[SirAlec]

Created this thread to submit any shady deals, hidden deals, or any fraudster company etc.

Here are two just for starters.


LENOVO ONSITE SERVICE FACTS
1. Lenovo intune with Dell has started a "Come Home Program", an onsite service support. Customer need to pay a small fee of Rs.199 (tax extra) to avail the benefit, and you get one year door step service.
They will sell you the laptop on the basis of this and are heavily advertising this on leading TV channels and news papers. It sounds great but there is a catch, especially for small towners like me. The service is valid if and only if you live within 80 kms of service centre, Or its the same old story of packing ot up and sending, or taking along.

[SirAlec]

MARUTI RAJASTHAN DEALERS
I don't know about other state, This may be specific to Rajasthan Maruti dealers.
Last week I have booked a Ritz for one of my friend (will write the whole exploit in an upcoming thread) This is my dealing with maruti after 4 years. Last one we bought was a swift. Some unique things I found out is.

1) Maruti has some kind of understanding with dealers and among themselves and has distributed areas just like in recent Bollywood flick "Once Upon a time in mumbai" . Biggest drawback for unwary customer is that you have to stick to shitty dealers. When the cars was not delivered on promised date I called another dealer and he was not budging and not willing to deliver me even when he had the color i wanted in stock and even when I was paying them beforehand. This will only kill healthy competition and we all know they make sizable amount with each sale.
BTW I have pressurized a dealer from another district that too with a discount and goodies. (Will write in a new thread).


2) Now dealer has everything under one roof. Car (ofcourse), Insurance, Registration.
I inquired with my regular insurance wala and RTO agent and found out a big difference, except for car ex-showroom-price Insurance was 5500/- expensive. And registration was 4500 expensive even after adding my rto agent's fees.
I was told benefit of Maruti Insurance is that its virtually cashless. They could not justify the RTO price though. Because i am aware that RTO tax for Rajasthan for 5-10 lac and under is 5%. Please do keep in mind what Virtually really means. My insurance guy, surveyor and RTO agents all are good friends, so i know i will have no problem, Hence decided to do on my own. People can opt to do from Dealership itself, if they want fewer hassle but do haggle on the price.

[anku94]

Just found out that the Credit Card offered by Kotak under 'Easyday' scheme isn't valid online. It doesn't hurt, as it's free, but what use does a credit card have that doesn't work online ?

It's just a piece of plastic junk for us now.

[sammyboy]

Never ever go for anything to do with Kotak. I had a zero balance bank account which got converted to a minimum balance bank account without any information and 5000 taken from my account without any information.
They had a charge of about 10K on my car loan which was un called for, i got it reversed after threatening them with the RBI ombudsman.
Another sad investment on a mutual fund has made me lose about 25K while others at the same time have given me high returns. (I consider this my fault but not the others)

[anku94]

Originally Posted by sammyboy

Never ever go for anything to do with Kotak.

Learnt this the hard way. No helpline number works. There was no confirmation when contacted by e-mail. And they took their own sweet time of 4-5 days to reply.

Another thug story is ICICI. My parents had opted for a 3 years ULIP scheme, and they were charged administrative charges of Rs. 4000 for the first year, Rs. 2000 for the second and third year. We weren't told about it verbally when they were making tall claims of getting 200% returns, although there might have been something in the fine print. And I was too young to incite my parents for action.

Lesson learnt : Read the terms and conditions until you remember them like the street map of Vice City.

[Googleman]

Speaking of Banks.

I have had good experience with CITIBANK and I have an account with them from past 5 years including Credit cards.

To my horror, from past 1 month my Credit Card details show that I am a female and now, they want me to send some Docs to them by post which I am not going to do anyways. It was their mistake that they modified/updated their database incorrectly, why should I waste my time for that?

2 days back the machine in Reliance Fresh would not accept my card. I called Customer care and they informed my card has been closed after confirming from me It seems that their executive contacted me and I asked him/her to close the card.

I have an outstanding of around 6K which I have yet to pay. I have written them a mail that I won't pay even a penny. Since your record shows I am a female, let me see how you collect the money from a male.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by sammyboy

Never ever go for anything to do with Kotak. I had a zero balance bank account which got converted to a minimum balance bank account without any information and 5000 taken from my account without any information.

Oh!!! the same thing is happening to my Wifey's account; we opened up an account with Kotak when the rep said its zero balance & it was indeed zero balance until 2 years ago after which they're deducting some annual charges like Rs 300 or so every year. We're seriously considering to close this account but for the demat account being linked.

[coolfyre]

Some more banks which I know of and have experienced changing zero balance accounts to minimum balance accounts without information and also charging penalty for not maintaining monthly/quarterly average minimum balance.

Citibank - Minimum balance Rs. 10,000/-
I got the information after they deducted the penalty charges for that quarter.

ICICI Bank - Minimum balance Rs. 10,000/-

Standard Chartered Bank - Minimum balance Rs. 10,000/-

I do not know any specific banks, but have heard that some banks charge something like Rs. 500/- for not maintaining monthly minimum balance as well as something like Rs. 850/- per quarter for not maintaining quarterly average minimum balance.

Please beware!

[MutantX]

SBI - Personal Banking Branch has minimum quaterly balance of 5k. They charge you 350rs per quater for not maintaining the same. But with normal non-PBB branches it is the minimum balance is Rs.50.

[pranavt]

Originally Posted by Googleman

Speaking of Banks.

I have had good experience with CITIBANK and I have an account with them from past 5 years including Credit cards.

To my horror, from past 1 month my Credit Card details show that I am a female and now, they want me to send some Docs to them by post which I am not going to do anyways. It was their mistake that they modified/updated their database incorrectly, why should I waste my time for that?

2 days back the machine in Reliance Fresh would not accept my card. I called Customer care and they informed my card has been closed after confirming from me It seems that their executive contacted me and I asked him/her to close the card.

I have an outstanding of around 6K which I have yet to pay. I have written them a mail that I won't pay even a penny. Since your record shows I am a female, let me see how you collect the money from a male.

Write your name on your you-know-what with a marker, take a photo of it with the day's newspaper next to it and send that to Citibank and the Ombudsman

[Googleman]

Originally Posted by pranavt

Write your name on your you-know-what with a marker, take a photo of it with the day's newspaper next to it and send that to Citibank and the Ombudsman

I will show a HARD copy when they send the recovery agents to recover the amount due

On a serious note - Can a complaint be made to the Ombudsman? On what basis? they changed my Gender? or they closed my card without informing me?

[whitesquall]

Please exercise caution while shopping/trading @ alibaba.com especially when a seller asks you to transact via western union money transfer!! I have lost money looking for a lucrative deal

[rohan_iitr]

I also faced an issue with ICICI bank recently when the minimum balance on my saving bank account was increased. I was also asked to submit ID proof and address proof for an account which I have been holding for more than 5 years. When I called customer care, they told that RBI has instructed all banks to maintain proper database of all customers in case of non-salary accounts.

Many banks had earlier issued zero balance accounts to customers in the name of salary account (even though the salary was not credit in this account). But after this directive from RBI, the banks are cleaning up their act and updating the details of all such customers for whom the salary is not being credited to the particular account.

One beware from my side:
Most credit cards give a waiver on fuel surcharge. But there are some conditions that apply:
1. Generally applicable only for a particular oil company pumps
2. Generally applicable only when billed on the same bank's charge slip

Rohan

[Googleman]

^^^

Maintaining a minimum balance is common for all banks (Except Student and Salary account). Once you stop receiving salary on your salaried account for 3 consecutive months, your account is no more an Salary account and is changed to nomal account where everyone needs to maintain a minimum balance.

Surcharge for fuel depends on the banks. My Citibank CC did not count any surcharge on any pump or charge slip, wherein, HSBC CC does calculate in some. So it all depends on the Terms and conditions of the banks.

So there is nothing to Beware, it's normal. Only thing you need to beware is the 'Terms and Conditions' if you have the patience to read through it.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by coolfyre

Some more banks which I know of and have experienced changing zero balance accounts to minimum balance accounts without information and also charging penalty for not maintaining monthly/quarterly average minimum balance.

Citibank - Minimum balance Rs. 10,000/-
I got the information after they deducted the penalty charges for that quarter.

ICICI Bank - Minimum balance Rs. 10,000/-

Standard Chartered Bank - Minimum balance Rs. 10,000/-

I do not know any specific banks, but have heard that some banks charge something like Rs. 500/- for not maintaining monthly minimum balance as well as something like Rs. 850/- per quarter for not maintaining quarterly average minimum balance.

Please beware!

Add Axis Bank and HSBC to the list. I was charged Rs 800 approx by each for not having the minimum quarterly balance of 10K