From red-tapism to rude employees, there are tens of reasons to stay away from SBI. But for now, I will just write about the latest encounter my father had with this particular branch of SBI.
It so happens that my sister, who currently stays at Kanpur, has a fixed deposit account in the SBI - Awadh Nawab Banking Lounge, Aliganj, Lucknow. Her FD had matured yesterday so she requested my father to go to the aforementioned branch and confirm that her deposit has been rolled over for the original term, as is the usual norm in all the banks(at least the ones I am aware of). But imagine what reply my father got when he approached the above mentioned branch of SBI.
They said that my sister has to come to Lucknow, be present at the specified branch in person, and submit a written application if she wanted to have her FD rolled over again.
Even, other customers sitting next to my father protested to the SBI employee that why are you creating so much fuss over something that is supposed to be done automatically by the bank, but as usual it was of no avail. Frustrated and angered by their response my father(who is over the age of 70 and hypertensive) accidentally stumbled and hit himself while coming out of the bank.
So much for customer care at SBI! They misbehave even with the senior citizens. My father (who is a retired Bank Manager himself) had already warned my sister when she was opening her account in SBI, last year, but she chose to ignore his advice. However, this time my father has clearly told her that even now if she wishes to continue her account in SBI then she should do so at her own risk cos he is tired of uselessly arguing with that uneducated lot of jerks they call employees in SBI!