How Citibank Screwed My Happiness, and Why Citibank Sucks?! (** updated **)

Posted: May 1, 2010 in Uncategorized
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I am a Citibank platinum credit card holder for YEARS, with an excellent history. In fact, I hold a Diners Card and a Mastercard, and I also have an add-on card, all of Citibank, and I have had a generally decent relationship with the bank. The one experience that I had recently, and especially their response, leads me to believe that Citibank has sunk, and is currently in a desperately sorry state.

My recent communication to their service team, over email, details the story as it happened, and I quote:

———- My email to Citibank —–

Dear Mr. Prasad,
This has been one of the most frustrating and embarrassing experiences that I have had, on account of Citibank.

Here are the details, some of which you are aware:
1. Against my statement, I make the exact payment of Rs. 35,497.10 to Citibank.
2. While feeding in the entry, there is an error from your end, and you feed it in as Rs. 35,497.
3. The cheque returns due to this difference, being an ‘encoding error’.
4. When I hear about this, I check with my bank, HDFC Bank. After their checking, they inform me about this error from your side.
5. I call up Citibank immediately. While they confirm that the cheque has been returned, they do not know the exact reason. So they confirm that they will check this out, and meanwhile, in order to keep my card active, they ask me to make alternate payment immediately.
6. In fact, I am advised that for earliest credit of payment, I should make an online payment via Net Banking. They also advise me that I should put a stop-payment instruction on the original cheque.
7. I enquire about possible delayed payment charges, etc., and that this being a fault of Citibank, I should not be penalised for the same. I also convey that they should not make me call up multiple times and waste my time. So the operator assures me that HE will call me, to confirm that the charges are reversed.
8. That said, I do what he suggests. I make immediate payment by net banking, via your website. And I also put a stop-payment on that cheque.
9. As confirmed, I get a call from the Citibank operator a few days later, that the delay payment charges are reversed.
10. At this point, I am relieved that the transaction is sorted out. Little did I know that worse was yet to happen.
11. After the independent enquiry by Citibank, about this cheque, they recognize that they had keyed in the wrong amount (35,497/- instead of 35,497/10), and in all their wisdom, they now decide to represent the cheque! This is after I have already made alternate payment, and put a stop-payment instruction on that original cheque, as guided by the Citibank operator!
12. As expected, due to the stop-payment instruction, the cheque returns back!
13. Now, without giving me any intimation (at other times, for various transactions, there are all kind of messages and alerts), my card gets blocked. I have no idea about this.
14. We get a rude shock, when my wife fills up petrol in her car, and offers her add-on card to make payment. And the card is rejected, as it has been blocked.
15. As luck would have it, she was not carrying enough cash on her, she was nearly 15 km from where I was, and the only option was to rush someone with some cash.
16. During this time, she went through the most embarrassing time, waiting for the money, and which caused huge agony and frustration.
17. Once I found out that her card was rejected, I got on to the phone with Citibank, and it took nearly 30 minutes of interaction on phone, before I could figure out how much of a mess you had created for me, and how you had put me into this precarious condition. For no fault of mine!
18. In the end, the operator worked around to clear that particular transaction for me, manually, but by that time, it was too late, and we had already managed to reach some cash to my wife.
19. Very graciously, as if he was doing me a favour, the operator offered to reverse the charges for the cheque that came back a second time. A cheque that I had put a stop-payment on, as per advise of Citibank operator, and which you chose to represent of your own will, and which came back. And you are trying to seem very generous by reversing the penalty charges on that cheque for me!! Wow – you are clearly generosity personified!
20. Worse news were to follow. Even though the details of the case were pointed out, and it was clear that you had made all the wrong moves, from the very beginning, and ending with the depositing of a cheque that you had earlier asked me to stop-payment, just because the cheque HAD bounced in fact, I was supposed to make emergency payment right now. Or else my card will not be valid!! I ask you WHY? WHY should I make this urgent payment? My statement is not due yet. I have a clear credit limit that I enjoy. You have screwed the whole transaction completely, at your end. And yet, I have to make some payment, to keep my card active?? What are you talking about??

The above is the complete sequence of events. I need an urgent explanation.

Specifically, answer these questions:
1. Why did you make a stupid mistake of punching in a wrong amount in the first place? The entire saga is one of a 10 paise error!!
2. Once you advised me to pay via online banking to cover the transaction, and which I did, WHY did you represent the cheque??
3. Why did you represent the cheque which you had advised to have a stop-payment put on??
4. Now that you realize the error and that it is completely your fault, why can’t you override your system and unblock my card, without needing me to make any payment???
5. Most importantly, for YOUR mistakes ALL THROUGH THIS SAGA, I have had to spend so much time on phone, at both times, now again, as I write this email and send these details to you, and my wife was stranded on the petrol pump.. for all these pain that you have given to us, HOW DO YOU PLAN TO COMPENSATE???

I await your response.

——— End of my email to Citibank —–

By the way, to the earlier basic enquiry about this cheque payment, this is what Citibank had written back to me:

————- Message from Citibank to me ———– (my rejoinders for purpose of this post, in blue, below!)——

Dear Mr. Mehta,

This is with reference to your email dated April 20, 2010.
We are concerned to note the feedback on your recent experience with us. We regret the inconvenience caused.
Based on the issue raised by you, we have forwarded your query to the concerned department and we find that the cheque # 0792870 was incorrect encoded without 0.10.
** They admit the mistake made **
We wish to inform that we have represented your cheque # 0792870 (** WHY did they represent the cheque, damn you? **) for realization to your bankers and we are in receipt of your Online payment of Rs. 35,497.10 (** They confirm that the online payment has already been made, yet they represented the cheque!!). Both this payment credit reflects in the April 2010 statement (** first of all, ‘this’ and not ‘these’ – Citibank, learn some grammar; secondly, WHY do they want to have BOTH of these in credit at their end?? Of course, in reality both DID NOT get credited, as the cheque had stop-payment instructions!).
We confirm that the Late Payment Charge of Rs.700.00 levied in the statement for April 2010 has been reversed and this credit will reflect in the statement for next month (**small mercies).
We value your patronage and loyalty and we would like to reassure you of our diligent services (** Oh please.. give me a break!!).
Should you require any further assistance please feel free to revert. Alternatively you can contact your nearest CitiPhone Banking.

We assure you of our best attention at all times.

Sincerely,

S. Prasad
Officer – Customer Care

Citibank India has been awarded the “Best Consumer Internet Bank 2009” by Global Finance (** So isn’t this the funniest irony of this saga??!).  Log-on to http://www.online.citibank.co.in and experience the convenience today !

——— end of Citibank’s email to me ———

Now, waiting for Citibank’s response. Will share the details as the drama continues to unfold, here. Watch this space!

*** Update ***

After the above mentioned developments, I got a couple of emails from Citibank, promptly within the (internal, I presume) stipulated SLA period of 3-4 days. Each one saying that they were sorry to not resolve the matter yet, and that they needed some additional time. After two such extensions, I finally got a call from someone in the VP’s office, in Chennai. He apologized profusely for all the troubles, including what my wife had gone through, including the fact that they had made a mistake in representing my cheque even though I had paid already, and for having had our cards blocked for so many days.

I had purposely not paid till that point, as I was looking for a resolution on this matter. Without asking me to pay anything, he confirmed that my card was fine and usable right away, and that he had credited my account with 3000 reward points, which for my Platinum card, were the equivalent of Rs. 3000.

I thought this was reasonable. I thanked him for sorting this out finally.

Later, someone from the customer service team called and repeated the whole thing, and I also got the following email, from them:

—————– Latest email from Citibank —————

Dear Mr. Mehta,
This is with reference to your email dated May 01, 2010 and further to the telephonic conversation you had with Ms. Zakira on May 11, 2010.
We were unable to respond to your query within the stipulated time frame as your query was under investigation.
Our top-most priority is to ensure customer satisfaction through quality service and addressing customer’s concerns satisfactorily. It is indeed disappointing to note that your experience has been to the contrary.
We are concerned to note the dissatisfaction expressed by you due to non-approval of authorization in your card ending 0006.
We sincerely apologize for having presented your cheque # 792870 to your Banker.
Despite the highest control standards, an occasional error occurred and we would like to sincerely apologize for the same.
We can understand the confusion and anxiety it would have caused you.  We assure you that we have taken sufficient steps to ensure that such instances do not occur.
We confirm that your card ending 0006 is in active status and you can use the same for future transactions.
We have attached the different modes of payment for your reference.
As a special gesture, we have credited 3000 Reward points to your card account.
This credit will reflect in your next month statement.
If there is anything else that we could help you with, please contact us via our Customer Access Points: indiaservice@citi.com or log into Citibank online or our executives at CitiPhone banking are always at your service.
We assure you of our best attention at all times.
Sincerely,
S Prasad
Officer – Customer Care
————— End of Citibank’s latest email ——————

So it was a fair resolution after all, and I must acknowledge the same, as fairly as I had raised a ruckus, when I had got the wrong end of the stick.

City of Gold, a Mahesh Manjrekar film, is a must-see

Posted: April 26, 2010 in Uncategorized
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City of Gold is a soul stirring film. If you are a Mumbaiite, and if you have seen the days of glory of Mumbai’s textile films, then this will shake you up even more. I recommend this movie as a “Must-See”.

Justice by media and public is the only type we get: Response to Pritish Nandy’s piece on IPL Drama

Posted: April 25, 2010 in Uncategorized
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I have tweeted a lot (will need to be logged in to Facebook to see this link), and also blogged earlier, about the current IPL Drama, involving Shashi Tharoor, Lalit Modi and scores of other characters.I thought I had said what I needed to say, but with the piece by Pritish Nandy in the Times of India, on 25th April, 2010, I was tempted to say a little more.

And which I chose to ‘say’ literally, and so here are my continuing views on the subject:

The Japanese Wife – decent fare during ‘no-good-film-IPL-times’

Posted: April 18, 2010 in Uncategorized
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Aparna Sen and Rahul Bose promised to be an interesting fare, even if it was a Bengali film with English sub-titles. That is how I found myself watching the Japanese Wife, in the only one show available near home, and that in the plush sofas of Gold Class seating!

Not the best seat to be, post lunch on a Sunday, in a slow film. That kind of seat can put you to sleep. And I must be honest, I had to fight hard to stay awake, at times!

The film is a slow moving interaction between pen friends from small town West Bengal and Japan, and which develops into an intimate relationship, albeit only remotely felt. English not being a first language for both concerned, the struggle to communicate to each other, in this “third” common language, is very interesting. Both of them admit to not being very open or having any other close confidantes, and find this exchange over letters to be an immense support system, and become completely dependent on this relationship. That the relationship nurtures to the extent that they actually “get married” over the letters, is the extent to which the intimacy grows. And the amazing part is that the village where Rahul Bose lives, and his aunt as well, accepts this strange, remote relationship, without thinking of him as a loony.

Both of the characters are shown to be truly and deeply in love with each other, caring for the other person, and that feeling being shown in gifts exchanged long distance, caring for each other’s health, and even sharing uncomfortable things openly, which could have easily been ‘not shared’ if they did not want to.

Interesting fare, as an Aparna Sen film would be. Perhaps some nuances were missed, being in Bengali, and I reading the sub-titles to understand the story. Rahul Bose acted well. Although I suspect the voice was someone else’s. The Bengali was chaste, and the English spoken as a Bengali who was not so good in that language, was too good and if Rahul actually spoke, then that was a tremendous job. Considering the fact that he’s a true blue city boy from Mumbai! Moushami Chatterjee as Mashi, the Japanese girl, and Raima Sen and the child actor were all good.

The one other fascinating part of the movie was the experience it gave of authentic life in a small Bengali village, close to a river that would potentially show its wrath every monsoon!

Overall recommendation? Only if you can bear really slow moving films, and appreciate the Aparna Sen kind of cinema, then go and check it out. Rest of you can pass this one..

Indians are not good as team players?!

Posted: March 28, 2010 in Uncategorized
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I have expressed my love for the Mint newspaper, often. Especially the Mint on Saturdays. But one author whom I did not like much thus far, was Aakar Patel. In the past, I have seen too much of “secularism” weave in his columns, and that put me off.

But his column on this Saturday was a revelation. He makes a convincing statement that Indians are too self obsessed to be really good team players. He gives many examples from sports to make the point.

About how, after playing footall for 100 years, we are nowhere in the picture. About how, in hockey, once the world figured out how to stop our star players (e.g. Dhyan Chand) with their team play, we never managed to make a serious mark. And also why cricket cannot be clubbed into this – because, in spite of being a team sport, it boils down to an individual one-on-one, between the batsman and the bowler. And which is why, we have great individual players like Sachin and Gavasakar, but we are still weak as a team when it comes to fitness, fielding and the like.

The extension that Aakar points out, specifically for cricket, about how players have honed their personal skills, but have not thought as much about the sport, and how to improve it as a whole, is disturbing. But then when he points out the fact that nearly ALL of the IPL teams have foreign coache, and that how Indian commentators can only talk of individual technique, but can rarely give interesting thoughts on game strategy, again tells an important tale!

The summary of the article is that we do not value harmony, but only value genius, that we’d be more happy getting to see a Sachin 100, than an Indian victory! Sad, but true.

The article goes ahead and tries to find a reason for this, but which I do not agree upon. We have to recognise that sometimes we may NOT have answers, and then we look for these.

How does the attitude reflect in work, beyond sports? Team work demands that the focus be on end goal, and each must complement the other. How often do we see this NOT happening in companies?? Star performers in large companies? Partners pulling company in different directions in smaller companies?!

It is a refreshing change then, to find exceptions today, which are goal focused, and where partners / senior executives are not concerned about personal victories, as much as they are confirmed with large goals of the organization.

Focus on harmony, beyond just the genius..

Old money vs New money? Or just about attitude??

Posted: March 28, 2010 in Uncategorized
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A couple of days back, I was driving back with an old school friend, who’s family has enjoyed immense wealth, for a few decades now. If not more. We were driving in his comfortable Honda City car. He can afford bigger and more fancier wheels, but I guess a Honda City is about as comfortable as he may want to be. And it works fine for him.

He was talking about taking the summer break, and about how the rooms at hill stations have become so expensive, and how a trip to Goa can put him behind by more than Rs. 50,000.

Now, he would probably still take the trip if he wants to, and it will not really impact his net wealth by much. But the fact is that, he notices the cost, and he is not happy about it. It is not about affordability at all, it is about noticing what appears to be overly expensive.

Likewise, I remember an even richer gentleman, with family based out of UK and Europe, an ex-banker (“owning a bank, not just working on one”!), with huge wealth from many many years, in the family. He was visiting from the UK that time, and as we had lunch together, he remarked about the travel that he needed to do, in India. And he asked for opinions on the flights that he could take, with an emphasis on the low cost carriers.

With the money that he had, I’d have expected him to travel Kingfisher First Class at all times. But he doesn’t. He doesn’t think a short flight of an hour or two justifies the use of first class travel, and he’d prefer to even take low cost carrier, rather than a full service expensive flight. This came as a shock to me. That he was thinking of cost of travel, using lower costing flights, etc.

Again, I believe it is not about affordability, but rather about ensuring that money is not wasted.

Both of the above cases are of people who had money in their families for several years. And yet both of them were conscious of using that money. And not wasting it.

Cut to the story I heard of a recently successful new entrepreneur. He has come into very good money.

And he has spent. Fancy wheels for self and for wife (separate). Huge new apartment. And then an another. In expensive areas of Mumbai. Exotic vacations every now and then.

Sure, its his money. He can afford it. I am no one to question the usage.

Just pointing to the striking contrast in the approach. Between the first two gentlemen, and this guy.

Is this the difference between old money and new money?

Or is it just today’s attitude of living it up? Fully??

I am not sure. But the evidence of the fact is clearly there.

Jeans! A cultural takeover..

Posted: March 28, 2010 in Uncategorized
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This may be an interesting experiment, if you want to try it.

Go perch yourself at a decent location in a mall or a multiplex – anywhere where there are large number of footfalls. And then simply look below the waist as people go by you. Count the number of people wearing blue jeans or denim.

You will be amazed at the percentage of people wearing these. It is large!

So that popular US fabric, worn by the gold diggers of yore, has truly acquired the global stage. And most certainly the Indian urban populace.

McDonalds’s may not have yet penetrated to that extent. Nor Kellogs’. But denim surely has. And blue in particular.

Why did it happen? I don’t know. Can’t put a finger to the specific reason. Loose fitting clothes are surely more suitable in India, from the weather point of view. And yet, jeans, including tight fitting ones, have penetrated the preference priority.

Awesome success of our times, is what I’d call these.

Big Cars, Big Clout

Posted: March 28, 2010 in Uncategorized
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Ours is a country where politicans make a lot more money than lawkeepers or bureaucrats. And that defines the relationship of obeyance from the latter to the former.

We also have cricketers making so much more money than coaches or umpires, that again, the relationship is defined by that one factor.

If in any conflict or even discussion, if one person has a lot more wealth, it seems to give him an arrogance that the other cannot touch / harm him. And that he has to get his way.

At no other place is this exemplified more than on the roads of a city like Mumbai.

Where the bigger the car, the bigger is the clout.

Because bigger car, usually means more wealth, and as a consequence, more arrogance.

So who cares about what the law is, or what the lawkeeper / police says?!

The equaliser of course, is the traffic. The most expensive car has to still crawl behind an auto rickshaw, if the traffic is jammed up. No arrogance, nor wealth can help him then. For that, he needs to wait for the helicopter routes to get finalized and allowed.

The only way to penetrate through bad traffic is to have a red light. On top of your car!! Even if yours is an Ambassador car then, it doesn’t matter. The Jaguar or the BMW alone does not help you to zip through the traffic!!

Well done Abba: Well done Shyam Benegal, Well done Boman Irani!

Posted: March 28, 2010 in Uncategorized
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A movie in the time of IPL, is almost like love in the time of war.. !
Unthinkable? No great movies get released for a month or more! What a blow IPL has given to the film industry.

And yet, in the midst of IPL, this Shyam Benegal film, “Well done Abba” released, and I overcame my film-withdrawal symptoms and landed up to see it.

I am glad for the likes of Shyam Benegal and Vishal Bhardwaj, for showing us a real ‘other India’. Away from the gloss of the city life, or the underbelly also (the so-called multiplex ‘life in a metro’ genre), away from the jazzy foreign locales of Chopras and Johars.

Bhardwaj is all about UP, and Benegal this time, takes us to small town Andhra Pradesh.

The film, in terms of story and treatment, is close to an “Office-Office” kind of television serial. Exposing the corruption all over, and the exploitation of the poor, via the various yojanas and all. In that respect, the story is not really such good film material, and might have been better delivered on the small screen.

But add to the story, the elements of viewing life in small town AP, and that adds an additional value element to the cinematic experience. And makes it worth the 2.5 hours.

You end up ‘feeling’ for the Muslim mother of 5 daughters, with the husband working in the city somewhere, and having to face the burden of getting the girls married. And who finds the match with an Arab sheikh to be a good one for the eldest. You also feel disgusted at seeing what you already know – the complete chain of corrupt apathy – which results in the poor not getting a basic requirement like water!

Boman Irani gets to play virtually a solo hero. He proves that he can carry a film on his shoulders. He gets into the skin of the Hyderabadi Muslim, with accent, mannerisms and all, completely.

Minisha Lamba’s is a spunky character and she delivers well. She’s done it again, after Yahaan, where she was a Kashmiri girl in similar circumstances. She needs to be seen in more glamorous roles too. I believe she has it in her, to deliver those as well.

But wonder about the creasy line that comes up on her cheeks, every time she grimaces?! Kind of funny..

The film is slow. No typical masala film elements. So a huge departure from routine stuff. Not everyone will like it. But a good break during IPL as you already have enough of glamour and glitz (Shilpa, Preity, Deepika + cheerleaders) there. So Well Done Abba is refreshing change then..

Karthik calling Karthik: see if you have nothing better to do..

Posted: February 28, 2010 in Uncategorized
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It seemed like 4 good movies had released this weekend, two in Hindi and two in English. Soon we started hearing so-so reviews of Teen Patti and decent reviews of Karthik Calling Karthik.

So having come back from the sale at Shoppers Stop, and the wife having got her new Bausch and Lomb lenses, as we were contemplating getting the walls repainted with Asian Paints Royal Touch paints, we decided to go ahead and see Karthik Calling Karthik after all.

The titles gave hope. The great combination of Farhan Akhtar, Javed Akhtar, Shankar Ehsan Loy was together again, and that should be good. Once the film started, one of the first things I noticed was the Rubik’s cube. In fact, the cube had a big part in the story, after all! Without any dialogues of course.

Realized that Rubik’s cube seems to be the new “k” symbof for the film industry. The way, Sunita Menon had got everyone starting projects with letter ‘k’, it appears that everyone is now inclined to have a Rubik’s cube in the scene, perhaps for luck. Aamir had it in 3 Idiots, and we know how big that film went. Then Shah Rukh Khan had it with him in MNIK. If claims are to be believed, that one has also gone some distance.

Farhan must have thought that the cube will rescue him too. Unfortunately, the link has been broken now. The cube did not work, after all!

By the way, on the first Sunday for the film, at a prime time show, the theatre was just about 20% full. So business is down, for sure. And the film showed the reason why.

The first half actually was quite breezy. The rising up of the underdog, and his becoming a hero. Usually an entire film is devoted to a story of this type. As I sat and saw the story fly in that first half, that was exactly the question in my mind. What will happen now? The story is already at a point of “happily ever after”. Now what could happen?

As it turned out, not much happened anyway, after the break. The story meandered into some incredulous areas, and it was a dull and boring part most of that second half. Irrespective of where the story went, the subject line was not that gripping to hold the audience’s attention on that one tiny thread, for so long. The end was also quite lame, after all.

So what is the judgement after all? The film is ordinary. The first half is still fine. Quite breezy. Some good banter, in terms of smart dialogues. Decent performances by Farhan and the ravishing Deepika. That’s it, though.

If you must see a Hindi film this weekend, this should still be better than Teen Patti. So go see it. And if you can do without your weekly dose of Hindi films, you will be fine giving this one a skip too.

Oh, even though the phone was an integral part of the story, no telecom brand would have liked to associate. If anything, the film would have led to reduced call usage, and led to lower ARPUs for the telecom brands.

Take care.. Regards – sanjay

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