Okay, so we all love online banking because it opens up a host of other world ( read online shopping) at your keyboard tips and of course fund transferring,opening of FDs and RDs and a lot of other benefits. But it has its downside too. Here are some such incidents that happened to me over the last month.
I am quite dumb at remembering passwords and this bank, ICICI had given me a lot of trouble,especially regarding my user name and password. In an earlier instance, although my banking account was active,it wasn’t taking the password. I later checked I was keying in the right password after all. Then again, it wasn’t recognizing my registered mobile number. A call to the customer care and subsequent searching showed that not only was my account active but my mobile registered as well. The heck registered! They were delivering messages to my mobile number,if that isn’t registered I don’t know what is.
I had to go to the nearest branch and the branch manager had a tough time resetting my password. He had no clue why it wasn’t working,even on his own computer. Even after changing the password.The worst case was when I tried to contact the customer care number from their home page and it was simply blank,much to my chagrin. I wrote a message to their FB page complaining about this. They said they were sorry (the customary “we are sorry for the inconvenience caused” ). While my account was enabled,it got disabled again after a few days without any reason. The same problem,and this time too,I was keying in the right password.
I wrote again,threatening to close my account,and they reverted back saying they needed details so that the issue got sorted out.It got automatically sorted out,but I had missed the deadline for an important transaction.
Yet another problem I faced a few days ago was,while I keyed in the wrong password twice, three attempts being allowed,I opted for the get password that is generated online after keying in the username and the OTP that is delivered to your registered mobile number. When I keyed in the correct username and mobile number,they displayed that it cannot be generated for security reasons. I was again caught in the middle of an important transaction,at 10 p.m at night. If you cannot generate the password after double level verification, why keep the option in the first place? There is no option of trying to recall your original password too. So,I got the customer care number again,and it was of course 24×7 customer care support ( as written) and called. After the IVR and everything,a gentleman took my call and after hearing my problem informed me that this issue is dealt with by another department and they have retired for the night. He only deals with debits and credit cards.
I was extremely annoyed. I retorted that such choices were not given in the IVR,and I thought it was a 24 hour customer care number. He said it was,but it was for urgent banking needs only,such as blocked cards. I was enraged, I told him who the hell the bank thinks they are to decide what transaction is important for me?? Why is blocked card so important and a mid way transaction not important for them???
It was 10:44 p.m already and the ordeal started at 10 p.m. My dinner,albeit modest,was not yet ready. He hastily replied he would see whether anyone from that department is available to take up the call and asked me to hold on. To my annoyance it again went to the IVR and I had to go through the entire process again and a lady picked up.
The hot weather and my perennially hot head did not do much good. I barked at her asking whether it was the 24 hour customer care that was advertised. She replied it was. I narrated my problem and she genuinely tried to reset my password by enabling my account and trying with the old password( the one I remembered changing last). To no avail. I couldn’t remember it,and the change password option just won’t work. It repeatedly displayed that I should try after 2 days. In such cases for other banks,for example HDFC, three failed attempts would automatically generate a call from the customer care number and a verification of my details to ensure it was the authorized account holder and the password would be reset. There was no such provision in this bank. And 24 hour wasn’t 24 hour after all.
Two days!! Imagine what could happen in those two days?? The world rotated twice,and so did everything. I would have slept two nights,and worked two days,and yet I would be unable to log in and do the transaction! I was crestfallen.
The lady took pity on me and asked me what transaction I intended to carry out. It was a much required recharge of a phone. Our lives are so much technology dependent that we can’t imagine being disconnected at any times. And it was a call to my home that I needed to make. Urgently.And I did not have any balance.
Fortunately,she showed me another way out,through sms. And I was saved.
When ever you are not looking for trouble,be sure that trouble is searching for you.
Venusian Voltage 
