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it pays sending mails to the MD. My Rs593 were stuck with bajaj allianz for 4 months & when after multiple remainders nothing moved i googled for BA's MD and sent him a mail saying that 593 doesnt upset my anual budget in any big way, but it looks like for BA, it will put a substantial dent in there anual profits and that they may keep that money as gift.
I got the refund within 1 week.

Also, see if you can get the xerox of the cheque. Once it so happened that I had dropped a CC payment cheque for a friend and wrote the CC number wrong.(It was ICICI CC!). All I had to do was to take the xerox of the chq that i had dropped and pointed out my mistake to them. It was rectified promptly.

All the best!
Regards,

@amohit - Well for one, there is no xerox of the cheque, all we have is an sbi bank statement of my friend's bro which ""DEBIT THROUGH CHEQUE to ICICI <cheque no.>"" I know in hsbc when you make a cheque payment to the machine, it gives a printout which includes photocopy of the cheque, but theres no such thing in icici and even if there was this cheque was simply dropped in a drop box

@raajks - thanks for those email ids, I wil send up my next email to those 2 :)

Also i will try and visiting a branch, the next time I am back in town. THe problem is I do a lot of work related travel in india and outside and waiting in call with icici when on roaming is not worth it. Also when I am back in town its either weekend or a holiday :)

Hi Jassi,

I faced a similar problem with ICICI when depositing the cheque to my credit card account. Apparently ICICI has a specific format for the name in which the cheque is to be made out in. If the cheque does not conform to that format, they hold the cheque in a "suspense" account till someone claims it.

Regarding the bad customer service, I suggest you follow the escalation procedure published at ICICI Bank - Customer Care India.

I have found that this works, though it can be painfully slow. You can follow up with them on email and ICICI will call you to give you an update of the SR (once you've escalated to Level 3/4). There is really no benefit of going to the branch, as the executive there would most likely just ask you to write a complaint.

Don't give up and let them keep your money. :)

This is the best. If you do so RBI tracks the same and will bank to answer the same in 3 working days.

He can get a certified copy of cheque from SBI branch where he maintains the account.

Thats good to know, other banks should follow this.

ICICI has the WORST customr service.
I closed my account recently.
I have sent emails to all their customer service email ids and got an automated response apologising!!
I walked into their branch (normally dont lose my cool) but I actually tore my cheques and cut the card and threw it on the manager's face. his response to just sit and stare. no sorry no effort to find out what? why? etc

@netfreak - i realize I can trouble my friend's bro and get a certified cheque copy, but he has already done enough by providing a statement, etc and given that I don't know him, did not want to bother him unless necessary.

@iceman - i think I might do that one fine day :)

@spadival/aka_iitd - what is this banking obdusman. I am a bit lame at banking and don't know the ins and outs stupid:

Ombudsman is an official/body appointed by the government who represents the public's interests by investigating our complaints against such bodies.
But these days an ombudsman can be private/NGO/corporation etc.

Basically someone who listens to our grieviances and taces some course of action in solving the matter.

Well jassi, what I meant to say was, when ICICI bank came back to me saying that they have not got the money for that month, and when I could clearly see that the money had been withdrawn from my hdfc account, I just went to the HDFC branch and asked them for the xerox of the cheque(gave them the chq number). within 3-4 hrs I had the xerox and I was able to figure out the problem.

Regards,

Jassi, here is the link to the RBI Banking ombusdman's complain form.

Once you filed a complaint, you can also let the chaps at ICICI Bank know about it. I have heard about some very quick reaction from them on hearing that customer has lodged a complaint with RBI.

I have all the correspondence by email which is shown as delivered. I will make one last attempt via email and a registered AD with all the copied of my email.
After that im going to the Ombudsman and then to the press and my lawyer.

I would not recommend using any type of card (Credit or Debit) in a restaurant and an absolute no no when not being swiped in front of you.

This is becuase all it takes is 1 swipe onto a small device and your complete card info gets downloaded onto the rogue swipe machine(which is the size of a mobile phone). This info is in the form of an audio file which is then loaded onto a PC and converted into text format.

This text format contains all the info stored on your card's magnetic strip.
This is then used either online or just transferred onto the magnetic strip of another fake card and used until you realise(which is usually in the next month's statement).

It is not neccessary for the whole restaurant to collude for this to work, the rogue swipe machine can be used by only a single person as well.

My advice: Use cash if you know you are going out. If not get them to swipe the card from the machine in your presence.

@SPADIVAL: Banking Ombudsman is a very slow process can take up to one/two months.The procedure is as follows.

1.As,they first take up the request and send an Acknowledgment after 10-15 days.

2.They then send a request to the bank for their version of the story.Where banks generally lie and we should hold strong proof.

3.Then we are sent a copy of the Bank version or their side of the story.If we disagree then they set up a meeting with the Banking Ombudsman.The meeting can be set up according to availability of both the parties.

I would suggest to put in the public grievances section of the local newspaper,They will come running.

I think my email worked. Also the fact that I got an old friend who i spresently working with the bank to forward my mails to the right person.
I got a call last noon from head customer service cards and he politely apologised and asked me to fax him the copy of the cheque which I did. I also noticed an apology in my mail box. I was assured of action within 4 days.
Lets see but im still shhting off the regd ad letter today.
If this does not work, the ombudsman it is.

Gogi,

Have got the email address of the top person in HSBC name is Naina lal Kidwai, shoot a email to her and trust me things will move. Will sms you her email id.

Viper