I always stand up for what I believe in and what is right even if it means standing alone...In life standing up for your rights is never easy but it is very important to embark on this Long and difficult path to enforce and protect your individual and consumer rights.We all must be aware of our rights.In exercising our rights are we truly free individuals.

I have won many long customer battles against Banks,Phone Companies, Airlines, Electronics Companies etc. I have devoted time and energy to demand positive resolutions for myself and people around me. I hate it when one is denied what every customer has a right to...and that is when I find it important to address it and complain about it. I know it takes time to escalate matters but somehow I prefer to address it no matter what. Having lived in America for sometime, I give a lot of importance to Individual Rights.

It is my nephew who inspired me to write this blog. He felt the importance of his rights and the need to address this subject in a blog very early in age when he was unhappy with the services of a certain Airline. It was then that he suggested that I should write a blog concerning such matters too.

Everyone has certain rights but we are usually not informed about them or do not exercise them. We have a right to be heard...and we must never forget that. There is One Right for All and None should be discriminated. One has the right to question and a right to information. With growing middle class touch 400 million and consumerism, Indian Companies need to become responsive to Consumer complaints and grievances. Ignoring such complaints could lead to big financial losses for the company on consumer complaints being upheld by Consumer Courts.

In this blog, I would like us to share our knowledge about how best to address our complaints effectively as a customer or consumer. It is also important to inform people about the poor customer services provided by reputed brand names. But I would also like to hi-light the names of companies and brands who have co-operated with customers and given positive responses. Please do share your experiences too.

You do not win every battle in life but you learn lessons from it and hopefully live to win it some day. Through this blog ,I would like to inspire people to stand up for their rights and if needed fight for it but the fight for your rights has to be fair and honest. I aim to create a direction and awareness for people who are not given their due rights as an individual first and then as a consumer. There are always solutions and there are way to reach those solutions or alternatives as customers through proper channels.

Whenever you have been able to get your rights heard, you should generously share that knowledge as how best to achieve that so that others could follow that too. Pay it forward ! We should share knowledge and in doing so we will learn more from each other. Alone you can stand up for your rights but with people behind you and with you , there will be more force in it and consumers and customers will not be taken for granted. United we stand in getting value for our hard earned money...United we stand in ensuring we get good customer service.

When there is a will there is a way. When you stand up for your rights and for others , somebody will listen to you sooner or later. Your voice will be heard ! But for that you have to speak out ! Silence can sometimes be mistaken as weakness or indifference. Always know your rights and request for those rights to be implemented but if they are not then demand that justice be served.


Always stand up for your rights...

Consumer Rights Consumer Might !

" Sadaa Haq Aithe Rakh ! "

"Manzil mushkil to Kya... Humhe to us rah par chalna hi hai..."


Thursday, December 15, 2016

Citibank India's unpleasant customer service


Citibank India's customer service has never been that great all these years but at least one could always rely on their Phonebanking for support and prompt actions. But my interaction with their Phonebanking Officer Mr. Naresh changed that impression for me as well because I feel that he lacked the patience, diplomacy, sensitivity and initiative that a person in his position must possess to deal with queries and complaints from customers. Instead of trying to understand my concern and demonstrate any effort or sensitivity in assuring me that my complaint would be considered, he refused to even give me a reference number for the issue I wanted to raise. He was not even ready to treat my concern as a feedback for future reference. Instead he was quite hostile and expressed lack of belief in what I brought to his attention regarding my account. In the past, many including I have been dissatisfied with their customer service in various branches but never did I expect such attitude from their Phonebanking officer.
As a consumer or customer, we have a right to raise our concerns and complaints regarding Citibank's services, Internet banking and other products. We have the Right to be Heard irrespective of how irrelevant our problems may appear to them. But despite my endless efforts to make him understand my concern at length, he expressed lack of belief just because according to him such a thing has never ever happened in his Citibank account or any of his other accounts. He came across as very arrogant,aggressive, difficult and hostile in his approach.
I had already raised another serious complaint with them a few hours before regarding a cheque. I had clearly issued a cheque of Rs.300 but Rs.3000 had been deducted from my account. I had discussed the same with the person the cheque was issued to and was calling Phonebanking to give a feedback on that issue and remind them to treat this matter as priority as promised a few hours back  by the previous Citibank Phonebanking staff. And that is when I thought about informing him about an unusual activity regarding my deposits where the money invested had been transferred back to my account much before the date of maturity and confirmation date of withdrawal. I couldn't help but co-relate the two incidents and pointed out that there may have been some technical error in their system in both the cases for which the backend team should be consulted. But instead of realising the insecurity of a customer regarding the account he became defensive and rude. In fact he was very abrupt and kept trying to terminate our conversation every time I talked about the second issue. The entire interaction with this person was unpleasant and made me consider if my continuing with Citibank India is a wise choice or not. I have often felt that Citibank India never takes responsibility and is not at all interactive with customers in addressing their complaints effectively. Also there is never a proper follow up.
 Please check your accounts regularly Citibank customers and take screenshots of any unusual activity in your account which unfortunately I forgot to take regarding my deposits. Also please follow up on the Citibank cheques you issue or the nominees you register in your deposits and account . I know a NRI whose nominee was changed from his wife's name to a stranger's by Citibank without his knowledge. So always stay alert when banking with any banks for that matter and particularly well known banks like Citibank India. We tend to trust famous banks without realising that they too can make mistakes.

1 comment:

  1. My complaint has not been addressed even though the target date has passed ! And the image of my cheque has not been mailed to me as promised.

    ReplyDelete


I would sincerely welcome your honest feedback and reviews of my posts as well as various companies. Also it would be great if you share similar experiences...