Hopeless Employees. Review on ICICI Securities

I had heard that in spite of high brokerage, service of icici direct is bad. However I decided to open an account with them only because of lack of a better option. What happened after that was totally unexpected even from their notorious customer service.

I do not trust sales agents of any bank. So, I took the trouble of going to the icici direct center near BSE in fort, Mumbai and submitted my application form there around 15th may. I was told by a smiling (financially illiterate) “executive” that account would surely be opened within 15 days. However, I knew that I should get a confirmation call from the bank before the account is opened. So when I did not receive any call within one week I called the salesman and he again cheerfully assured me that I would get a confirmation call soon. After another one week I called him again. This time he told me that the proof of address given by me was not acceptable. Obviously he didn’t check my form when I submitted it or even when I called him after a week. And he kept assuring me that the application was under process! Of course, I don’t expect icici to call me when there is some problem with the application- its too much to expect from them. But at least they could have told me of the problem when I called them. Anyway, next day I went with my bank account passbook and told them to get photocopy of entire passbook if they want. The executive kept smiling shamelessly and again assured me that the account will be up and running in 10 days.

Once again I waited for a week and then called him. He told me that he has lodged my form and I will soon get a confirmation call. This went on for another week and then another week. Finally I suspected some foul play and called their customer care instead of the executive who had been dealing with me. The customer care told me, “Your application has not yet been received”!! So I again called up this guy and asked him about it. Now the height of shamelessness- he had the guts to assure me again that the form had been lodged. He said that it takes some time before customer care can locate it in their system! - That’s complete lie, as I know now.

This game between customer care and the executive went on for 3-4 times before I decided that it was best to record these things in writing rather than on phone. So I sent a mail to customer care on July 18, 2007 giving all details. Magic! the very next day this salesman calls me up and says “We have misplaced your form. You will have to fill a fresh form” now that’s something even for lousiest customer service in the world! Naturally, I told him that I wouldn’t be a fool to open an account with a bank that has employees like him. Thanks God the form was lost!

Unfortunately that didn’t end my encounter with icici direct. The next day I got a call from their customer care with the salesman on conference call. The salesman had found the form and lodged it in the system. To be fair to them, the form was actually lodged on 25th July after more than a month of harassment. Then the very next day the status of the form was changed to “rejected”. This is what the website says:

“Your application for opening an Idirect account has been rejected on 26-Jul-2007  on account of the following reasons:

BANK STATEMENT SUBMITTED SHOULD BE LATEST OF THREE MONTHS. PL. CONFIRM THE BANK BRANCH NAME AND CODE..

Our Sales executive from MAHALAKSHMI - REGION will get in touch with you for rectification of the application within 2 days.”

This, when I had given them the whole passbook and they could have photocopied whatever was needed. I am also sure that they photocopied at least last 12 months transactions! Of course, no one contacted me to rectify it. So I called up the customer care again on 1st August and asked them to register a request for the same and the call center promptly replied that they couldn’t take a request before two days have passed. I tried to explain her that its four days between 26th and 1st august. But, trust icici to employ people who cant count. What about introducing a training program for employees for counting and alphabets!

Meanwhile, I have mailed the customer care about it on 2nd august. Their reply was a short and sweet(?) one “ we have registered your request regarding arranging an executive for rectification of the account opening form 9001668020. The Service Reference  number is  SR33033782.  We will confirm the status by SMS or e-mail  within  4  working  days.” Knowing how they measure days in ICICI direct, I have decided to apply for an account with reliance money.