Friends: here is a small list of my experience with Indian,Government, Banking arrogance- Debited Rs4 lakhs from client account in October 2008, to pay to ILFS, towards investment, without checking up with ILFS whether the amount was due as part of one year investment plan. The amount was due in April 2009 but this Investment adviser bank made no effort to get back the money. The client lost interest on the amount lying with ILFS. When client asked ABN to explain, the response was, please approach ILFS. 2. ABN causes Huge loss to Customer but no Response ABN was my investment adviser bank and most of my investment( a retired officials small kitty- was done through them and on their advise. I bought Stanchart equity for Rs3 lakhs some time ago and this investment had almost doubled. I asked the Investment team in early 2008 to encash the investment. The investment team leader had failed to advize me to exit when the market value was exceptional and now he came up with the excuse that the exit Window would be available in March 2008 and he would do the needful.In March when the investment value was coming down, this ABN executive came with the excuse that the next exit window was not March but June 2008..By then my investment growth had come down from Rs5.80 lakhs to about 3.50 lakhs.I had to pursue the Bank executives to ensure thatthey arrange to encash this and I realized only Rs3.20 lakhs after 3 years. Despite several emails, no enquiry was held by the Bank to hold any of their officials responsible and no compensation was offered for their lapse. 3. ICICI Credit Card Card Holder had a credit limit of Rs150,000/- for years and payment was regular. Card holder was rewarded for using the card well and regular in payment.Without any notice to card holder, credit amount reduced to Rs20,000/-.When card hodler protested, the credit limit was restored without any apology to the card holder. 4.ICICI Credit Card Card holder's payments were regular and when the latter asked for clarification regarding a particular debit with intimation to ICICI that payment will be made after receiving the clarification, legal notice was served on card holder as a defaulter. Even while the notice was being served, the Call center had called the card holder to convey that they would take a few more days to send clarification. 5. ICICI Credit Card: Card payments were being made in full and regularly. The payment for April 2009 had been made in full. In May, there was an outstanding of only Rs6000/-when card holder was abroad and could not make the payment.ICICI levied late payment charges etc .Without any notice card was deactivated for non payment. No credit card company levies finance charges for late payment and also deactivates the Customer's card for a paltry sum ,that too when the credit record was excellent. There was no notice to customer about card deactivation, although all communication between the card holder and ICICI was through online. 6 HDFC Salem branch. An old widow and her deceased husband had accounts with proper nomination. Lady personally went o close the account and the Manager was very courteous and completed the formalities. At the end, told the widow that he had to write to his had office for closing the account! When asked whether he needs his head office permission for opening a new account, he had no answer. But he stood his ground and the widow had to wait for 8 weeks to get the amount that was her due. 7. Canara Bank Salem An old widow approached the branch to close her own separate account and also close her deceased husband's account in the same branch. There was proper nomination available. The bank's accountant and the senior manager insisted that she bring two persons having accounts in the same branch to identify her. The widow who had left Salem quite some time ago did not know any account holder who could identify her. When the person accompanying the widow decided to phone the Bank's chairman, a person senior to the senior manager decided to intervene and help the widow. 8 Corporation Bank, Gandhi bazaar Bangalore. My sister who had an account in the branch died, leaving a valid will nominating me as her heir. The amount left behind in the bank account was very paltry. I approached the branch to get the proceeds credited to my account in another branch of the Corporation bank. I produced an affidavit as required by the Bank and also the original Will with a copy. The senior accountant dealing with this case wanted me to be identified by any one known to the Bank. The Manager of the Corporation bank in Bangalore where I had an account certified that I was an account holder in his branch and also attested my photograph. This did not satisfy the Bank official and she refused to credit the amount that was due. Her argument is that my sister's Will should be registered and I should bring a court order declaring me as the heir. Legally under the Hindu code, a deceased person's Will with two witnesses is valid without any registration. The Bank Official had made another unreasonable demand. She asked me to get a certificate from either a city corporator or from the village Panchayat where my sister passed away. The Bank official also gave me the contents of this certificate and it reads as follows: I know Sri xxxx………….Further, I hereby indemnify the Bank from xxxx in the event of xxxx happening etc etc" I donot know how a bank can expect a government functionary to take over liabilities on behalf of another person in order to identify such a person and indemnify the bank from all legal consequences. The amount has not been credited so far. 9 Indian Bank, Ist Block Rajaji nagar, Bangalore My mother in law is a great patron of this Bank. She and her late husband had fixed deposits and two seperate accounts but both jointly operated. They also had an account in the same Bank at Salem. After her husband's death, she gave a letter at Bangalore branch to close the accounts at Salem and transfer the balance to her account at Bangalore. Myself and mother in law visited the branch several months after this and enquired whether the account at Salem had been closed and amount transferred to Bangalore. Looking at the computer, a bank official informed that the account transfer had taken place. During our visit to the branch the next day, we met the Manger for some work and wanted to know the amount that had been transferred from Salem branch.We were shocked to know that no action had been taken by the branch on the letter to close the account in Salem yet the previous day we had been informed that the account had been transferred. 10.Indian Bank, Rajaji nagar, Bangalore It had become part of the core banking operations. When we visited the branch wa sin total darkness due to power failure. It has not back up facility and all operations were held up. My mother in law wanted to close the joint account of self and her late husband and we had carried the original death certificate with a copy and other documents and met the Manager. Since there was no power or back up, he advised that I could bring the papers the next day for processing and there was no need for my mother in law to come again. I visited this branch for completing two jobs. My in laws had two joint accounts and in one account the first name was that of my late father in law and in another his wife name was number one. In both the accounts, my late father in law's name had to be deleted. I met the Manager who sent me to the concerned bank official. I had carried the original death certificate relating to my father in law along with single copy. Also had taken a copy of proof of address as required. After completing the procedure for deleting my father in law's name from account, the clerk refused to do the same in the other case. His argument was that I had brought one copy of the proof of address that had my mother in law's signature and for taking action on the other account, he wants another copy.Not only the branch did not have a photo copier, but the clerk refuse to accept a photo copy I got done from outside. He insisted that the second copy must bear in original my mother in law's signature! The helpless Manager decided to send another clerk with me to our house to witness the fact that my mother in law actually signed the copy containing the proof of address. I could not make out why the bank officials wanted the address proof when already my mother in law was a holder of savings and fixed deposit accounts in the same branch. 11. Indian bank, Salem Visiting Salem, We called up the branch to inform them that we expected a cheque for a large sum to be deposited in the account of my mother in law. Next day after clearing time, we phoned to find out whether a cheque, awaiting clearance for a certain sum has been put into the account. The Manager refused to 'divulge' the information, stating that only after clearance he can give such information. And my mother in law and her family were account holder for 30 odd years. You want more, from SBI, Stanchart ? While the services sector is contributing to the tune of 65% to India's GDP, the quality of services leaves a lot to be desired. It is not just training but the culture of people that determines the quality of service. The absence of a culture for rendering quality service and the general customers low expectation from the services bought is mainly responsible for such poor level of service not just in banks but from telecom to shop floors. Narendra Venkatachari Jagannathan P.N. Venkataraman, a customer of the State Bank of Mysore (SBM), recently discovered that a cheque for Rs.1,330 he had deposited with the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) had bounced. The reason SBM gave: "Customer signature not scanned". Venkatraman was told the bank was shifting to a system under which signatures of account holders were scanned and uploaded, and that his signature had not been scanned. "I have been operating the account with SBM's Shastri Nagar branch for the past 34 years. It is strange the bank bounced the cheque on a funny pretext," Venkataraman told IANS. Fearing disconnection of power supply to his home, Venkataraman went to the TNEB office where he was told that as per the board rules, people whose cheques have been dishonoured are blacklisted and that no cheques accepted from them for the next three months. Not only that, Venkataraman had to pay return charges and penalty for reconnection of electricity. Venkataraman called SBM's zonal office to seek the assistant general manager's or his deputy's intervention in the matter. He said a woman who declined to identify herself by name and merely said she was a chief manager, gave a patient hearing. Then, according to him, she hung up saying, "Sorry". Venkataraman said he then called SBM's head office in Mysore to complain to the managing director, but to no avail. Following this, Venkataraman sent a mail detailing his plight to Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Usha Thorat, with a copy marked to the SBM top brass. Within minutes, he said, he started getting calls from the SBM managing director's office, the chief manager who had earlier refused to give her name and other officials who promised action. "The TNEB still declines to accept the letter from SBM accepting its fault for wrongly dishonouring my cheque," Venkataraman said. "SBM's assistant general manager has assured me that the bank would sort out the issue by making the payment to the TNEB including the penalty." When contacted, the bank's assistant general manager V.R. Kolandaivelu told IANS: "Efforts are being made so that the TNEB continues to accept cheques from him (Venkataraman) Agreeing that it was a slip on the bank's part not to have scanned the customer's signature, he said a decision has been taken to consult the branch office concerned before dishonouring any cheque. Dear friends (Under copy to Banking Division, RBI Deputy Governor and MD of State Bank of Mysore and Consumers Association of India) On behalf of our online discussion groups, we have taken up several common issues concerning the general public successfully. Many of them found their way to mainline media, leading to solutions. Very recently, you may remember that we took up the case of ATM Claims. When one of our members used HDFC ATM machine with Kotak Mahindra Bank ATM card, the cash was not dispensed, but his account was debited. The Banks told the customer that they would take 45 days to settle the claim. When we started debating the issue and brought this issue to Ms Usha Thorat, Deputy Governor of RBI, she took up immediately and issued directions to all the Banks to settle the ATM claims within 13 days, failing which the concerned Banks would be penalised with penalty. Now, we are taking up another serious issue where Bank customers in India are harassed with the indifference of Banks. Return of cheques, when sufficient balance available in the a/c At this stage, he called me and explained the whole issue. He was terribly under tension, as his reputation was lost due to the fault of the Bank. Adding insult, the Zonal Office and the MD Office of the Bank were not also responsive. At this stage, I suggested him to send a mail to Ms Usha Thorat, Deputy Governor of RBI, who is taking care of customer grievances at RBI level for the entire country. The copies were marked to Zonal Office and MD office. As any one can expect, within 10 minutes of receiving the copy of the mail, the same Secretary As of now, the Electricity Board will black list him and will demand penalty from Mr Venkataraman On behalf of this Forum, I am now endorsing a copy to Ms Usha Thorat, Deputy Governor of RBI, Joint Secretary to the Banking Division of Govt. of India and also to the MD of the Bank. I am including Consumers Association of India in the loop. . This instance is only tip of the iceberg. Everyday, hundreds of innocent customers are harassed like this by all the Banks. Electricity Board officials have also informed Mr Venkataraman that every day they face such problems, like Bankers returning the cheques inspite of sufficient funds. When a cheque for small amount gets returned, (even when there is sufficient funds in the Bank), it may cause greater damage to the reputation of the person. Smaller the amount, greater the reputation loss. Since many customers do not escalate the complaints, they suffer in silence due to the arrogance of such officials, including the higher offices. In this particular case, since the matter was taken up with RBI level, the Bank got panicky. I request the readers to imagine themselves OUR REQUEST TO RBI - LEVY PENALTY TO THE BANKS In the interest of millions of hapless and voiceless bank customers who suffer in silence at the hands of officials, RBI should consider levying huge penalty to the Banks, if they return cheques when there is sufficient funds in their account, particularly when the cheques are drawn in favour of Electricity Board, Telephones, Tax Authorities, etc. The penalty to the Banks should also be of the order of 10 to 15 lakhs, particularly when the cheque is returned for small amounts. As said earlier, when small cheques are returned, the damage to the reputation is enormous. Hence, the need for heavy penalty to the Banks. A part of the penalty is to be recovered from the concerned erring officials, including the Managing Director of the Bank. (RBI has already issued directions in the case of ATM claims. If the claims are not settled within 13 days, RBI can impose penalty). I request the members to share the views. While replying please endorse copies to all, so that Banking Division, RBI and the State Bank of Mysore MD and Consumers Association of India may also be kept in the loop of our discussions. Let us hope this case study brings a good solution. Srinivasan
Bounced cheque lands bank in trouble
Chennai, July 13 (IANS) Thanks to a goof-up on their part that led to a cheque bouncing, officials of a nationalised bank are now forced to negotiate with a state utility to accept cheques from one of its customers.
One of our Members Mr Venkataraman and his family members are maintaining accounts with State Bank of Mysore, Chennai-Shastrinaga
Then he called up the Chennai Zonal office of the Bank to inform about this. The officials did not connect him to Asst. General Manager or Dy. General Manager of the Zone, under the pretext, they were in a 'meeting'. The office connected to a Chief Manager (lady), to whom he explained the problems. She was not sympathetic. excepting saying 'sorry'. She even refused to identify her name. She was not showing any interest to help the customer.
Without knowing
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