Pity on Banking in India : My visit to HDFC Bank

Monday 08.June'09

Today was a very bad day for me, a long wait of 3.5 hours for just opening a new bank account. And finally the response I got was that the account can’t be opened.

We(Me and my wife) visited HDFC Bank Jhansi Branch to open a new bank account for my wife. We were greeted by cordial sales staff. The sales representative suggested us to open a MAX Account(with min Balance of 25K). Later all the formalities for opening the account were done and finally I was asked to get the CASH. I went to the ATM and took out CASH (29,000) from ATM for opening the account. This all happened in some 45 mins.

Now comes twist in the tale. We were told by Branch Manager (Mr. Mukesh Soni) that they can’t open my wife’s account in CASH. He told us that she must have some account with other bank, and we have to the cheque from that account to open this new account. I was shocked to know about this reason, the simple reason was "Why would I go to open another account if at all I have some previous account?".

We tried to convince the manager a lot but all he could say was that, he will not open the account in CASH. When I asked him to give this thing in writing or tell me the exact reason, he asked me to come on next monday to get full details. The reason being, some senior of Mr. Soni wasn’t available till then. I can’t believe this, one full week to get just a simple reason.
"In the age of mobile and internet, one week for such a silly thing."

This all negotiation with Branch Manager continued for some 2.5 hours. Then I lost my patience and left the branch.

Later after doing some research and using my personal contact I arranged email-id of Grievence Cell and Managing Director Complaints of HDFC Bank. In evening I compiled following mail and sent it to them.

Hi,

I myself Nitin Hayaran(Cust ID XXXXXXXX), today visited HDFC Bank Jhansi Branch to open a new bank account for my wife Mrs. Priyanka Hayaran. This was the very first account of my wife so I wanted to get it opened in CASH. I was greeted by cordial sales staff, and all the formalities for opening the bank account were done. Finally I even took out CASH (29,000) from ATM for opening the account.

Now I don’t know what went wrong, and because of some internal tussle between the HDFC Bank staff, I was told by Branch Manager (Mr. Mukesh Soni) that they can’t open my wife’s account in CASH. I was told that she must have another account of her own, in some other bank, before opening an account in HDFC. Apart from this they even didn’t told me exact reason for the denial.

Let me tell you some brief about me. Currently I am working in Software Firm based in Mumbai with an annual CTC of approximate XX Lakhs. Presently I am holding the salary account with YES Bank, Mumbai having balance of somewhere around XX Lakhs. I also have a HDFC Bank account and this particular bank account was opened as a salary account when I was working for I-Flex Solutions Pvt. Ltd. I also hold a Platinum Credit Card of HDFC Bank, for which I pay the bills regularly and the usage is app. 5-15k p/m. My father is also having account with HDFC Bank, along with two FDs.

So, continuing my family relation with the bank I wanted to get account of my wife opened in HDFC Bank. While being housewife she herself is an owner of a website for which she is earning decent monthly ad revenue.

Finally I am very sorry to say that I am very disheartened by such a behavior from HDFC Bank. The only reason for me to get this account open was the trust I had and customer service, but today I don’t think HDFC Bank came anywhere close to such words.

I request you to kindly look into the matter and atleast tell me proper requirements for opening an account.

Yours truly,
Nitin Hayaran

Tuesday 09th June'09

In morning I got a call from Branch Manager and he asked some details about my job and detail about other account my family holds with the bank. Then again long wait no response.

Later in Afternoon we visited ICICI Bank, Jhansi for the same reason. In ICICI I do have an account but that is a sort of dormant account. I don't remember when was the last time I used that account. But still here I became Intoducer and get my wife's account opened in some 45 mins. We were given the welcome kit, containing ATM Card, necessary PIN, Password, and a cheque book. All done in less than 45 mins.

In evening I again got the call from Manager HDFC Bank (Mr. Mukesh Soni). He "requested" me if I still wants to get the account open, and if he could send some bank official for remaining formalities.

Final Word

After all this incidence, a lot of questions came to my mind.

1. First and foremost "What the fuck is it?"
2. Why should customer has to give a lot of proofs. In plain term it is our money which we are giving bank to keep for some time, and return when we ask. And here banks ask us all our proof. In reverse bank should convince customer about their stability. They should give proofs to us.
3. If at all there are any rules and regulation, why the hell Manager called me the very next day.
4. Why don't HDFC bank could have rules those are friendlier for customer, just like ICICI Bank have.
5. Does a customer has to go through such a cumbersome process of escalating issues, to get an account open in HDFC.

Don't Know if this story will help you in any way, but I just wanted to tell you this, so that if in future you come across such incedence you know how to handle this.

If anyone wanted exact mail-id to whom I sent emails. Just drop your email in comment and i'll let you know.