The Citi never sleeps....it snores!!. Review on Citibank

Boy!! If there was one organisation that I'd like to punch in the face, it would be Citibank.

My list of grievances with Citibank is growing by the day. When they first started out in Bangalore with their famed ''

Suvidha'' product, I thought they were wonderful. Their ATM network was just fantastic and so was their customer interface thru' Citiphones. I got my Suvidha account since my employer was tied up with Citibank, and all the 10,000+ salary accounts were moved to Citibank. I guess my employer became an ultra-important customer to them, and therefore all of us were treated with a red-carpet at all times.

My first 2-3 years of banking relationship was, therefore, quite smooth. Infact, when people used to criticise Citibank and their lack of a decent branch network (by the way, Citibank has just one branch in the whole of Bangalore --- and at MG Road of all the places, where finding a parking slot is a nightmare), I used to make a mockery of them, and tell them they aren't used to the ''new way of banking''. I found that the ATM network was adequate and their Citiphone representatives extremely responsive.

But with times, and increasing business volumes, Citibank's attitude to ordinary ''salaried employee-customers'' has changed considerably. I am told that they classify customers into various categories, and they now have a set of customers called ''Gold customers''. These are customers who maintain an average SB account balance of Rs 50 lacs or more!! Apparently, the treatment in terms of response time and problem resolution time is much much better for these customers, but as the average balance in the account decreases, the service levels dwindle drastically. I am not new to this concept --- I am sure all banks...why banks, I am sure all organisations have their own way of classifying customers based on the volume of business they bring in, and dish out special treatment for important customes. But what is appalling is the way Citibank treats customers with average balance, which is less than Rs 10,000.

The quality of the service agents on Citiphones has drastically dropped. I guess they are hardpressed due to increasing volumes....apparently, Citicorp is trying to squeeze every paisa of cost, so that their margins are maximised. Although the phone-banking function is outsourced to eServe (this is a BPO company), the quality of support dished out to ''ordinary customers'' is pathetic. Their knowledge of basic banking functions is appalling. Routine functions like converting a SB account into a joint account is a big nightmare. These are activities which banks like ICICI & GTB handle with utmost ease.

Citibank is good as long as your banking needs are very basis. If you just want your salary to be credited into your bank account, and you are going to use your ATM Card to withdraw the money for your personal needs...and your banking needs end there, then Citibank is a good option. But as your banking needs become more demanding (this usually happens as your disposable funds grow), then Citibank is a disaster. If you want to redirect your funds into a mutual fund or if you want to buy an Insurance product, or if you want to open a Demat account, then Citibank has no solutions whatsoever. They seem to have a few tie-ups with other institutions for such other needs but these tieups aren't seemless, and add to the confusion.

Before I forget to mention, have you ever tried using the Ready Credit facility of Citibank? I think its the biggest disaster that Citibank could ever offer to a customer. If you enable this facility and you walk into an ATM, you will walk out of it, completely confused in terms of what your current balance in the account is. The software that they are using is screwed up, and it would show you some figures which would look like Greek & Latin.

And finally, if you want to convert your SB account into a joint account, don't forget to have all the documents attested by a Gazzetted Officer!!!! Their website does not mention this requirement (the attestation), and if you send all the documents to them by courier, they would promptly return all the documents, and tell you that your application has been rejected because the documents are not attested. And if you ask them why the website doesnt indicate this requirement, they would have no answers, and spend the next 1 hour explaining why they aren't expected to make this disclosure and how you, as a customer, are a fool, to not know this on your own!!!!

If you are thinking about opening a salary account, please think of ICICI. Its a far better option.