Taken from
Perils of taking a home loan from ICICI Bank
Product/Service: Home Loan
7/28/2008
Sometime in the year 2006 my wife and I (Both NRIs for the last 8 years) decided to invest some of our hard earned money into the booming housing market in India . We purchased a house in Gurgaon with the help of a home loan from ICICI Bank. Following were the experiences (quite the opposite of dreaming of buying a place in India!) in dealing with ICICI Bank over a period of two and a half years:
1. Opening an Account: Compared to a day in the US, it took me a whopping four months to open up an NRE account! (They told me the signatures do not match the passport. Well I have never changed my signature. Another time they required additional documents and list goes on and on)
2. Customer Service: The customer service is simply aweful. Most of the times the home loan folks at 1866ICICI4U just don't know enough about the case. But they are always courteous enough to ask for all the loan and personal information only to inform you "Sorry sir. Please contact your relationship manager. or Sorry Sir we won't be able to help you on this." Of course, there is never a manager available to escalate the issue.
3. Selling the house: Unlike an Escrow period in the US, the home loan has to be fully paid before releasing any papers. Well good luck if you intend to sell the house and have the proceeds from the buyer to pay off the loan. There is no such thing in India. BTW what good is a relationship manager when all they can give you are canned responses. "Sorry Sir. This is our policy...Sorry Sir. Sorry Sir".
4. Web Site: Logging into the site is probably the easiest thing to do. However, trying to find information related to your accounts is anyone's guess. Most of the times clicking on home loan account returns a "Our system is down. We are currently experiencing difficulties. Sorry for the inconvenience"
Conclusion: Invest in a country where you live. And if you do plan on investing in India, DO NOT BORROW FROM ICICI BANK.
While Ms Kochar and Mr Kamath are busy giving big presentations about the opening up of Indian Financial Markets, poor borrowers are suffering tremendously. And BTW when they say SORRY they really don't mean it. What a shame!!!
Poor Service
Product/Service: Banking Service
3/29/2008
I am an Indian living in the USA. My ICICI account is in India with Maratha Mandir Branch, Mumbai. Due my inability to operate this account while abroad it became dormant. I tried to get this activated and called up ICICI call centre. My old father went to their branch in Patna too to find out how to get it activated. I was told to submit documents to Maratha m. branch, which I did by post and sent an e-mail too containing scanned documents. however it's almost 6 months but not even a single word from them.
I have tried calling again and again and my father visited their Patna branch again, but now we are running in circles, while ICICI bank is enjoying my money rotting in their bank. I would recommend all NRIs to be very careful of this branch.
Their service is the poorest of all banks I have ever dealt with.
Funds trasfer - ICICI
Product/Service: Funds transfer
1/14/2008
Funds transfer from overseas to ICICI account is very risky. The funds will not reach to your account, customer service will not be able to give the status.The funds are not credited to my account even after 10 days of Int Wire transfer from my US account.
So please be careful when dealing with ICICI... keep all possible tracking numbers/confirmation numbers/documents.
Keep a written record and record everything
Product/Service:
12/29/2007 London
ICICI bank recently made a mess of a financial transaction and now openly denying that they did not made a phone call to me and further more to rub salt on my wounds and losses for their negligent error they are saying it was an inadvertant error.
First, do not become ICICI bank customer especially all the NRI as ICICI bank will take advantage of slow legal system in India, if the things go wrong.
Second, they will tell lie and may be on the verge of fraud , so record everthing.
Thirdly, if you have lost the money, sue ICICI bank. IN USA , you can ask for Rule B attachment agains ICICI bank and sue her simultaneously. IN other countris, sue her and teach this rogue bank a lesson
ICICI Bank continues to harass customers
Product/Service: ICICI Bank's Recovery Agents fraud
12/11/2007 mumbai
Dear All
This is bring in to Notice the kind of harassment done by ICICI Bank's agents to customers.
I have taken Credit card from ICICI bank in year 2005 with card number ************8008.
In year 31-may-06 in one of statement I found that ICICI Lombard policy has been charged against my credit card. I had not done any purchased and expect Lombard charges nothing was showing on my statement .Immediately I called up call center and asked them to cancel the fee and cancel my card. I have been advised by the Call center agent to tear the card and put card in the drop box , which I did next day itself. Even post that I received the statement next month with minimum amount taken from my account and interest put on rest of the amount. I again followed up with customer care personal and then they said they will ensure that no statement is further delivered and they will revert back fees.
Immediately canceled my account also with ICICI Bank.
Then suddenly next month collection agent came to my house for collecting dues and I was shocked. Again I debate with him then he said pay the amount 200 and everything will be settled down I did same and I got receipt for same.
Suddenly 3 days back again one agent came to my house for collection and started misbehaving with my wife. When I showed up slip he said you pay rest of money else he will send some "guddas" to collect. He said he will ensure that collection is taken from him out side in road if I don't pay upfront. He started abusing. I am really afraid and now I have asked my relatives to help me out.
This type of "gundagardi" ICICI bank's collection agents are doing with customers.
Would appreciate if any one can help me out. I have receipt and bills with me .
Beware of ICICI BANK - Poor Service and fraudulant substandard services
Product/Service: Services
10/8/2007
I have both NRE and NRO accounts with ICICI bank. On several occasions I had annoying experiences with this bank which acts like mean broker rather than trustworthy financial institution.
I strongly discourage people not to waste their time and money by doing business with this bank.
Encouraging this kind of bankers is overbearing on people with Indian origins and also foreign investors who are keen on taking part in the globalization.
Please avoid opening fixed deposits, NRE/NRI accounts with this bank. If you do...your funds are not in your control any more.
BEWARE OF THIS BANK FOLKS.
Generating wrong credit card statement
Product/Service: Credit card
8/23/2007 IN
Hello,
This is Vivek. I am working as a software engineer in one MNC in Bangalore. Few months back I applied for ICICI credit card . Along with that credit they issued one health insurance policy without my permission or prior knowledge. Also I didn't received my credit card even. After a long wait I requested for cancelling my card. They told that they will cancel the card and the policy associated with it but in fact they didn't canceled it. I called the a several times . finally they took my request but now they forcing me to pay the amount of Rs. 1000 something as a bill for the health insurance policy which I never took. Why I should pay for the things that I have never bought or requested. Also I didn't received the card.
I hereby wanted to request that that these Icici people say something to customer and on the backhand they are doing something else without the prior knowledge and permission of the customer and in the end they make the customer to suffer with huge losses.
I have lost a lot of time and money on calling to ICICI again and again. So I would request you to take appropriate action against this .
Thanks & Regards
Vivek
Scamming USA NRI customers
Product/Service: Services for USA NRI customers
2/1/2007 PUNE, INDIA
I visited the Bund Garden branch, of the ICICI Bank in Pune to open an account as an NRI needing a Credit Card. The information that is given is only half true and you only discover this after you have parted with your hard earned dollars. You lose about 8% in the exchange rate as soon as you open the account, considering the best they can offer is about 5.33% per year you have already lost 1 1/2 years interest in a couple of seconds. The minimum amount to open the account is $400. Then you find out that you as an NRI from USA (other country NRI's are exempt)can only invest your account money in Mutual Funds of their choice, with a recurring deposit of Rs.100,000(about $2500)per year for 3 years. You have no say in the matter if their Mutual Fund goes South and you begin losing your Principal, you would still be forced to keep paying $2500 per year for 2 more years. THERE BROCHURE DOES NOT MENTION THIS FACT AT ALL AND IS FRAUDULENT AND MISREPRESENTATIVE OF THE TRUTH. They should be sued on just this point alone.
They have yet another clever scheme/scam where you are led to believe that the funds in the above account can be put in a "Special" High Interest (8.5%)earning vehicle only to learn that you would have to add another $9600 to the above account to avail of this scam (always losing a "measly" 8% in the exchange rate of course).
Now, after all this as if this is not enough already, to get a Credit Card you have to open another Fixed Deposit (CD) account with a minimum balance of Rs.100,000.
Within 5 minutes of learning the facts I asked that my application for opening the account be cancelled and that my amount be returned to me. NO WAY JOSE!! You are now the victim of the ICICI System. You will now have to wait a week so that the account can be ACTIVATED before you can DE-ACTIVATE it. Can you believe this crap!!
NRIs in the USA you don't know how good you have it in the US. The service here SUCKS!! and the morons who run this business here try to make you feel that they are doing you, the CUSTOMER, a favor. Things have not improved here in this part of the world no matter what they say in the News. This attitude, the bureaucracy and red tape along with the corruption will keep India in a rut long after all the other developing countries in Asia have left us in their dust.
WAKE UP INDIA!!!!
FYI
The officers(?) who subjected me to this unforgettable experience were Ms.Arti and one other who gave me a card bearing the name Yatin Gupta, Branch Manager.
Discuted by Service Received
Product/Service: Hi Saver account
8/1/2006 MP
Beware this bank may be offering a highter interest rate but at the cost of my sanity.
I opened an account with them. I transferred £4000 into the account. I wanted to withdraw the money because I had an unexpected bill to pay.On line I asked to transfer the money to my nominated Bank account. Two weeks passed and the money was never transferred (hows that for a quick transfer). I decided to close my account as it seemed the only way I could get my money back(Im still waiting) I sent five e mails to the accounts manager closing the account (nothing heard). I wrote a letter to their head office (which I was told to do). Still nothing.
Three weeks after my original transfer request and after cancelling my standing order(I was told that the money could not be paid into my acoount because I had cancelled the standing order. So it took them three weeks to tell me that which I already knew.
I called their complaints department, first I could hardly understand what the person was saying. I explained all that had gone on and was told it would be looked into. I said all I want is for you to send me a cheque for my money, you can keep the interest I just want my money back.
I have been banking on line now for years and this is the first time I have had a problem. This company is unbelievable. I WARN anyone thinking of opening an account with them DONT.
They ignore you they dont do as you say. It is like talking to yourself and getting nowhere fast.
ICICI Fraud
Product/Service: Savings Bank
6/6/2006
Hi,
I am customer with ICICI Bank since 9 years, Just last week There were fraud transactions in my account.Frankly speaking I am not in India.
Actually What happened is, my debit card expired recently and I have applied for new card and ask them to dispatch in my rural place, which is remote place in Andhra Pradesh, but they have failed to dispatch the same.So they hold my debit card in ICICI SR Nagar,Hyderabad branch.
So last week some body have done some transactions using my debit card and they have used 19000 INR from my account.I have reported these fraud transactions to ICICI Bank.They said me that they want to inquiry on this particular transactions.Since one week I didn't get any answer from them, daily I am calling ICICI customer service I am spending nearly 4 to 5 dollars daily regarding the status, but they are giving false statements every day.
What should I do now? Its not small amount.
Thanks,
Ramesh
ALL NRI's BEWARE OF ICICI BANK -FRAUD & FOREIGN EXCHANGE SCAM
Product/Service: NRI ACCOUNTS
5/25/2006 BOMBAY
I issued at check of 740,000 INR for my sister's wedding and there was enough balance in account. But ICICI failed to honour the check and levied me 448 INR for check return charges. Even after following up matter for over a week they failed to respond on this issue, for which there was no reason. Their call centre located in some poor locality in Bangalore responded to me saying there is no reason that check would bounce, since there was enough balance on day concerned. He (One mr. Rohit, supervisor at call centre) said he would get back to me within 24 hours, but so far there is no response.
On the day of WEDDING of my sister I had to frantically arrange money to save my prestige and function.
ICICI is no trustworthy and the people work there are nothing less than illiterate morons.
Even after talking to their HEAD who is located in Dubai Mr. Nimesh Shah and Amarjeet Singh Walia at Bombay, I found no solution. These people are just interested in piling up money and expansion without any service or reasonable approach. All that they need is money , money by any unethical means to pay to their herd of ill trained staffs who graduated yesterday from low profile colleges around the country who cannot even speak relevant to any technical matter.
THE GOOD PART OF BANK IS THEY ARE WELL TRAINED IN APOLOGISING EVEN WITHOUT KNOWING WHAT CUSTOMER IS ASKING AND AIRCONDITIONED BRANCHES, REST ALL SUCKS. I WONDER WHAT IF THIS BANK CLOSES OVER NIGHT AND RUNAWAY WITH ALL YOUR MONEY?
NRI'S JUST BEWARE OF ICICI AND KINDLY REFRAIN FROM USING ICICI SERVICES. I WOULD BE CLOSING DOWN ALL MY ACCOUNTS WITH THEM TO AVOID FURTHER LOSSES. I WOULD LAUNCH MOVEMENT TO CREATE AWARENESS AMONG NRI COMMUNITY TO STOP DAMAGE AND MISUSE OF OUR HARD EARNED MONEY.
THESE CROOKS ARE ALSO FAMOUS FOR LAUNDERING FOREIGN CURRENCY TO ILLEGAL ELEMENTS. MY FOREGN CURRENCY WAS STALLED FOR 2 WEEKS IN 2005 WHICH WAS MISUSED IN GREY MARKET BY BANK ITSELF. FOR THIS LAPSE ICICI BANK WAS READY TO PAY ME 215 $ OUT OF WAY TO KEEP MY MOUTH SHUT.
BEWARE OF THIS FRAUD BANK WITH NO MOTIVE OF SERVING INDUSTRY.
THEY NEED TO CHANGE THEIR RHYME-- "HUM HAI NA POCKET KAATNE KE LIYE"
Inhuman face of ICICI Bank
Product/Service: Banking Service
4/25/2006 Chennai TN
ICICI Bank is interested only in making money from its customers, without providing actual service for the money earned.
Customer service is non existent. The only person who can make any decisions is probably ther Chairman at Mumbai. Bank Managers are anothing but dumbos occupying the chair chatting with friends and relatives.
The few active staff are so overworked they have no time to sort customer's problems. your complaint letters are mostly used as tissue papers for cleaning their tables. They have standard replies for email queries, "we are looking into the matter" or occasionally you might be asked for info which will take weeeks to collect and after submission they will have the same fate as your complaint letter.
I can only summarise my experience with ICICI as follows:
Inconsiderate, inhuman
Callous, couldn't care
Income First
Customer Last
Indifferent bank
abgcorp
ICICI Bank sucks is a gross under statement. ICICI Bank NRI/NRE services should be shut down.
Product/Service: Consumer Accounts
4/2/2006 USA
Hi,
I saw one review saying that ICICI Bank sucks. My esteemed friend, you are making a gross mistake. Sucks is too mild a word to describe the awful service they provide.
I will fill in more details over the next few weeks, but today I will write an abstract. I applied to open an NRE account with ICICI in August 2005. After enough harassment and waste of my time, these idiots opened the account in Jan 2006. Should they not be entered in the Guiness World records for their excellant quality of service? First off their application is not very clear on what they want.
Plus they lost lot of customer(my postal) mails ( probably another Guiness record would go for them on this count). Every document I sent them had to be sent twice.
Thirdly, they cannot understand English. They can simple not decode what the documents contain. Fourthly their emails also reflect their lack of English understanding. They would give some wiered statments like Annexure blah blah needed, when you would have already sent them all the relevent details. It is upto the customer to waste her time to find what the Bank really wants. Mind you, I make it a point to send all details I have to confirm my identity to the bank.
It is April and still they have not got me the welcome kit and check book, even though my account has apprently been opened in Jan, and I have contacted them several time with my new address. Now even the check I sent with my application has not been encashed ,causing me to get no interest on them for almost a year , and losing because the dollar has weakened in the meanwhile.
Finally after many emails, they say the check has been sent to my old address, even though, they should be sending it to my new address. They say the check is stale. Now, they also say I have to cough up with maintanence charges, because I have not maintained the minimum balance of 10K rs,for this quarter. (Remember for no fault of mine, had sent the check for 1010$ in August itself. That money is was just blocked , because I could not fathorm when they would encash it).
Such Banks deserve to be closed. I just hope RBI takes steps to close them. No doubt they will be behind all scams like the Yes Bank IPO cam. I hope the bank does not close suddenly one day, taking away all customers money. Dear readers, if at all you have to open an NRE account go to HDFC Bank or even SBI(SBI, although a govt bank, is a much better bank than the useless private ICICI). Citbank probably offers best customer service, even though their exchange rates might not be that good. Rest later.
ICICI Bank likes to hold on to your money
Product/Service: NRI Remittance Facility
3/9/2006 Copenhagen
I would like to share with you one of the worst banking experience I have had. It is with ICICI Bank. I am an NRI working in Denmark and as per the ICICI Bank website, I transferred 10,000 Danish Kroners to an account in Danske Bank,Denmark. This account is supposedly operated by ICICI who collect the money and transfer them into the Indian accounts of the respective people. It is nearly 2 months and I am yet to get the money into my Indian account (626201077225).
Because I too have a local bank account with Danske Bank, I did a normal account-to-account transfer. Now ICICI Bank asked me to ask my local bank to send a SWIFT message. When I approached the local bank, they said that SWIFT messages are only for wire-transfers and not for account-to-account transfers within the same bank. But ICICI refuses to acknowledge this simple fact. They acknowledge that they have received the money and know it is from me but still won't transfer the money. They just keep on insisting on this SWIFT message which I repeatedly told them that the local bank won't give.
This message is to warn all people who remit money through ICICI Bank. They must realise that when they transfer money into an account operated by ICICI, they are at the mercy of the ICICI. Even if they want to get back the money, they cannot unless ICICI decides to give it back because they have willingly given the money through online transfer. I hope you will carry this incident on your webiste.
I think the only hope I have is the Banking Ombudsman Scheme started on 1st January 2006 by the RBI.
http://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/bs_viewcontent.aspx?Id=159Apalling Service and poor process
Product/Service: NRI Services
3/8/2006 Dallas TX
My story here is about an NRE account opening process from US with ICICI
I came across this site in my search for some straight answers. I have to tell you that I am extremely frustrated ... enough to call it quits on my attempt to get anything done with these folks. Below is my issue with approx. timeline
Feb 1: Application for NRE Savings account sent to US PO Box
Feb 23: Received e-mail indicating that account was in operation
Feb 23: Realized that I had provided a PO Box address in US that could cause issues with courier
Feb 23: Sent out a change of address form providing an alternate address in US with all necessary support documents as required for address change.
Feb 24: Received delivery of Debit card and cheque book in spite of PO Box delivery address ... Apparently DHL will call the phone number of the reciever.
NOTE: THANK YOU DHL! Great Service!!
Feb 27: ICICI recieved my change of address per FedEx courier tracking info.
NOTE: Never received a single piece of email from ICICI indicating that they had received my request and would update the address.
Feb 28: Still no sign of Net banking and Debit card pin information. The assumption on my part is that since I received the cheque book I should probably get the other stuff as it would come via DHL.
Feb 28: Called ICICI at Toll Free US number and they have no information available ... not even about package ever being sent. In fact, the Service rep told me that I needed to send a separate app for Net Banking.
Mar 01: I continue to have no email from ICICI indicating an issue.
Mar 02: Called ICICI and they can see that a package was in fact sent on Feb 25. Got a tracking number on courier. Apparently
they used ICCWorld.
Mar 02: Tried tracking package on courier site but site provides no status info. Called courier to see what happenened to package and why I could not track it ... courier service indicated that the packages from ICICI are special and no tracking info is available on them. They told me that they would call in 48 hrs. with some info.
Mar 05: No call from courier
Mar 05: Called ICICI to see what happened to courier. They have no info available but asked me to wait a day. Asked ICICI whether my change of address had been entered in the system. They indicated NO.
NOTE: ICICI seems unconcerned that I have not received my packet with important personal information. So much for a sense of security. Moreover, no one in ICICI seems to know the value of informing customers when they send stuff out or when the stuff is not delivered or whatever the case might be.
Mar 06: Called ICICI to ask about courier and change of address. No information on former but they think that ICCWorld might have returned
the packet to Mumbai because of their inability to deliver to PO Box address.
Mar 06: They opened an SR# on the change of address request. Told me that I would receive info from them in 48 hrs.
NOTE: The operative word on the courier is "Think" not "know" and they still seem unconcerned.
Mar 08: No call or status email from ICICI.
Mar 08: Called ICICI number in US. They are telling me that in order to accept my change of address in US I need to have a permananet address in India. They claim that RBI requires that I have a permanent address in India to
accept a change of address.
NOTE:There is NO such RBI rule for regular accounts though there is when it comes to Home Loans. Moreover, ICICI application for NRI accounts clearly states that Address info in India is not Mandatory for NRIs. Address Change Request form has no request for this info. But I cannot talk the guy on the other end of the phone through this discrepancy.
My problems:
1. No account or issue status ever received via email
2. Use of poor courier service which cannot provide tracking information or status of delivery
3. No follow-up or follow-through on important things such as documents sent esp. Net banking ID/pass and Debit card PIN
4. No followup on a priority SR opened to understand why request for change of address has not been initiated
5. ICICI application clearly states that NRI does not need address in India (not mandatory it states). Is the application incorrect? No one can tell me...
6. ICICI change of address application never requested India address information. So is the application incorrect?
7. ICICI service desk in the USA VERY UNHELPFUL asking me to send another courier with India address information before a change of address can be initiated and any banking activity can be achieved by me on this end. Claims that it is an RBI requirement though cannot provide me a reference for this quoted rule.
My current situation:
No Net Banking Info
No Debit card PIN
No foreseeable resolution to address change as I cannot fulfill request for permanent address in India
No foreseeable access to account via Net Banking services.
Very scary view of future dealings with ICICI in cases where problem resolution is needed from intelligent phone representatives
At this point, I have an account which I have no view into and no understandable reason why this is the case. My current options seem to be
LIMITED.
Having barely informed and burger flippers for service desk representative/manager who
kept saying the same thing "Sir it is an RBI requirement" hardly helps a customer. I asked him to provide me further details on this requirement and he would/could not. He could not explain why the application form clearly
states that the address requirement is not mandatory for NRI. He could not explain why I was not receiving direct communication from ICICI on my issues.
The saga continues ...
ICICI NRI Customer Service SUCKS!!!
Product/Service: NRI Banking Customer Service
1/18/2006 India
ICICI NRI Customer Service SUCKS!!!!
1. In the first place, the online access to my ICICI NRI account was locked/disabled even though I used the login/password that was provided to me.
2. I tried my best to reach the support on the toll-free number (1-866-ICICI-4U). Everytime it takes more than 5 minutes to talk to a representative. And they just say that they will not be able to service on the phone, and ask me to mail to
nri@icicibank.com.
3. I live in US and have been waiting to access my account for more than 10 days, and after 10days and many email exchanges, I am told that the passwords would be sent via postal mail to my Indian address, and not via email !!!!!!!. This just doesn't make sense to me, as there is no one to access my account in India, and I cannot ask someone to go open my mail and send me the password!!!
4. Dealing with ICICI bank is driving me nuts. And I am seriously thinking, why I should do business with ICICI bank.
5. The following policies/features are JUST UNACCEPTABLE to me. I have few bank and financial accounts for many years now, and I never had to spend more than 15minutes to get any issue resolved.
5.1. No FULL-SUPPORT via telephone, especially to activate disabled accounts.
5.2. Email based support with 24-48 hour response time. And this is misleading, as 2 days is taken to respond, not resolve issue!!!!! My issue is not resolved even after 10 days, and each 2 days is taken to just respond with counter questions/answers.
5.3 The responses from the Customer Service representatives is just ambigious (I was asked to "answer below 4 questions", when I actually saw 6 questions listed below the statement!!!. I had tough time to correctly interpret each sentence).
5.4 There is no way to reach a higher official/manager via phone/email to express my anguish, and get my issue resolved.
5.5. The website is not user-friendly, and there are many broken links. And sometimes, the error messages are just ridiculous (I got the message : "Unknown error occured", instead of the something like .... "The Social Security Number you entered does not match our records. Contact Customer Service")
ICICI Bank the con masters
Product/Service:
1/8/2006
Don't ever sign blank forms of ICICI bank.
At every ATM and branch you have smiling marketing guys approaching you to apply for credit cards, Insurance, current accounts, demat accounts and what not. The project themselves as helpful. They explain to you the product they have, just ask you to sign on the application and they fill up the rest, thus save you precious time and hassles.
We feel these guys are living up to the slogan "Hum hain na" and some of us do sign and leave the rest to them.
I have had a nasty experience, while opening a current account, after understanding the various current accounts I told the marketing guy I would like a Rs. 25000/- Quarterly Average Balance account. He said no problem and asked me to sign on the necessary spaces and since he does not want to waste my time he could fill up the rest.
10 days later I got my account number and immediately I deposited Rs.25,000/- cash. Six months have gone by, I have made sure my balance is never less than Rs.25,000/-. Now in my September bill I get a charge of Rs.771.40 for non-maintenance of QAB (Quarterly Average Balance). When I spoke to the customer care, the charge is because I had not maintained a QAB of Rs.50,000/-. When I told him, I have an Rs.25000/- QAB account he says nope, you have an Rs.50,000/- QAB account.
When I approached the M.G Road, Bangalore, Branch where I had opened the account I was directed to the solutions manager, he told me he will get back in 2 days time, which he did not, I again visited the bank and met him, he retrieved my application and told me since you have signed on it, you had accepted the Rs.50,000/- QAB account.
When I got pissed off, he told me there have been instances where the marketing guys have used white ink to tamper applications. And why do they do that? To earn higher commission. The higher the QAB account they sell, the higher commission they get!
He has asked me call in a week's time to let me know if they can reverse the charge. But told me it is doubtful. And also told me, if my application was tampered with white ink, he would definitely support me cent percent.
The marketing guy who sold me the account was Rajendra
The Manager I approached is designated as Area Head, Business Banking Group and his name is Arun Thomas Jacob.
My advise to you all is, if you want to buy any ICICI bank's product, look at them as con artists and take all precautions. And please, please don't ever sign on blank applications.
ICICI Bank Steals Your Money
Product/Service: Credit Card
10/19/2005
Beware of ICICI credit cards. If you ever have a dispute over billing or a wrong bill is sent to you, instead of resolving the issue, they simply steal the money from your savings account. You will be left guessing where your money went as there wil be no entry in your statement. This is the new trick of the trade by the Almighty Gods of Finance.
ICICI BANK IS CHEATING.
Product/Service: NRE ACCOUNTS
10/11/2005 mumbai
I am a NRI and have visited Mumbai in Sep 2005 . I tried to open ICICI NRE accounts for myself and my family totalling three accounts by paying 1000 $ on 19th Sep 2005.(by completing all the process)
Money in cash was handed over to Rekha Laud and Rashmi who were on duty.
As per me those were opened successfully, since I received check books, ATM CARDS and various PINs. These accounts belonged to ICICI Andheri Branch.
After that I left India within few days. When I tried to make some transactions , I found funds missing from all my three accounts. The money I deposited did not appear in bank records, I tried to Call Bank Manager Ms. Managala Shetty and Sandip Gupta, but no one was ready to talk or interested to reply. Moreover on my further attempts calling them failed, as they do not pick up phone. There is no one in Bank who is ready to answer about the whereabout of my money (foreign currency) deposited for which I have some receipts which looks fake.
I believe there is some scam or fraud going on in bank on the name of opening NRE accounts. So called ICICI staff feel that It is easy to cheat Non-residents and easy to make money out of foreign accounts which involves foreign currency. It looks like foreign currency racket/scam. Such foreign currency has huge demand in domestic market as far grey market is concerned.
If everything was right then after 20 days I woudn't see zero balance in all the three accounts.It clearly show bank's dishonesty. When I acted strong, these scammers started blaming on defect of my documents meant for opening accounts.This claim came after I startd trace/investigation of my funds.
I feel lost as I do not know what to do since no bank staff is responding to whereabouts of my money and sitting 10000 kms away, I feel that I have been cheated by ICICI bank Andheri, Mumbai branch, I feel shame on such banks.
BEWARE OF ICICI BANK. NRI's need to be extra careful before opening account with ICICI BANK to protect their hard earned foreign currency.
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