Oct 19, 2001 11:26 AM
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I received the first ever cheque in my life, as a reward for help in a web site project. Now for the cheque, I obviously needed a bank account. The much publicized, widespread ICICI Bank@campus students’ accounts attracted me to open the hottest ICICI students’ account.
When went to the website, it said “Students must go to the Mahalaxmi office in order to open an account”. I stay in Powai, & an ICICI office just 10 minutes away, I had to go to Mahalaxmi, spending a whole day. Anything for an ATM bank account, it was a question of my first earning!
Wow impressive, as anyone would call it. Centrally air-conditioned glass building, stunning décor. I thought alright, my job is done. But they said, “Oh no Sir, you don’t have validity date on your I-card. You’ll have to bring your admission receipt tomorrow.”
“But madam, the semester hasn’t started yet”
“Sir, we can’t do anything about it”.
So I waited till my semester started, & so did the first cheque of my life.
Aah, a sigh of relief when I got my cute Debit cum ATM card & a chequebook ‘just’ after 20 days, then a password after 5 more days. My cheque was getting impatient & bored lying in the shelf.
But I thought at-last I can get the money in my hands. The polite, trend-savvy, modern, English-speaking personnel at the ICICI office have all done it. After all, they got me a new back account and an ATM card!
When I went to deposit the cheque, I carefully put in all the details, name, drawee bank, account number, etc very meticulously with the happiness of getting an ATM card still in the back of my mind. And, an assurance that corporate banks won’t take more than a week for our cheque.
I have the carbon copy of the bank receipt, with the impression of all the details, which was supposedly for my reference. The date I submitted the cheque was 19th of September. I waited for more than 15 days, & wondered if the cheque has bounced or something. I called up the person who gave the cheque. He started laughing & told me don’t expect that a cheque given by a businessman would bounce, & that too for a few grands.
I enquired with the great phone-banking system of ICICI. They said my cheque is lying in the “Suspense Account” which in common man’s terms means “Neither here, nor there”. The reason was that I didn’t write the account number. Now when I have the carbon copy of the receipt, which has the number properly, what do they think I wrote with a blunt pencil?? (Proof attached)
“5 more working days Sir, I assure you”. 5 days passed, 5 more did. It’s been a month now; the operators still say “2 more working days Sir”.
Debts have accumulated, no purchases done yet. Oh yes, no savings in my bank.. Today, 19th of October, my account shows Rs. 0.00. (Proof attached)
Isn’t this a way of taking students for granted? A students’ account reflects on their innocence, however bad is the service. How an inexperienced student with hardly any knowledge about managing money, can speak out loud against these corporate giants?
And the best part is, I can’t even remove my bank account!
(Those on e-mail, proof available on request, any working day)
