Recently, my dad visited ICICI Bank's Sector 9 branch in Chandigarh to deposit a cheque.
After filling the form, the Customer Service executive asked him to deposit the cheque in the "Deposit" box. She pointed where the box was. My father,in a rush, mistakenly deposited the cheque in "Suggestion / Complaint" box instead of putting it in the "Deposit" box. Now both the boxes were next to each other and their box names were barely visible.
One of the executive saw my father doing so but didn't bother to alarm my dad.
After depositing the cheque, she informed my dad that she saw him putting it in the wrong box. My dad said sorry for the same and polity requested them to please open the suggestion box, take out the cheque and put in the "Deposit" box as this cheque was to be executed for transaction at the earliest.
She mentioned the key for the Suggestion box is with the Branch Manager and he's on leave. My dad asked her to check for keys in his office because Branch Manager generally won't carry keys with him. She hesitated to do so.
Another executive told my dad that they open the Suggestion box every evening and they will remove the cheque and put it in Deposit box without fail by EOD. My father was still worried, So he asked the executive if he can fill another cheque and deposit it in correct box and get the previous cheque cancelled from his bank. But the executive assured my dad not to worry because they open the box every evening. After getting multiple assurances, my father left the branch. Now he was on a visit to Chandigarh, so he headed back home to Ropar.
3 days and there was no cheque transaction update. My father was worried and asked me to contact ICICI banch in Chandigarh over phone and get clarity about it. I called from Pune and one of the executive picked up the call. I told her the entire story to which she said, that they hardly open the "Suggestion" box in a month or so, So she's not sure if the cheque was removed from the box 3 days back.
I asked her to check if the cheque is still sitting in the Suggestion box. She said she doesn't have the keys and Branch Manager is away. Once he comes to office only then they can open the box. I politely told her it's urgent as this cheque needs to get executed at the earliest. She responded by saying that she's got customers to attend so please call after some time and hung up.
I called again after some time but nobody picked my call.
I called again but this time someone else picked up the call. I again told the entire story to this new executive. My mistake, i forgot to ask the executive name who last attended my call. Now speaking to this new executive, she said, she has no idea about it and gave phone to the first lady i spoke some time before. She said, she is going on a lunch break so call post lunch. I called at around 3 in afternoon and she asked me to tell the name of the executive who told my dad not to worry as they will withdraw the cheque from Suggestion box every evening. I said my father didn't take the name then so i have no clue of the executive's name. She simply said, she can't help me then. when i told her that if this was the case that the box is occasionally opened, why didn't the executives other day told the same to my dad instead of telling a lie that it gets opened daily. But she wanted the executive name which i didn't had so she hung up.
I was already agitated. This was my 5th call of the day and now she said, ask your dad to come and visit the branch. I told her that he's not local else he would have come. I was literally burnt up. I asked her again whether it was so difficult for them to Suggestion open the box and take out the cheque. She said only Branch Manager can do that. Now i understood, she has no idea of what she was saying. Why would branch manager worry about such petty things like opening a Suggestion box. She again hung up.
I searched online and got another number to call the Sector 9 branch. This was worse than previous calls i had. I told the lady on phone my entire story, to which she asked me to call back in 15 minutes. When i did so, she did not pick my call. later on calling again after 30 minutes, she said that she's going on tea break so please call after sometime. And that's when i lost it. I so very much wanted to raise my voice and vent out all my anger but having a lady on the other side of the line, i controlled my emotions.
I told this entire thing to my brother in UK immediately. He asked me to share the number where i called first time. I did so. He called up at that number and some guy picked the call. My brother with a heavy and loud voice told him the entire story. He asked him to call back after sometime. But my brother forced him to not to hung up else he will file a complaint in banking ombudsman. Now this guy was a bit petrified, so he immediately kept the phone on hold, brought the keys in no time, opened the box, took out the cheque, confirmed the details with my brother and deposited the cheque in correct box. All this in 5 minutes.
My brother later inquired how have he got the keys to which he said they always knew where the keys were. My brother scolded them for the kind of professionalism that was shown by them to my dad other day and to me on phone and hung up the call. They were highly unprofessional in their work.
I was so relieved when my brother told that he got the cheque moved. it took 4 days to move the cheque from one box to another. Sad
lessons learned from this incident:
- Never trust anyone when it comes to financial dealings. My father made a mistake of trusting the executives who told him that they open the box daily in evening.
- Get Name and Phone number of the person who you can contact later for any wrong happening. Or get contact details of the Senior person who can help in addressing customer issues later.
- Be polite but if they don't listen, there's no harm in raising your voice.
- if they are rude, unprofessional, raise a complaint in the ombudsman and let Senior authority take care of the issue.
Thanks for taking out time to read this. This is my first public rant.
I was so agitated with this experience that i decided to write a blog post for others to read and do not make same mistake as made here in this incident.
Thanks once again for reading !
After filling the form, the Customer Service executive asked him to deposit the cheque in the "Deposit" box. She pointed where the box was. My father,in a rush, mistakenly deposited the cheque in "Suggestion / Complaint" box instead of putting it in the "Deposit" box. Now both the boxes were next to each other and their box names were barely visible.
One of the executive saw my father doing so but didn't bother to alarm my dad.
After depositing the cheque, she informed my dad that she saw him putting it in the wrong box. My dad said sorry for the same and polity requested them to please open the suggestion box, take out the cheque and put in the "Deposit" box as this cheque was to be executed for transaction at the earliest.
She mentioned the key for the Suggestion box is with the Branch Manager and he's on leave. My dad asked her to check for keys in his office because Branch Manager generally won't carry keys with him. She hesitated to do so.
Another executive told my dad that they open the Suggestion box every evening and they will remove the cheque and put it in Deposit box without fail by EOD. My father was still worried, So he asked the executive if he can fill another cheque and deposit it in correct box and get the previous cheque cancelled from his bank. But the executive assured my dad not to worry because they open the box every evening. After getting multiple assurances, my father left the branch. Now he was on a visit to Chandigarh, so he headed back home to Ropar.
3 days and there was no cheque transaction update. My father was worried and asked me to contact ICICI banch in Chandigarh over phone and get clarity about it. I called from Pune and one of the executive picked up the call. I told her the entire story to which she said, that they hardly open the "Suggestion" box in a month or so, So she's not sure if the cheque was removed from the box 3 days back.
I asked her to check if the cheque is still sitting in the Suggestion box. She said she doesn't have the keys and Branch Manager is away. Once he comes to office only then they can open the box. I politely told her it's urgent as this cheque needs to get executed at the earliest. She responded by saying that she's got customers to attend so please call after some time and hung up.
I called again after some time but nobody picked my call.
I called again but this time someone else picked up the call. I again told the entire story to this new executive. My mistake, i forgot to ask the executive name who last attended my call. Now speaking to this new executive, she said, she has no idea about it and gave phone to the first lady i spoke some time before. She said, she is going on a lunch break so call post lunch. I called at around 3 in afternoon and she asked me to tell the name of the executive who told my dad not to worry as they will withdraw the cheque from Suggestion box every evening. I said my father didn't take the name then so i have no clue of the executive's name. She simply said, she can't help me then. when i told her that if this was the case that the box is occasionally opened, why didn't the executives other day told the same to my dad instead of telling a lie that it gets opened daily. But she wanted the executive name which i didn't had so she hung up.
I was already agitated. This was my 5th call of the day and now she said, ask your dad to come and visit the branch. I told her that he's not local else he would have come. I was literally burnt up. I asked her again whether it was so difficult for them to Suggestion open the box and take out the cheque. She said only Branch Manager can do that. Now i understood, she has no idea of what she was saying. Why would branch manager worry about such petty things like opening a Suggestion box. She again hung up.
I searched online and got another number to call the Sector 9 branch. This was worse than previous calls i had. I told the lady on phone my entire story, to which she asked me to call back in 15 minutes. When i did so, she did not pick my call. later on calling again after 30 minutes, she said that she's going on tea break so please call after sometime. And that's when i lost it. I so very much wanted to raise my voice and vent out all my anger but having a lady on the other side of the line, i controlled my emotions.
I told this entire thing to my brother in UK immediately. He asked me to share the number where i called first time. I did so. He called up at that number and some guy picked the call. My brother with a heavy and loud voice told him the entire story. He asked him to call back after sometime. But my brother forced him to not to hung up else he will file a complaint in banking ombudsman. Now this guy was a bit petrified, so he immediately kept the phone on hold, brought the keys in no time, opened the box, took out the cheque, confirmed the details with my brother and deposited the cheque in correct box. All this in 5 minutes.
My brother later inquired how have he got the keys to which he said they always knew where the keys were. My brother scolded them for the kind of professionalism that was shown by them to my dad other day and to me on phone and hung up the call. They were highly unprofessional in their work.
I was so relieved when my brother told that he got the cheque moved. it took 4 days to move the cheque from one box to another. Sad
lessons learned from this incident:
- Never trust anyone when it comes to financial dealings. My father made a mistake of trusting the executives who told him that they open the box daily in evening.
- Get Name and Phone number of the person who you can contact later for any wrong happening. Or get contact details of the Senior person who can help in addressing customer issues later.
- Be polite but if they don't listen, there's no harm in raising your voice.
- if they are rude, unprofessional, raise a complaint in the ombudsman and let Senior authority take care of the issue.
Thanks for taking out time to read this. This is my first public rant.
I was so agitated with this experience that i decided to write a blog post for others to read and do not make same mistake as made here in this incident.
Thanks once again for reading !
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