During my more than 3 decades in a large corporate sector, I have come across a number of techniques like 5 S. These are short time wonders mainly making money for consultants who breed on such programmes. Specifically ICICI's performance is nothing to write home about, especially for the retail investor. Two Examples. 1.)I lost my ATM card and every Email I sent got the reply that a fresh one will be issued in a week. After 6 weeks, when I realised that the replies were autogenerated , I visited the Bank and sorted things out. 2.)Recently I applied online for ICICIdirect trading for which they have been repeatedly sending Emails & bombarding with promotional Ads. I was told a Senior executive would visit me in 2 days. This reply I got for every reminder I sent for the next month. If this is the case for opening an account , you can imagine what happens for operating one! The most deplorable part is that there is no grievance redressal system unlike in the older banks and if you have access to the higher-ups in ICICI bank's Nariman point office, please send this note to them. They will need considerably more than five Ss to improve this Bank.
Good stuff. But if you ask customer end reaction, it would very harsh on ICICI. It is nicething that they bringdown organizational expenses down and keep the bank economical and efficient. However, seeing from customer's end point of view the impact is not felt. Let me narrate my experience with ICICI. I am holding account with them since 2001. Subseqnently it was converted into salary account. The banks' greatest weakness is blind dependence on technology. There is no customer interaction. No customer meets hfor redressal of grievieances. They just take thinks granted. They think everyone loves them. They did not bother to verify whether their procedures and paper work are hurting any one. If they are really serious about universal banking first let them identify their customers properly. Outsourcing is not a bad thing it is essential only when Bank deals with one who is not a customer. They will direct you to outsourcing agencies as soon as you ask for any agency. Their staff centralized processing centres are awfully idifferent. I think it would be longtime before we call it a matured bank. Ramachandra Rao Mylavarapu ICICI customer
The phenomenal expansion of customer base by ICICI in the last couple of years has left a trail of disgruntled customers. I have been a hapless victim of the shoddiness of their Home Finance Company, their Credit Card Division and now their Banking services.
I deposited a local ICICI Bank cheque in my ICICI Bank account on 16/11/2004. It has neither been credited to my account so far nor have I been informed of any problem by the bank even when I have given my mobile number on the reverse of the cheque. I have made at least 6 calls to their call centre and each time I was given a different reason ranging from the cheque will be credited today (22/11/2004) to it has been rejected on 19/11/2004 (23/11/2004), and many more in between. Even after a week of depositing a local cheque on the same bank if the customer can not get a proper feedback, I feel 5 Ss are a mere eyewash.
