« Google Adwords - Efficiency of Search Advertising | Main | Banks Trivandrum - HDFC, IDBI »
Ctibank CitiNRI Customer Service - BAD Part 1
October 26, 2005
I have not touched this blog thread for a while - partly because I have been quite busy. I need to write something today because I am a bit frustrated and I wanted to let it out. Ok, onto CitiNRI
For the uninitiated, CitiNRI is Citibank's service for Non Resident Indians - that is people of Indian origin who are residents of other countries. There are mainly two types of accounts for the NRI - NRE & NRO.
Citibank, in it's effort to capitalize on the need of Indians abroad to send home money, has launched an aggressive campaign to get customers. This can be seen in the promotions like "No balance for 20 years", "Free money transfer to India", etc.
When I looked at ways in which I can send money to India, CitiNRI services seemed to me a good choice. The choice was in part due to the fact that there were many complaints in different forums about the customer service of ICICI bank - which is the other alternative.
So I applied for a Citi RCA (Rupee Checking Account) on 30th Sept, 2005. I applied in person at a Citibank branch (Santa Clara). The account manager there informed me that I will be getting the welcome package for the accounts in 10 to 14 days (why does it take so much time in these days of instant gratification). That was great since I was going to India towards the end of October and I had ample time to get the package in.
So I waited and I waited and the package did not come. Then after more than 17 days I started calling up the 1-800 number (In case you need it, it is 18002484674 - then press 2 and then 9)
First time they told me that they will look into it and the accounts will soon be opened. The second time - 2 days later - I get the same response. The third time - another 2 days later - they tell me that there are documents (my wife's passport copy) missing and that it needs to be faxed in.
As I was sure that I had submitted all the required documents - the account manager to whom I had presented it had verified it - I insisted that this is really bad customer service on their part and they should do something about it. So this guy at the other end of the phone line takes a few minutes and then decides that I need not send in the documents again and the account will soon be opened (how did they solve the missing document problem?).
Anyway the next day I get emails informing me that the accounts are open. But now I have another problem. Thats in part 2. I am now off to meet my Citibank account manager - see what fun it is?!!
Posted by liveit at October 26, 2005 1:42 PM