Real Story about an Investor who Fought for 9 months with ICICI Bank

POSTED BY Jagoinvestor ON February 28, 2010 COMMENTS (102)

Can you fight back ? Really ? If you were taken for granted as a customer by some Bank or any institution and you were forcibly sold some product by officials at some Organisation assuming you are a weak customer who will not raise his voice and fall in trap , What would you do ? Will you have the guts and energy for fighting back and getting what you deserve ? Here is a real life Story directly from the customer who faced lot of problems from his Bank when He wanted to shift his Home loan from One city to another . Lets see in this article in his own words and find out how Officials in these big banks take advantage of customers situation to make money for them selves . See other Force Selling Examples

How it all started

I have two home loans, one in Delhi and other one in Pune and I wanted to go for a home loan ROI switch (conversion of higher rate of interest to an existing rate of interest). My prevailing ROI was very high for both the home loans so wanted to reduce the ROI, of both, by paying the processing fees. ICICI bank has a process where-in one can go for ROI switch by paying the processing fee. First, I went to the Pune office, as I am in Pune, in March 2009 and then visited the Delhi ICICI branch in May 2009 for the loan switch.

  • March, 2009 : ICICI Bank, Shivaji Nagar, Pune – The  officials asked me to buy a ULIP of 40K for the conversion. They changed my loan account number and took all the documents again as if I am applying for a fresh loan. They also took 1 month to process my loan switch.
  • May, 2009 : ICICI Delhi – The customer care executive asked me fill an agreement on a 50 rupee stamp paper, took the switch fee and all the formalities were done in record 80 minutes. He did not ask me for any other paper and my loan ROI was switched in 2 working days.

Read the process in detail here.

The ugly truth

ICICI Pune branch has forced me to buy a ULIP and took 1 month for the switch procedure where as Delhi has taken 80 minutes. ICICI home finance Pune in collaboration with ICICI Pru is duping customers. ICICI Pru people are simply forcing their policies on ignorant home loan customers. This is how ICICI Pru executives are achieving their monthly targets.

Just imagine if I would have only one housing loan and that too in Pune, I would have been blissfully unaware of this racket. They must have done it with many home loan customers in Pune.c

The Confrontation

I sent my first complaint letter to  ICICI Pune, heard nothing for weeks. Sent many letters to all the 3 level of escalation as described on ICICI website, still no response. Finally, I complained the banking ombudsman (See How to complain to Banking Ombudsman) View the full complaint timeline Below .

The Result

Due to the Ombudsman intervention I got my 40K ULIP premium back, but ICICI evaded the answers of my other questions and no action was taken against the two officers involved. I realized that ICICI is capable of dragging this to eternity so I created this blog and uploaded all the conversation which I had/ was having with ICICI. My blog created a lot of noise and after 9+ months few senior folks from ICICI finally decided to extend the support.  Finally my queries were answered and Interest loss was credited back in my savings account. I was happy to find the answers but also sad as it took 9+ months for ICICI to respond. I have sent a letter of appreciation to ICICI in the same regard.

The Lesson Learned

  • Never trust any bank official as they have hidden agendas behind their suggestions and make it a point to read all the documents carefully.
  • Never do something which is being pushed upon, always take your time. Remember if they are rushing you and want everything today, take your sweet time and do a research.

How to avoid such scenarios

If you have been asked to buy a ULIP for any loan related process, use any of the method below to get back your money.

Option 1 :

Resolution Duration : 9+ months
Pain, mental trauma, stress and harassment
: High

  1. Send ICICI a complaint mail with all the relevant docs photocopy (I maintained the correspondence on a blog which served dual purpose)
  2. Send a mail to all the three level of escalations mentioned at ICICI website – this is just a formality as u need to give a proof of ur complaint before sending a mail to Banking Ombudsman. dont expect anything from ICICI as it is a sheer waste of time but you have to do it.
  3. Now send a mail to ICICI ombudsman with all complaint letter attached. Make sure you provide the complaint in the desired format.
  4. Send a mail to ICICI Pru Bombay, thru post and online, the ICICI Pru is very fast in resolving any dispute.
  5. Keep sending stinker mails to ICICI, well they not budge but you will feel good and light

Summary : Online blog will help u maintain the flow of sequence and the best part is that u will learn how to blog :-). Keep on following and one day someone will respond, in my case it took them 9+ months…..

Option 2:

Resolution Duration : 15 days to 1 month max
Pain, mental trauma, stress and harassment : NIL

  1. Go to the bank and agree to buy the ULIP in return of you loan related process.
  2. Give them ULIP premium cheque, get a photocopy of the ULIP docs/forms and the check.
  3. Take the visiting card of all the people who were involved in ur case (this is very important, if no visiting card atleast take their name, designation and mobile no.)
  4. Ater u have agreed to their demand of ULIP now make sure you get ur work done ASAP. Don’t give them any time get ur work done at the earlier. Be firm and be rude.
  5. Wait for the ULIP welcome kit
  6. Once you receive ur ULIP welcome kit, write a strong complaint letter to ICICI Pru telling them about the forced ULIP, the names of the people involved and your request of cancelling the ULIP. In all the insurance firms there is a freelook period of 15 days to 1 month during which u can refund the policy without providing any reason (but you must cite your reason in this case).
  7. Make sure your complaint mail is very strong. ICICI don’t respond to polite mails, they simply ignore them.
  8. Your ULIP money will be refunded.

Summary : This is a very simple way of getting ur work done smartly by complying to all the stupid rules set by ICICI or any other bank for that matters. Just agree to their demands and cancel the ULIP during the free look period.

Good luck and have a safe banking .

How Much Home Loan can you afford (please vote , Data will be used for future Article)

Comments , What do you think can be done to avoid these situations ? Are you aware of any thing like this in your real life ? Lets share our views on what are the different preventive and corrective measures which can be taken to avoid these kind of situation . Dont forget to praise the efforts made by this Guest 🙂

Note : Though utmost care has been taken while taking the information , Jagoinvestor do not take any responsibility about the information provided above.

102 replies on this article “Real Story about an Investor who Fought for 9 months with ICICI Bank”

  1. Viral says:

    Hello all,

    The loan amount has been disbursed to the seller’s account from SBI but while they were taking my sign on loan agreement , they said Property insurance is mandatory and gave me a form to fill but I said if it mandatory I will have check from different organisation and give the insurance in 1 month.

    Can any pls let me know is this mandatory to have property/home insurance . Though the premium was less than 1900 rupees

    1. Hi Viral

      Yes, property insurance is mandatory from SBI ..

  2. Meet Chohan says:

    I have taken policy of ICICI PRU Life named HEALTH SAVER. I got to know that if I could not show the medicine bills then I could not get my investing amount which is invested in ulip. I also did not get any documents from the company from where I can know about the policy features. When I contacted to Customer Care he told me that policy documents were received by my wife. But the dates which are mentioning me about documents received , my wife was not there. Now tell me what to do get back the documents and to cancel the policy.

    1. All you should do now is complain to IRDA on this .

  3. Vinay says:

    Every time you go to ICICI bank for making and FD, either the concerned employee will pester you to buy a ULIP or a ICICI Life Insurance man sitting there will do so. They won’t make an FD easily, unless you take a ULIP policy, extolling the benefits of taking a ULIP for higher returns. I am stuck in a similar situation , having being forced to take a ULIP policy of 1 lakh premium (5 time option),which I was reluctant to do so, and that too for 10 years (Super Pinnacle), with the ‘promise’ by the ICICI ‘agent’ employee that I will get a return of 15% in 5 years ,when I can redeem it. This return of 15% in 5 years, I find after a research of 2 months is totally baseless. I don’t know how to get out of the policy, or at least get it converted to one time. Can they do unfair trade practise of posting an Insurance person, who is hand in glove with the bank officials?

    1. Vinay

      Its purely an agent issue , i mean bank is not involved in this , but bank officials might be, I wonder why you never took the route of complaining to ICICI about it , there is no reason to buy it from them just because they are forcing it .

  4. Raja says:

    Hi Manish,

    I want to write a guest post on your blog. Here is a brief of the topic.
    I had taken a home loan(30 lacs) from Bank A. One time payment for life insurance (for the diminishing loan amount -around 80k) was included along with the loan.
    After one year i transferred the loan to Bank B (including a new insurance). Cleared Bank A’s outstanding including the insurance cost. Then I got pretty busy for next 8-9 month’s setting up the new home. Then one day when i was flipping through the old documents i realized the insurance document had an option(in very fine print) to get back a part of the premium paid in case i’m pre-closing the loan. However on contacting the Bank A & their insurance arm, they flatly refused having any such option and tossed me back and forth between the bank and the their own insurance arm. I fought with them for a bitter battle for 2 month’s. Then they agreed to give me back close to 35k 🙂

    Not bad, isn’t it ?? to get back 35k of my own money just because i read the fine print in one of the documents which i should have read at the beginning.
    Do you think we can have a guest post on this topic ?

    Regards
    Raja

    1. Raja

      Definately , its a good example and a case . You can actually make the article as general topic about “Reading the guideline and fine print” and then add your example to add value to it . This would be a better way 🙂 . What do you say ?

      Mail me

      Manish

      1. Raja says:

        Excellent suggestion. I’ll do it that way and send you the article in a week or so.
        I am facing one issue with receiving notification on follow up on comment even after clicking the option (checkbox) to notify. Can you please check if it’s a generic problem.

        Regards
        Raja

        1. Raja

          I am not sure why its happening , so you mean that you are not getting the follow up comments in your mail box even if you have subscribed .

          I will wait for your mail

          Manish

  5. rahul kashyap says:

    m being by sbi to buy a ULIP of 50 k to sanction a home loan worth 20l..plus a FD of 1 lac..
    dont want to do…as it offers the lowest ROI…

    1. Mail them for explaination of rules and cc to IRDA and also RBI . See what happens

      Manish

  6. erukulla sathyam says:

    it is inspiring to know the way our friend fought back, here is another example of forced selling by a chit fund organisation in south. SHRIRAM CHITS PVT LTD A SISTER CONCERN OF SHRIRAM LIFE INSURANCE they both run in the SAME OFFICE AND SAME TABLE.
    When we are due to get a chit amount cheq which we save for a long time like 25months or 50 months shriram chits employee or agent will ask you or force you to take a ULIP OF SHRIRAM LIFE INSURANCE WITHOUT EVEN PROVIDING THE DETAILS OF THE POLICY IF you dont buy this then YOU WILL GET YOUR CHIT AMOUNT AS LATELY AS THEY CAN.
    THIS PRACTICE SHOULD BE STOPPED AND EACH ENTITY SHOULD HAVE THEIR OWN OFFICES SO THAT PEOPLE ARE NOT FORCED OR CONFUSED.

  7. Jitendra Solanki says:

    @ Manish

    Thats not difficult Manish.Every bank has a specific format of email ids.Just ask any employee and you will get to know the format.

    I know because i am an ex employee of HDFC Bank…………………………………………….

  8. RR says:

    hi

    I had a really tough time with them regarding my demat a/c. Due to some SEBI ruling , they simply locked out my demat a/c claiming that the PAN details were not submitted. After 2 years of runnning around and submitting umpteen proofs most of which used to get rejected for stupid reasons , I was finally able to get my demat a/c unlocked. I escalated this issue directly to Mr Kamath and although some senior officials contacted me , nothing happened and it still took more than a year after that to resolve the issue. ICICI service really sucks.

    Thanks

    1. RR

      Nice to get your comment . Would be interested in knowing how you got senior officials email id’s and especially Mr. Kamath id ?

      Manish

  9. Deepak

    I would agree with you , I ersonally applied for personal loan and zooooom .. 2 calls same day from HDFC and Citibank , where as i can see that there is lesser interest rate provided by Bank of India ..

    Manish

  10. Deepak Gupta says:

    Inspiring story!!

    Through my experiences with private and public banks (SBI, CBI), I strongly think that it is always worth to take loans from nationalised banks and one should always try to avoid private banks. Initially, you may be impressed with the super fast loan processing but once the loan is processed then private banks are much worse (through the experiences of my friends). I also got my housing loan sanctioned in less than 1 hr by HDFC, paid the processing fees of 5000 also but eventually I went with CBI for my housing loan. I had to really do lot of leg work for almost 3-4 weeks in getting the loan approved but I strongly feel that it was worth the effort. Lot of the ppl I know have the mis perceptions about the way these nationalized banks function. I always advise every body to at least check out the rates, schemes offered by nationalized banks before going ahead with the private banks for loans. It is just that private banks score A+ when it comes to market their products. Even when it comes to online banking I think SBI is way ahead than most of the private banks when it comes to security, usability and user friendly features.

    -Deepak

  11. Ravi says:

    Which is the best bank in India to do business with?
    Best in terms of customer service.

    1. No data like this we have ..

      I like Corporation Bank in that way

      manish

  12. Dr Kishan, i fully agree with you that now-a-days we must be careful and stop putting our trust in others hands. But sometimes these difficulties become blessing in disguise, its just that we don’t see them initially cause we are frustrated and angry at that moment.

    Let me share an real life example. I bought this Pune house by becoming really frustrated with my landlord as never he let me live with privacy and devotedly increases the rent after every 11 months. On top of it the ever booming (or bubbling) property market was making me so insecure.

    I got pissed off and bought this house in 2004 and when i look back now i have no regrets. The prices have risen so much that I cant even afford my current flat and i actually sent my landlord some flowers an chocolate for his unintentional help. 🙂

    So the moral is no matter how smart you are, there is still too much to learn and we are bound to make mistakes.

    By the way there is a saying that the smart people often make the worst decision.

    – ICICI Duped me

  13. dr. kishan says:

    reading this whole ordeal what i can summarize is that for every issue and situation we should have a good amount of suspicion. we should always counterquestion all the information available and check with multiple sources. in a time of excess corruption which in turn arises from greed we have to become overconcious in any matter be it wealth or health or any thing else. platforms like urs are really good in speading the information to all the general public bcoz such things will spread like fire. i am sure that eventhough icici may not suspend that executive, he shall lose his job in due course of time since his misconduct will be known slowly. all institutes have some bad elements which make the whole name bad. i too have had an “ok” experience with ICICI till now; but after reading this article i shall be more cautious now. nice fight by “icicidupedme” and nice effort by you manish
    kishan

    1. Kishan

      “we should have a good amount of suspicion.” .. I agree to that , Not that we should not believe them and question the integrity , but from our side we should always have some suspicion to make sure that all our questions are answered in the start only .

      I am sure if the product seller is genuine .. they will not mind the 100 questions in the start 🙂 . better to be safe than sorry .

      manish

  14. Krishnakumar says:

    Manish,

    With respect to your query, most probably myself would have followed the path of your guest. I think sometimes keeping patience give good result, only thing one should be sure of what is right. Several times my patience helped me. By becoming impatience the bp goes up and may get into more troubles. Look up the judicial process, even though you are at the right side it take a lot of time to get the verdict.

    It is so happen that the fine prints of the contracts are so elaborate and not in simple language. I am sure most of us will never read it fully before singing. We do not have that much patience. Most of the banks has displayed their processing time in the banks for normal dealings. Never mind this are only indicative and not for making your bp up if the time laps.

    To get rid of most of the problem one has to understand what rule says, read the postings such as yours, Subramoney’s etc.. Be an informed person before going for the sign. It will definitely will give you patience for the final kill.

    1. Krishna Kumar

      Yes , consumer knowledge and proactive action is what can save him from the trouble later. I think if a person takes care of all the small details while buynig the product and has some patience to fight back if things go wrong , the whole process will be smooth .

      thanks for your views .

      manish

  15. Thank you Manish for putting my ordeal with ICICI on your blog. I hope it will educate people about the ugly truth and they will be more careful while dealing with ICICI.

    In short I would like to say ” please be rude, to the point, ask for written proofs and don’t trust them under any circumstances “.

    During these 9+ months i have interacted with many senior ICICI officials so I am more than happy to answer reader’s specific queries.

    A special note for those who are commenting in favour of ICICI or are from ICICI. Please read the full blog before passing any judgement. Do not comment just for the sake of it. Right now ICICI is busted so if you have some strong and valid point(s), i invite you to comment with your full credentials and not as “anonymous” or under some fake name.

    http://icicidupedme.blogspot.com/

    1. ICICIDupedme

      ” please be rude, to the point, ask for written proofs and don’t trust them under any circumstances “.

      To a point , this really applies to the banking + insurance sector these days . Agents + Officials are so careless and take customers for granted that it becomes necessary to raise your voice .

      manish

  16. My suggestion to everyone who have taken Home Loan from ICICI Bank, please go & check your original papers.

    I have seen many of them in dustbin.

    1. Hemant

      I am confused . you mean they dont take care of documents and somehow it goes to dustbin , or after reading , the rules are so pathetic that they just throw it 🙂

      Manish

      1. They just don’t care, I don’t know why.
        Few years back one of my friend was working for them, he shared this.

        1. Hemant

          Err .. i am confused yet

          “I have seen many of them in dustbin.” . I thought you mean that customers who buy policies they dont take care of documents and it somehow ends at dustbin (care less behaviour) ..

          OR

          Does it happen that they look at documents and the policy rules are so idiotic that they are pissed off and throw them at dustbin .

          Manish

          1. @manish

            I am talking about Original Home ownership papers(registries, lease documents etc) after disbursement of loan.

            Careless (carefree) behaviour of ICICI employees.

            1. Ok

              got it 🙂

              manish

  17. Puneet Gupta says:

    Manish,
    I think, it’s time you can have a separate section in your website for such complaints/comments. So that readers can gain from collective wisdom..
    These seem to be never ending issues…

    1. Puneet

      Will do it sometime in future. . for now the comment sections look a good place 🙂

      manish

  18. Praveen Kumar A says:

    Long time back citibank had cancelled my credit card without my knowledge and without any initimation/approval.
    It took me almost 1 year to win the case.
    RBI asked citibank to pay a penality of Rs 1000 and citibank did pay Rs 1000.
    But it took me lots of follow-up – couriers, phone-calls etc.
    I still have all communication mails with me.

    The issue is not every customer gets up and fights. If there are many people coming forward to fight against wrongs done against them then number of such incidents will come down.

    -Praveen

    1. Praveen

      What was the reason Citibank gave for cancelling your CC ?
      the problem is that at the end people start feeling demotivated and dont see value in fighting .. even in your case .. 1000 was not worth .. you should have demanded more compensation 🙂

      Manish

      1. Praveen Kumar A says:

        Manish,

        They mentioned that I expressed dissatisfaction with their service during one of queries to their customer-care and so they closed their card without even letting me know.

        I did not fight the case for claiming damanges but rather to prove a lesson to them.
        Though I had called RBI that Rs 10000 was what I had originally mentioned in my complaint and Rs 1000 was less, to which I was told that I can appeal asking for higher compensation.
        But that is going to some more follow-up and work.

        Since I was not worried about money but rather about proving them wrong and teaching a lesson (they were arrogant) and not to take the consumers for granted,
        I was contended with the results.

        Consumer rights awareness is very low among Indian public.
        Most of the rules/laws also put the onus on consumers rather than the banks/institutions.
        Look at most of the “Terms&Conditions” of using online bank account or mutual funds etc.
        Any loss due to a third person hacking or anything other issue is responsibility of customer and bank has no obligation or anything at all.
        Everything is put on customer’s head.
        Many a times I have not avoid internet-PIN after reading the SCARY “Terms and conditions”.

        -Praveen

        1. Praveen

          thanks for sharing your story 🙂 . Its really unproffessional to treat customers this way .

          Manish

          1. Praveen Kumar A says:

            Manish,

            What is important is that consumers should pull their socks and fight for their rights. Most of them are just worried up spending time to fight the issue.
            Once a reasonable section of them pull their socks and fight such incidents will come down.

            But another equally important thing is the customer education.
            Most of the customers dont read “Terms and conditions” properly.
            They dont demand complete information between signing up for products.
            Consumers are partly to blame for issues that arise from customer blindly signging the form and then expect RBI to take up the case for them.

            So its equally important that consumers read the letter, rules, terms&conditions before signing for any product – be it savings account/deposit/insurance/funds/investements/credit-cards etc etc.
            They have to figure from the bank what is the annual rate, default rate, renewal rate etc..
            They should demand the agent to provide written brochure or information on the rates they are mentioning. Otherwise dont sign up for the product.

            -Praveen

            1. Praveen

              [ Most of the customers dont read “Terms and conditions” properly. ]

              yes , this is extremmelly worrisome . this is from where the problem starts . This is a point where most of the problems could would have been taken care but people dont feel its importance . Just to save some minutes or hours they end up fighting or managing things for months and years .

              It has to change. .

              thanks for your inputs .

              manish

    2. Anoop says:

      Being aware of rules helps to some extent but if the person is in need and the other party stick to the demand then you have got to pay for that. So the role of the regulator is very important. He should act fast and be effective.

      For example after fighting for one year the CITI was penalized for Rs 1000. The complainant already incurred more than 1000Rs and much more precious time. Now if the fine would have some 1,00,000 and incremental for such issue, then everyone would have noticed. The rule and violations should be deterrent and impetus. If I am fined like this I will break the rule again and again.

      Check US, rules are simple but violations are costly. If you break traffic rules for few times, you loose some 5000 USD which could be more than you salary there. For example if we put panelty of 1000Rs for read light break, 5000Rs for wrong format of Number plate, some 2000Rs for no helmat, and if someone is charged for that or they go to jail/do community service, then you can see people changing (even bribing traffic police will screw you up if he sticks to 50% of the fine). Everyone will fall in line even with 10% of the enforcement of law. Then you might never be caught on the wrong side.

      So here in India, there is no incentive to provide good customer care during the whole process of sale – pre, in and later post. All the govt agencies are party to the crime as they have vested interests in not to change the rule.

      Regards,
      Anoop

      1. Anoop

        Agreed … Corruption is inside the financial institutions too .. Not sure how this will come down in long run , but customer awareness is critical 🙂

        Manish

  19. Swathi says:

    The only way we can avoid all this is by being aware of the rules. For a home loan ROI switch , a ULIP is not needed.One should ask that in the first place. When you are aware and start questioning them, agents will not dare to do all this.And to make them realise their mistakes, when any ICICI guy calls u offering home loan, tell him that you were about to take a loan from ICICI but changed your mind after having a look at the consumer complaints forum.

    1. Swathi

      yes , looks good idea .. one has to be aware of the rules and then be courageous enough to fight back 🙂

      manish

  20. Puneet Gupta says:

    My friend was asked to buy a Rs.80,000 LIC ULIP policy to get his Home Loan approved from Corporaion Bank in Bangalore. Poor fellow, had no option but to buy it.

    1. Puneet

      Ask him to complain yet to banking Ombudsman and show them this article , I am sure the officials would have a good answer 🙂

      manish

  21. S S says:

    It doesn’t pays to be polite while dealing with agents, thats the personal experience. Be rude, pose as an impossible customer and don’t pretend to be intelligent before him. Give him the chance to fool you. I am not in favour of displaying etiquettes, the moment they realise that you are going to raise your voice before 50 other customers on a busy working day they become defensive. I don’t prefer calling agents at home rather I would take the trouble and visit their office. Actually this customer care service is till you are a “would be customer” once job is done whole customer care department disappears.

    1. SS

      I do my banking with ICICI only and had an amazing experience till now … I am thinking of taking a personal loan because of some immediate financial requirement , First I was thinking of going with ICICI Bank itself as it would be convenient and fast , but now seems like I will think about it after getting so many updates 😉

      Shweta , Do you have any personal bad experience with them , can you share ?

      Manish

      1. S S says:

        Not exactly bad but some unpleseant ones with ICICI and TataIndicom. Sharing is out of question too lazy to do that, I’ll try.
        Good or bad experience depends on the type of person one is dealing with. Its not that bank is inefficient or fraud but sometimes you get stuck with wrong type of person.

        1. SS

          Agreed .. I think we are too much blaming the company than it deserves. the main culprit are the people they employ .

          Manish

  22. Asish says:

    A great comeback man and yes a lesson learnt for good, isn’t it? Will you suggest the same bank for FD a/cs (100k mark) for 5 yrs or more bcuz of higher rate of interest?

    1. Ashish

      hmm.. overall these problems persists in one way or the other in every bank , the problem is not the Bank itself but the attitude of all the Banks in country and unprofessionalism towards customers . You can do the FD . No issue .

      Manish

  23. Karsudha says:

    I hav eseent his happen to few of my friends. When I went to the ICICI branch, they said I have to purchase 25K ULIP to avail the interest rate switch. In general many people are not good at personal finance and bad officials make the quick buck by doing such things.

    Between our friends we ran a e-mail chain explaining the process and the kind of ULIP selling they are doing. We could save at least a few of our friends. If you do not have a blog, share your negative bank experience with all your friends so that they avoid the same trap.

    1. Karsudha

      Thanks for your example , I can see now that this is now a kind of racket in Banks to exploit customers by blocking their work at bank . This should be taken seriously and we should file case against the banks or employees .

      Manish

  24. anonymous says:

    regarding icici forced ulip sellings case:

    after seeing so many frustrated activity done by the guy i being home loan sanctioning officer at icici kolkata would like to tell you that what he has done in 9 months can be done within a day or even in some hours if the person is not frantic but well manned.you can say its my foolishness or humble that i m also being involved in such cases to get some extra bucks.there is no need to go to icici ombuds not to mail anybody at higher authority.
    regarding no action has been taken against the executive gaurav bose and prakash sikri, because they have made the process legal by collecting blank cheques and changing your account number.which resembles that you are new to the bank and you have asked for ulip plan with a home loan.if you had restrained in the beginning by calling icici customer care or enquiring at other icici branches in your neighbour city you may never be fooled.thats all. well no body is fool but the situation makes it.

    1. @Anonymous

      Thanks for the information , Nice to see your comment as you are in ICICI and know of all this happening . I am sure the guy might have done whatever he could but there must be some problem from his side that it took 9 months , the issue here I think is not just restricted to ULIP force selling , but also how a Bank do not treat his customers on time and takes eternity to solve an issue .

      I have asked “this guy” to reply on this comment , lets see what he has in store 🙂 .. surprise !! surprise !!

      manish

    2. Well the way this ICICI chap has written this comment says it all. I don’t understand how ICICI hire people like them. They are rude, non customer centric and lack basic writing skills.
      Here are two 2 fake letters i receive from ICICI . Your comment above resembles them.
      http://icicidupedme.blogspot.com/2009/12/received-fake-and-cunning-letter-with.html
      http://icicidupedme.blogspot.com/2009/08/amazing-apololgy-letter-from-icici.html
      I am surprised at his immaturity to judge a person without even knowing all the facts. This is not his problem, this is the problem of the company who hires people like him.
      Look at this audacity to even say something like ” if the person is not frantic but well manned” for an duped ICICI customer.
      Guys, i don’t have to say anything, his attitude proves it all.
      Beware of ICICI people.

      http://icicidupedme.blogspot.com/

      1. ICICI Duped me

        Though I have not read your full posts , can you share why you at the first place bought the ULIP and didnt back off at that time ? Did you found it later than the ULIP thing is crap and thought of taking the action ? please share ..

        Manish

      2. Gopi Krishna says:

        Really if the so called Anonymous works for ICICI bank and he represents the company, He would have written a comment in his full capacity. That dumb A$$ (Manish can remove this word if he feels it is inappropriate) doesnt even know that. but he is saying that he is working in kolkata icici bank. and i suspect 100% he really not.

        I have read every word in ICICI duped me and in last and final letter, ICICI official mentioned a reason for collecting cheques in pune branch that some unsecured and secured home loan (Iam not an expert on this thing).
        in the first instance when user went to sivaji nagar branch (is is sivaji not shivaji)Then and there itself they would had explained why they had to change the loan account number and collecting postdated cheques instead of explaining after so much trauma to the user.

        Most of the people might know that Standard charterd bank has helped rouge nations to siphon off money to antisocial elements around the world and fined by US govt millions of dollars.

        Banking faruds are same round the world but it is all bout levels.
        Indian banks try to cheat innocent customers. where as global banking corporations cheat governments

        1. Thanks for sharing your comment on this Gopi !

  25. Dr Mohammed Ali Khan says:

    Try calling ICICI Bank complaint section…
    They provide a number in their welcome kit..
    I bet that its almost impossible to speak to a Human being..
    The computerized voice will forward your call here and there and finally your call will be dropped
    It happened to me many times

    1. Dr Mohammed

      Agreed , I cant understand why cant they have an option for “Talk to our customer representative” in the start only ? I am frustrated my self most of the times 🙂

      manish

      1. rishabh parakh says:

        yes that’s the scenario with all the cos. also for selling & marketing their products any branch or any representatives can help you (sorry not helping us but them:) ) but if we need to lodge any complaints they would direct us to specific location or nos.

        wonder why don’t they want to think for after sales service, i have found lot of troubles with my airtel post paid connections.

        1. Rishabh

          I think these companies are very confident of the lazyness which we indians show for the “action for justice” or “change” .

          We as customers will really not act fast and try to take actions when required , only a handful of people are there who are fast . understanding this , these companies campaigns the first time selling , but not the after sales .

          Manish

  26. mynameisnotkhan says:

    I have HDFC credit cards, these people are calling me daily and begging to take their some health card. I refuse everytime and these shameless creatures call again and again. To whom should i complain?

    I went to open PPF at SBI, and asked for the form, they asked 1000 questions and wanted my id proof even for giving the form to me. I later opened in post office. screw sbi

    1. mynameisnotkhan

      You can register your number at DNCR (do not call registry) , and let them know that you will screw them if they call you because you are registered with DNCR .

      Manish

  27. Nidhi parakh says:

    Suhasini,

    please check this links about the complaints against ICICI, i think you will find many
    we will get exhausted but ICICI & complaints will not.

    1.) http://www.consumercourt.in/credit-card/12357-harrashment-molestation-icici-credit-card-department.html

    2.) http://www.consumercomplaints.in/bycompany/icici-credit-card-a12497.html

    3.) http://www.complaintsboard.com/bycompany/icici-bank-ltd-a2481.html

  28. Rocky says:

    I have an ongoing Home Loan from ICICI Bank. My account no for ECS (from VIJAYA BANK) was old 5 digit. In December 09 I got an email from ICICI Bank saying I need to update my account no to NEW 14 digit otherwise as per RBI guidelines, they will not be able to deduct ECS. I did that promptly.
    On 7th Jan my ECS was not deducted and on 10th I got a call from Home Loan div saying due some technical issue they were not able to deduct my ECS I would I mind paying only this months EMI via cheque. I agreed and the cheque was collected on 10th. To my surprise, EMI was also deducted via ECS on 12th. I called the person who had collected the cheque and he advised “Sir please block the cheque you gave to me” which I did immediately. CHARGE BY VIJAYA BANK Rs.49. When ICICI Bank presented the cheque it was STOPPED by Vijaya Bank. CHARGE Rs.85.
    I wrote a nasty email to them and got both Amount refunded. My contention was that it was their mistake and they should bear the cost of their stupidity. The amount was small but it made me happy that ICICI Bank, the most imperious bank accepted their mistake.

    I specially agree to “Make sure your complaint mail is very strong. ICICI don’t respond to polite mails, they simply ignore them.” and “Take the visiting card of all the people who were involved in ur case (this is very important, if no visiting card at least take their name, designation and mobile no.).”
    -rocky

    1. Rocky

      Yes , the main thing is letting them know that because of their stupid mistakes we customers have to face problems , we have to fight back just like you did .. even though it was small , kudos to you 😉

      Manish

  29. Krishnakumar says:

    Dear Manish, I am very new to your blogs and feel sorry for the late entry. Almost all your writings are quite informative and must read items. Your postings will definitely will induce a “Jago” attitude in most of the readers. My respect to that gentle man who has taken that much patience to fight against a leading Bank. Keep on posting to improve our knowledge in personal finance.

    1. Krishna Kumar

      Good . What do you think should this guy might have done to reduce the time taken for overall justice ?

      Manish

  30. Anoop says:

    Hi Manish,

    It is truly inspiring story about fighting and not acceting the misdeeds done to one. But I am more surprised about how much RBI is involved in all this. Now the case is until the issue goes to bank ombasdusman, nothing happens. I feel the RBI is also party to the crime.

    You might say that RBI has created that forum and all the other relugations. I feel the rule/laws could have been more strict and time bound just like RTI issues. RBI is giving more power to the banks to manipulate customers and creating policies for only bank benefits (like allowing them to sell insurance but not thinking about the misuse and check it at the same time when the permission is granted. For the next round of rules they take years). So RBI is equally responsible. I feel SEBI is faster than RBI in doing regulations. RBI is sluggish to act.

    I think all PSU/Private enterprises are doing their job best by cheating customers in the respective services offered as dogs should bark and snakes should bite (reason is that morality/ethics/values run very low in our society in general) but the job of the regulator is to make that impossibile.

    In my opinion, the rules should be made with the view of how they will be used, and the parties invloved should be punished in time bound manner. So all the complaints should be finished in time bound manner if not done then penalty should be imposed and given to the complainant. If no of complains go beyond some threadhold then company should be panilized heavily and money should be given to some fund for the customer (usage can be many). Enterprises should have incentive/fear to deal customers and later their complains fairly. Right now this is not there. This is true for all Credit Cards, Banks, Insurance, Mobiles, Loans, and all sorts of companies.

    Regards,
    Anoop

    1. Anoop

      RBI is to be blamed less for ULIP force selling , Its IRDA which should take care of that . RBI just takes care of Banking , ya in a way RBI is to be blamed . You are correct .

      But its more of “no stringent rules” than “bad rules” ..

      Manish

    2. Praveen Kumar A says:

      Incase of RBI Ombudsman there is a time-limit of 2 months.
      This can be seen in RBI ombudsman page.
      There might be something similar for other banks as well.
      Probably one needs to check that.

      1. Praveen

        2 months is too long I guess .. most of the investors would loose the confidence till then 🙁

        manish

  31. Suhasini says:

    You have done a great job here and taken great initiative by cautioning people here. I will love to see an article on ICICI credit card (which has fooled many people) here.

    1. rishabh parakh says:

      Hi Suhasini,

      please check this links about the complaints against ICICI, i think you will find many
      we will get exhausted but ICICI & complaints will not.

      1.) http://www.consumercourt.in/credit-card/12357-harrashment-molestation-icici-credit-card-department.html

      2.) http://www.consumercomplaints.in/bycompany/icici-credit-card-a12497.html

      3.) http://www.complaintsboard.com/bycompany/icici-bank-ltd-a2481.html

      regards
      rishabh parakh

    2. Suhasini

      Why ICICI Credit card only ? Its a general thing with credit cards fraud . any thing personal 😉

      Manish

    3. Rishabh Parakh says:

      Suhasini,

      please check this links about the complaints against ICICI, i think you will find many
      we will get exhausted but ICICI & complaints will not.

      1.) http://www.consumercourt.in/credit-card/12357-harrashment-molestation-icici-credit-card-department.html

      2.) http://www.consumercomplaints.in/bycompany/icici-credit-card-a12497.html

      3.) http://www.complaintsboard.com/bycompany/icici-bank-ltd-a2481.html

      regards
      rishabh parakh

    4. rishabh parakh says:

      please check the following links about the complaints against ICICI, i think you will find many
      we will get exhausted but ICICI & complaints will not.

      1.) http://www.consumercourt.in/credit-card/12357-harrashment-molestation-icici-credit-card-department.html

      2.) http://www.consumercomplaints.in/bycompany/icici-credit-card-a12497.html

      3.) http://www.complaintsboard.com/bycompany/icici-bank-ltd-a2481.html

    5. rishbah parakh says:

      “Hi Suhasini,

      please check this links about the complaints against ICICI, i think you will find many
      we will get exhausted but ICICI & complaints will not.

      1.) http://www.consumercourt.in/credit-card/12357-harrashment-molestation-icici-credit-card-department.html

      2.) http://www.consumercomplaints.in/bycompany/icici-credit-card-a12497.html

      3.) http://www.complaintsboard.com/bycompany/icici-bank-ltd-a2481.html

      regards
      rishabh parakh

    6. Nidhi parakh says:

      Suhasini,

      please check this links about the complaints against ICICI, i think you will find many
      we will get exhausted but ICICI & complaints will not.

      1.) http://www.consumercourt.in/credit-card/12357-harrashment-molestation-icici-credit-card-department.html

      2.) http://www.consumercomplaints.in/bycompany/icici-credit-card-a12497.html

      3.) http://www.complaintsboard.com/bycompany/icici-bank-ltd-a2481.html

      regards
      rishabh parakh

      1. Suhasini says:

        I checked all the links and no wonder there are so many complaints against ICICI credit cards.

        1. Suhasini

          You have really burnt some fingers with them it seems 😉

          Hey .. Being a social media person what are the changes do you recommend Jagoinvestor can take to increase its readership ? Any idea ?

          Manish

  32. Marshal says:

    Very sad to know that for 9months person has to fight. On contrary hats off for patience and determination.
    Well we also faced similar problem when we thought of opening locker in SBI, we were asked to do FD for sum of rs 50k, i negotiated for 25k :). In return SBI officer said we have to take care of other VIPs as well. In case someone surrender locker SBI shall be contacting us. And till date no one has contacted. We finally managed to avail locker facility in other PSU bank with help of employee who was dearer to us.

    Cheers
    Marshal

    1. Marshal

      Ok , so they have limited lockers , so what is their policy for assigning lockers , What about asking them the procedure and state of assigning lockers as per law , can we use RTI to get fair information .

      Which other PSU bank did you open the locker finally ? Didnt face any issue ?

      Manish

      1. rishabh parakh says:

        hi,
        i have faced exactly the same problem last year for locker facility with SBI only and then finally settle down with Union bank.

        but one thing is very common with these kind of banks and its now a standard practice (dont know the actual rules) to ask for a minimum deposit of a lac or 50K in order to offer their locker facility.
        Manish:) again a nice topic for you to cover up…what say

        1. Rishabh

          What happened when you asked them “what are the govt rules for this whole thing ? ” Did you ask ?

          What nice topic are you hinting at ? I am not clear ?

          Manish

  33. anonymous says:

    Hats off for prolong fight.
    But below is my two cents

    Ideally, he shld have not accepted “ULIP Leo Kam Karao” Offer, To generalise this shows if person is not aware he is gonna dumped and get cheated/f***d by market/people. I personally don’t compromise in any way, know your right… If you don’t know, Back out but don’t follow such sucking practices.

    Sometime to get result, you need to twist your finger, for which 2 approach given by him is perfectly fine, along with Banking Ombudsman complaint. Any time if you see such tactic, always send a written complaint to upto 4 level higher officer, Good it was private Bank so he was listened in 9 months, Imagine what could have happened in case of DEAF PSU Banks.

    1. Anonymous

      I think the problem is people dont are not persistent, in that start they will back off and would not take the forceful product , but after sometime when their priority work is on hold , then they will break and “compromise” thinking like “It will take too much time” or “we will show them next time” attitude .

      What do you think ?

      Manish

      1. anonymous says:

        I agree, But that’s why there is something call manager…
        In Loan Side we are at receiving end so we might need to back off after initial resistance .

        I see people buying force product for opening/handling SB A/c or getting some work done …
        It happened with me 2 times, one time I speak with manager about the problem, he solved out, One time (when I was novice) Banking Ombudsman did it for me

        1. @Anonymous

          So finally from what we all are talking about the conclusion comes out to be that the officers at the lower level who directly deal with customers are the main culprit and they do all this .

          Manish

  34. rishabh parakh says:

    hats off to you buddy… for your courageous efforts, how many of us would have fight back if we were in his place.

    we really need strong movement like this to curb the ongoing misselling in the financial sector and then only we can remove and finally eradicate missellings & corruption from our country.

    Jago Investor Jago!!! what say manish

    regards
    rishabh parakh

    1. Rishabh

      Definately , This is worth appreciation . The main this is persistence and an attitude for not getting afraid from other party , one has to realise that customer is very powerful when it comes to getting justice , yes currently its not that smooth and time taken is very long , but in coming future because of cases like these , things will start changing, just like other areas of life , we need to have belief that “thing can change if we take action” .

      Rishabh , What do you think this guy could have done to make things resolve faster in his favour , I think he waited a lot for replies and Bank made him wait .. the problem is things are not too much connected with each other . Looks like Banks need to change their user compaint strategy more seriously . what say ?

      Manish

      1. rishbah parakh says:

        Manish,

        i have also faced the problem with the ICICI people relating to tax challan payment, as they refused to accept the cheques pertaining to different banks but its their duty to accept all the cheques towards tax payment and we started arguing with their managers they accepted the same (but only after much deliberation) and we thought that the story ended there.
        to our shock after accepting those cheques when it comes to collecting the acknowledgment copy for the same they said it will take at least 20-30 days to clear the same and that’s why they have “ADVISED” us not to submit other than ICICI cheques.

        after that I mailed to RBI and marked CC to top management in ICICI and with RBI intervention the matter got immediately solved.

        i think generally all these kind of private cos specially ICICI are TOO fast in their processing of ULIPs and other investments like “Hum Sath Sath Hain” but once the deal is done and with all other transactions where in they dont have a CUT or earnings they always say “Hum Aapke He Kaun”

        1. Rishabh

          hmm.. I never faced any issue till now , but I think I should get cautious till they “break my heart” ..

          Where did you mail RBI too ? email ? may be we can do a post about how to get things resolved faster ? Can you take initiative to compile a way in which people can get things doen fast , like

          If you are facing some issue at bank which you know they should do fast , but are taking time then ,

          1. Email them and cc to RBI
          2. Mail to …
          3. something here .

          Manish

    2. rishabh parakh says:

      Suhasini,

      please check this links about the complaints against ICICI, we will get exhausted but ICICI & complaints will not.

      1.) http://www.consumercourt.in/credit-card/12357-harrashment-molestation-icici-credit-card-department.html

      2.) http://www.consumercomplaints.in/bycompany/icici-credit-card-a12497.html

      3.) http://www.complaintsboard.com/bycompany/icici-bank-ltd-a2481.html

      regards
      rishabh parakh

      1. Nice links , never knew so much problems happens to customers all india

        manish

  35. rajivahuja says:

    enilghtening.

    1. Ravi

      Would be great if you can add some comments about your views on this topic ? Do you think there was some other shorter and easier way this guy could have taken so that things would have been smooth for him ?

      Do you think its more of officials mistake then the company ?

      manish

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