ICICI Bank proves it once again. Review on ICICI Bank

Hey guys,

If you think that it is going to be good review this time, I bet you must be hearing about ICICI Bank for the first time. Time and again I have had bad experience with this bank and every time, I haven't had any satisfaction with their replies.

Firstly they have a big attitude problem and they never bother to care for their customers. You might as well wonder why I'm still banking with them. Well some people tend to move out of problems and some like to face the challenges.

Well let me begin by narrating my online experience with ICICI Bank. Though you might expect anyone to appreciate them for online services, they still are in the stone age. It once happened to me that I lost my password and keyed in a wrong password more than the maximum allowed limit. I was denied access and my account was locked. It was perfectly right for them to deny me access at that time. But despite sending them numerous emails and making my nominee (my father in India) call them over phone, they insisted me to fax them a request and finally I was able to convince them to accept my email in lieu of the fax as I am in USA. I insisted them to email me the password so that I can access my account at the earliest. But they said that it is not possible and said that they would mail it to my address in US. Just imagine how long it would take for a mail to reach me at US. They could have avoided this situation by having a password retrieval system which would either email you the password or would have allowed you to change the password. Instead they have this utterly stupid system of mailing the password to me.

All said and done and having gone through that torture, I was just relaxing when I saw something else happening. I used to send money to my parents every month and we used to deposit the check in India and it would come here to realize. After ICICI launched its new Check Locker Facility, they talked big that they can transfer the funds at a very shorter duration. I had been trying this facility for almost 5-6 times by now and every time it might look as if the money is getting transferred really really fast. But I noticed that they have a hidden secret behind. Once it happened that I had sent some money thru this facility and within a week I got my confirmation that they have received the payment. I could also see the transaction in my local bank thru which I had issued my check. I had then received another confirmation from ICICI Bank after a couple of days that the amount has been credited to my account. I went to the online banking and checked the same with my online account and was able to see the new balance with the amount credited. I asked my father to withdraw some amount and when he went to the bank, he was informed that the amount has not been credited and they haven't received any advises so far. I had the same experience in the month following it and I had written to the NRI Manager asking for clarification. I got a telegraphic reply saying that it was a provisional credit and it would take 21 days to credit the amount. What is the advantage of having a provisional credit when you are not allowed to withdraw the money from your account? Also they never mentioned anything about this hitch in this facility but were instead campaigning that it is the fastest and efficient way to send money to India. Therefore I urge anyone reading this article to be more cautious if you are planning to make ICICI your bank. I would also like to hear from other NRIs on their experience with ICICI.

Good luck and Caveat Emptor,

Lucky