I’m absolutely speechless, not out of praise but of abhorrence, as I type out this review for Tata Empower Program’s Tata-SBI credit card.
First things first, I had applied for a Tata-SBI credit card on Oct 01, 2007 and till date I haven’t received any communication from Tata. Hence, I finally decided to call up the customer(I don’t) care number. And all thanks to the easy and multiple ways of getting in touch with their executives – through phone(call center based in Gurgaon) and through email(a non-existent email id) – my case still remains unsolved! I still cannot believe that they don’t have a contact center where I can go and enquire about the status of my application. More so because your call center and email response are good for nothing!
The root cause of this review/my plight: After having applied for the aforementioned credit card twice, I still have no sign of my name being registered in the database. Let alone, being “a proud owner” of India’s first White Label Credit Card, ridiculous… ironic maybe! It doesn’t end there; the process of trying to find out about the status of my application was an outright agonizing experience. More than half of the times, the customer service executives(CSEs) don’t understand what one is trying to convey, no matter what language you speak in! Let me cite an example for you: I was informed by a CSE that my records don’t exist in their database, so I asked him to trace back my details from the agency that took the documents from me. To this he replies that my records don’t exist in his database! How enlightening was that…
On another such instance, they just refused to give me the contact details of the agency/agencies that operate in Mumbai. I believe, if I’m giving out my personal and financial details(my bank & credit card statements, a photocopy of my existing credit card, my ration card and my salary statements) I have the right to know where these documents are. Especially these haven’t reached where they were supposed to.(Two separate occasions, so two copies of the documents). Some of the people I spoke to at the Gurgaon call center are: Mr. Sumit Kumar Agarwal, Team Leader; Mr. Sandeep Yadav, Floor Manager. I really admire their audacity to actually ask me to submit my documents for a third time! Well, in not many words, my 45 minute long conversation with them would have only reminded you of a few scenes from the famous movie Braveheart.
I’m completely disillusioned by this entire episode. It only makes me regret my decision of investing my trust in two major brands like TATA and SBI. My situation here can be described by a very famous phrase, "Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate"(Abandon all hope, ye who enter here) as inscribed on the Gate of Hell in Dante’s The Divine Comedy. The only misfortunate part being, here it is reality which I’m going through.
I have already sent a mail to the these people, in case of any complaints you too can contact:
(Though, don’t expect too much to come out of these mails!)
Mr Kishor Chaukar,
Managing Director, Tata Industries
kachaukar@tata.com
Mr Roopam Asthana,
CEO,
SBI Cards and Payment Services Pvt. Ltd.(SBI Card)
roopam.asthana@ge.com
If you are reading this, you are logical enough to make your decisions, I’m not asking you to opt or not for this card. This is just my experience, but the decision is still yours. All the best!