How you get treated in a Bank branch?
Not well
Banks are mammoth entity in financial world. They feel that customers are at their mercy. The only place common people can keep their money safe is the bank. Hence, their employees try to think themselves as king/queen. They do not listen to the grievances of the customer and lack both sympathy and empathy. They are very bureaucratic. Also, sometimes suggest out of this world solutions, which definitely can’t happen in reality. I had such an experience with Axis Bank , Lakhanpur Branch, Kanpur. So allow me to tell you a real life story:
Intro
There was a guy who was very fond of credit cards. He used to enjoy the perks and benefits of it. Stayed extended period of times in airport lounges. Earned cashback of 1–5% on spendings. Got movies tickets on discounts: buy 1 get 1 free. All through his credit cards. He had around 10 credit cards in his arsenal. He was very proud of the same.
Tempt
He wanted to increase his credit limit on his highest cashback rewarding card: Axis Flipkart Credit Card(1.5% cashback on all spends). He called to the customer care. He requested to increase his credit limit. But the executive told it is not possible to do so for now. Rather the executive lured the guy into applying for new card from Axis: Axis Ace Credit Card. This card was giving 2% cashback on all spends, airport lounge access, 5% cashback on utility bill payments on Google. The guy got trapped and said yes to it, thinking he is very smart. But, little did he know that how things will conspire and he will have to face Kafkaesque branch employees.
Applied
The guy didn’t allow the Customer Care executive to proceed application of the new credit card on his behalf. He was cautious of such traps, hence he first went to the bank’s website and looked at all the fee/charges. Feeling that indeed this is very lucrative card, he applied. His application got rejected for the card. He again applied, again got rejected. He was frustrated, so he called customer care. Customer care said that they can apply on his behalf. He asked where would the card be delivered as he wasn’t in Pune. The customer care executive replied that changing the communication address in mobile app would work. The mobile app required proof of residence to change the address. Now, that was the problem, as the guy didn’t had any address proof of the new place. This became the bottleneck. Not that he had given address for his initially for Pune. While onboarding a new credit card customer they didn’t ask for address proof. But to update they needed one. Ridiculous, but rules are rules. You are ought to submit address proof to update address. So he called again customer care executive to know how he can change the address. On that, executive replied that before dispatching the credit card, the dispatch team would get in contact with the guy and then delivery to the new address can be coordinated. But, to the guy’s surprise, he just got sms from the delivery company that credit card delivery is being attempted in Pune location. Again disappointed with the promise broken, he asked customer care executive, to which the executive the only way is to update the address. The guy decided to close the credit card in that case. Then, the call was transferred to retention team. Retention team member suggested the guy to talk to nearest branch and get the card delivered in the branch itself. Then the guy can pick the card from that branch.
Branch
The guy went to the branch. There was a young and beautiful executive. He went to her and asked how can he get his card delivered to the branch. To which the lady replied “No, not possible. We can’t validate who are you? Like this anyone can come and take anyone else’s card.” The guy pleaded that he is stuck in a situation. He can’t go to Pune and need the card to spend here only. But, no effect. So the guy quietly came back. Now again he called the customer care executive. The executive told that the lady might not have knowledge about such request and suggested to go back in branch and ask firmly this time. He told the guy to go and tell the bank lady that, “I had a word with senior executive.” Then, fill the customer request form in the branch. This time the guy was bit suspicious if this would work. He asked the executive if he could get a acknowledgement call from bank’s branch first. Otherwise, no point going to bank again. the executive asserted that the guy only needs to go back to the branch. The guy went again to the branch. But, again the lady said no to the request. This time the guy requested the lady to talk to the customer care executive. The lady was just saying no to the customer care executive. The lady said that the guy is manipulating and is mistaken that he can get the card in the branch. Customer care executive complied with the branch’s lady. Finally, the customer care executive said the guy that he couldn’t get the card. But, the guy insisted that he must have a word with the retention team member, who had initially suggested to go to the branch. Call was transferred to the retention team. This time another senior lady from the retention team said the card delivery would be attempted to the Pune address first. And after numerous failed attempts, it will be sent back to HQ in Delhi. The guy complained that he went to the bank’s branch twice on their suggestion and now he still won’t be getting the card. Such a waste of time, for the guy, for the retention team, for the delivery guy too. When already the guy told that the card should go to Kanpur, why send it to the Pune first. The guy raised a complaint on the twitter. A bank executive from the branch said it is not possible to get the card delivered at the bank branch in Kanpur.
Conclusion
The bank wasted their credit card team members’ time. The guy wasted a good amount of time dealing with the bank’s branch. Also, you just now wasted 5 minutes reading his story.