Tuesday, November 6, 2007

My ICICI Bank Credit Card

ICICI and me…
A pathetic relationship story that goes on and on ……
One day, I got a call on my mobile asking me whether I needed a Platinum Card (credit cards are of the category - silver, gold and platinum)from ICICI. The credit limit was 90 thousand. I never had a credit card, and thought this was a good chance. I got the card and lived happily for 3 months...

Well, on Saturday (3/11/07), I received an SMS that my credit card had been used to make an internet payment through the indiaideas.com site for Rs.2000 /-

On Saturday morning, I had a chalazion removed from my left eye, and my eye was all patched up. I was at home that day and was nowhere near the computer. Browsing was next to impossible, given my condition that day.

Then i called up the ICICI toll free number that was listed at the back of the card
The call answered by Abhinav
Gave him the details of the issue and also informed him that i had not lost my card and that the card was with me
He told me that i might have given my card details to someone
I guess they should understand that now a days people are aware of such things and would not divulge such info to anyone
For all i know, this card is just 3 months old and had swiped it at a very few establishments.
Customer is at fault was the attitude !!!
I guess its very easy for any one at a merchant establishment to gain the information from the card .
He just has to memorize the 3 digit CVD (Card Verification Digits) number at the back of the card, as the the 16 digit card number would be there in the bill; and use it where ever.

He also told me useless info like the merchant is in Mumbai and so on
Well, then he told me that the card was blocked and the conversation went on in circles, with him telling me that i have to wait for 1 day to raise a dispute and so on.(Sounded like i had to file a police complaint and had to wait for a court order :-))
Then i asked to be put to somebody senior and then i spoke to the Manager, Niranjan
He too told me the same thing and told me to wait for a day
Then on Sunday, i spoke to Priya
Well of no use again ...
she told me that the merchant can claim anytime in 20 days and so on
and that i had to keep checking, if he claimed.
I guess she thought that i didn't have anything else to do in life besides checking if the merchant had claimed
I am really not confident about the way ICICI works, as Niranjan should have told me on Saturday about the 20 day period. No one seems to know the process too well.

ICICI Bank, please take care of your customers, just costly advertising and catchy phrases '' Hum Hai Na'' doesn’t mean customer care.

6 comments:

Aswin Kini said...

Guess ICICI's Customer Seva centre just got better and better day by day. They always seem to land you in trouble. Seeing your experience, i am happy that i didn't receive an ICICI credit card that i was supposed to receive 2 months ago(They told me that they'll send it by courier, guess they forgot).

Trust me, Credit cards are a curse rather than a blessing. We have better things to do than to call up ICICI when we have trouble with the card.
Truly, when it comes to pesky customer service, ICICI can proudly say, "HUM HAI NA".

Jewels said...

What a nightmare - I feel bad for you! This says it all:

"I guess she thought that i didn't have anything else to do in life besides checking if the merchant had claimed."

I hope you can get this taken care of soon. Blessings.

Anooja said...

Thanks Jewels, i hope this issue gets resolved at the earliest:-)

MyPhoneReviews said...

Just ran into this post while I was reading up on the Platinum Card. Did you hear from them again? Does the Platinum Card live up to the hype? Would you recommend I get it?

manoj said...

I had a similar experience.... but good this is that I did not lose any money today.
I got a sms from ICICI saying that INR100 transaction was rejected due to security reasons.
this is a transaction which I haven't done.
when i called up ICICI, i found out that the transaction was attempted from indiaideas.com and it was rejected due to wrong date..
but they didn't have more details.
What is this indiaideas.com????
who & how do I take up this issue?

Anooja said...

hii Manoj

indiaideas.com, i guess serves as some kind of a mediator for bill payments. After some days ICICI called up and told me that the amount that has been deducted had been for my SBI Life insurance. Only then it struck them and me that this indiaideas.com is a company of this sort that acts as i guess a vendor for bill payments. By then , i had cancelled the card. ICICI then issued me a fresh card at no cost :).May b u can check out their site too