaunse bank ka chahiye aapko?" - "koi bhi chalega". The flexibility is tremendously benificial, especially when you’re out of town.
Charges:
Well- nothing. REALLY! no charges for debit card, cheque books, demand drafts, ATMs, etc. The best thing is they’ve given it in writing in the welcome letter that services such as the ATM facility for eg., are free for life. No scope for them to start imposing charges later like ICICI did.
Other services:
Well, I get cash/ cheque pick up from any of the addresses registered with them free of cost. all I have to do is to call up on their phonebanking and in about 4 hours it is done. In quite a secure way I must add. This pretty much obviates the need for me to move my but for bank related work. They even send down cheque/ cash deposit slips and DDs to your address.
Small things that make a big difference. The cheque book and deposit slips have that self-carbon-counterfoil-thing- whatever you call it. So you don’t have to sit filling up the info twice for anything.
Finally, in case I need it, I actually have the phone no. of the bank branch, which I can call up and speak to a courteous and helpful bank rep.
The only thing negative, if I HAD to come up with something, is the Rs.20k average quarterly balance I have to maintain. This is as per the account I’ve chosen. But still I’d prefer that any day to a Rs.10k AQB account with the other two, for the kind of services I’m getting.
In conclusion I can safely say that KMB has so far been a fantastic experience for me. Considering that the other pvt banks don’t really give more or better service for all the charges they levy, KMB is totally worth it. Infact, KMB would give you better service and NOT charge you for it. I guess it helps not having more customers than the bank can handle. ICICI & HDFC have become arrogant banks, having so many customers, and it shows thru in the way the bank treats its them.
I just hope, that even when it becomes big, KMB will continue the same philosophy of customer service. If it doesn’t, well, I’ll put it right next to ICICI & HDFC!