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ICICI bank is flooded !!!
Posted On Dec 22, 2006 at by Prakash G.R.Today morning I got a mail from ICICI Direct. The content is:
Dear Customer,
We regret to inform you that the documents and proofs of identity and address given by you at the time of account opening have been fully damaged by flooding in the storage areas caused by heavy rains. The natural disaster was most unfortunate.Time bound resubmission/re-execution of the documents is necessary for compliance to various regulatory and legal requirements and to keep the account operational.
In order to complete this formality, you need to submit an account opening form and other documents. The Bank branches listed below will remain open on 23rd and 24th December to help you complete the documentation in time.
While we regret this imposition on you, we urge you to complete the formalities as soon as possible.
We state that no charges would be collected from you for re-submission of the forms.
We earnestly seek your co-operation in helping us serve you better.
Sincerely,
Customer Service
ICICIdirect.com
I initially thought that it might be a phishing attack, but then it seemed to be genuine. I wonder how the nation's largest private sector bank is handling documents of high importance. They are not ready to come and collect but expect me go to their branch and submit the documents. Worst, they expect me to do it on a long weekend and send a mail on that friday. I'm not going to do it. Let me see how far it goes.
BTW, am I the only one whose documents were lost in the flood? Did anyone else get this mail?
[Update 26-Dec-06]
From what Jaganath said in the comment and many more people ending at this blog entry for search terms like "icici last documents flood", it looks like I'm not the only one whose document is lost. After the mail, I've another mail and few sms reminding me to visit the bank and submit the details. I replied the mail saying that its the bank's mistake that they didn't keep the documents safe and they should come back to me and collect the documents. No reply so far.
When we want to open an account these guys are behind us. They will send persons to your office or home or whereever you want to get all those documents. The treatment is royal. Once you are a customer then things are different. They charge you for everything (Citibank charged me Rs 50/- for withdrawing money from the bank counter when I lost my ATM card). I've decided not to visit the office and produce the documents rather ask them to come and collect it, since loosing the documents is their mistake. Let me see how far it goes.
I did.
It is not a mail, they called me on my phone and told me the issue.
They lost many customer documents in the major floods in Mumbai last year. My first reaction when I got the call was laughing uncontrollably for a few minutes before I could recover myself :-)
I also got a similar suspicion like yours. I was wondering if some private agents are trying to collect personal information this (rather clever) way. Then I called ICICI customer support and confirmed. It is indeed true.
Surprise! They never asked me to submit it in person. It was a very polite "Can I come and collect it today sir?" kind of calls. After about 25 calls, I gave them the docs. :-)
Probably you are a valuable customer so they came and collected the docs from you :-)
Today morning I went to the bank to update my PAN details, there is a separate section working on this and at that counter, many people were filling up the forms and submitting it.
Hi,
even I recd such email , and they are asking me to submit and that too attested , as I am out of India , only way they can be attested is thru Indian embassy , and Indian embassy has fees for atesting documents , so who is going to pay for that BAnk ? why should I pay for someone else's inconvinience ? I think we all should get together and put this into media.
These are ICICI bank's phone numbers and address , in case people want to avoid thir dreadfull call centres and talk directly to real people,
go ahead and direct any complaints to them they are charging heavy fees for such poor service
ICICI Bank Limited
ICICI Bank Towers, Bandra-Kurla Complex
Mumbai 400051, India
Tel. +91-22 2653 1414
Fax +91-22 2653 1167
@creative,
I agree with you. If they lost the documents, its their responsibility to get it from us, not our responsibility to go to the bank and resubmit it. So far I've not done it. My replies to their mails have not received any attention. I'm not going to call them and waste time with their 'press 1 to ...'. I believe that they can't freeze/close my account because of their inability to protect the document. I'm not sure what I'm going to do if they do so. It could range anything from asking them to come to me to collect the document to starting a legal action against them, but definitely NOT go to their bank and resubmit.
Hello Pranni,
sorry about delay in reply , I was hoping that matter will be resolved but no I keep getting these emails from their half headed customer service officers.
Phone nos I have given is for their direct office not of call centre so much better way of talking to those so called managers.
I have sent the email to their directors , but as ussual they are too thick skinned guys .
Anyways I have decided that I am not not going to spend my 25$ per document in getting them attested and will take this to public forum if they threaten me with closing the account.
I am thinking of starting a website called ICICIsucks.com , what do you say guys ?
I also got the mail asking me to submit the documents by May 15 2007, this really sucks, documents being lost by ICICI. Also for the attestation the Indian embassy will charge 25$ per page * 4 pages of passport u do the maths.
Please guys call the media and let them know abt this issue.
Thanks
raghav
I had been receiving quite a few calls from ICICI agents for credit cards, insurance and all kinds of crap. Registering on the Do Not Call registry didn’t help - I received still more calls. I tried registering again. No use. Sent a complaint from the ICICI Bank Website. HERE was the point of no return - initiating contact with the morons at ICICI Bank Customer Support. [full story at www.sidkhullar.com/blog/]
Immm... In the floods our banks have even lost the collateral house document of housing loan customers! The customer can never have the original documents! Now the banks asked the customers pay for the duplicate documents.
PLEASE TELL ME ABOUT DEMAT ACCOUNT OPENING CHARGES AND ANNUAL MAINTAINANCE CHARGES OF ICICI DIRECT AND HDFC SECURITIES.I WILL BE VERY GREATFUL TO YOU.