House of Troubles. Review on Kotak Mahindra Bank

I repent taking a home loan with KOTAK bank. My CRN is 1471128. Please find the details of my agony below Aug 08:- The Call center does not have access to home loan details, but the saddest part is they don’t have proper information too. The first executive who answered my call(01:15 PM) put by back on the IVR and asked me to speak to Loans team(option 4 on the IVR). The girl there tells me that this is the personal loan department and I have to call 02066048285 for my home loan details. I call the landline number mentioned above but it rang away to glory and no one answered. I pressed redial and to my surprise the phone is engaged.

I kept redialing for the next ten minutes and the same response came. Since the Call Center had already set the mark for unprofessionalism, I can safely assume that the receiver of phone was conveniently put aside. I called the contact center again and got two alternate numbers 2066048288 & 2066012220. I tried the first number no response at all, its kept ringing away. I tried the second number and luckily someone answered, I was delighted that finally my efforts have borne some fruit. The lady who answered the phone told me that Nilanjana Das who handles Home loans is not well and has not come to office. I asked her if I can speak to someone else she said Nilanjana is solely responsible for Home loans and only she can give me the details. I will have to try again tomorrow.

After paying Kotak Bank 36k+ EMI per month if this is the experience I have to go through. I need to let the nation know how unprofessional Kotak Bank is. Even in June I had similar experience, when my EMI was due on June 10th and till June 9th there was not intimation of hike in EMI amount. Only the SMS alert helped me know about this hike. I called Krishna More, his team had got the loan sanctioned for me) but he refused to help me saying he was out of office and I will have to call Nilanjana(Even though the number was not reachable like this time). I mailed this entire experience to customercare@kotak.com and Sunil Sampath -Regional Manager - customer Care - Home Finance & Personal Loans discussed the entire issue with me and ensure immediate actions & clarifications on the issues highlighted above. But come October the same story continues.

This shows they are not willing to learn from their mistakes. Oct 08:- Again my Housing loan EMI is hiked to 39736.27, and I got an SMS alert on 7th Oct that the balance in my account is low and EMI is due on Oct 10. The SMS did not contain Rate of interest Hike details. So I mailed Sunil Sampath again. The reply is that "We wish to mention that the rate change letter will be sent at your correspondence address and you shall receive the same by next week." What is the use of sending the letter after my EMI date? Also in this era of cut throat competition and leaving no stones unturned to ensure customtakeouter delight, Kotak Bank does not believe in calling their customtakeouters and letting them know about the changes.

Its 2012 now and still the 02066048285 Kotak housing customer care number keeps ringing away. They are now charging me an interest 11.75% while New applicants are fooled by charging them 11%. Please don't go for KOTAK!

(20th Sept 2013) I again had the pleasure experiencing ‘SERVICE FIRST’(I guess this is Kotak Bank's customer service motto) at their Aundh Branch in Pune. I entered this branch at 4:29 PM  in heavy rains(I assume 4:29 PM as the Branch Shutter was NOT down and the guard at the door allowed me enter and fill the Cash/cheque slip for processing). By 04:31PM on your branch’s clock I reached the cash counter. There was no queue at the counter, however at the first counter I was told to move to the next counter and the 2 second counter I was informed that the counter is closed as it is past 0430PM and your systems don’t permit transactions after 0430 PM . If that is case why was I allowed to enter the branch and fill the cash deposit slip.

If a customer is entering with one of the customer touch points isn’t it the staff primary responsibility to ensure resolution to his concern. I wanted to deposit cash, so more finance for the bank to roll, however what do you leave me, an impression of high handedness and total disregard to the customer. I will never walk-in to this branch again, infact I was about to ink an insurance cum retirement income policy of 75k a year annum premium which not I will now. If you can’t be flexible for your customer, how do you expect him to choose you out of various options available in the market? I already have accounts with STAN C, ICICI and BOI never have they behaved this way with me.

My previous experiences with Kotak Housing Loan have been similar with they hiking interest rates at very possible occasion. And that is why I didn’t open my Share Trading account with them. Now they proved again why my decision was so right.