[Resolved]  HDFC Bank — Harassed for operating locker

Address: Haryana

Dear sir/ Madam

I, along with my mother - Preferred HDFC Bank Customer, are the owners of the locker in the Vatika Atrium Branch, sec 53, Gurgaon.

On February 4, 2012, we visited the bank to operate our locker but to our dismay, the locker got jammed and refused to open. The lady in charge [Akriti Ghai] informed us that there is some technical problem and would be rectified only by technicians from Godrej. We were even told that some box inside the locker is coming in the way which is not giving space to the keys. We understood that and requested her to arrange for the technician, since as per the bank norms, the "repair" work can only happen after business hours. Going back & forth - since half the time the lady was not reachable, I got the appointment for Monday, March 5, 2012 at 04:30 pm from the so - called technician from Godrej.

On the appointed day ie: March 5, 2012; i tried calling the lady since 2:00 pm to follow up with her to know the status of the appointment but her phone was answered by someone else who gave me the lady's other contact number - but still her phone gave no - reply status. I again called her to her original number and conveyed the message to the gentleman sitting on her seat for her to reach me on urgent basis but the person failed to be a gentleman.

Anyways, i reached the locker section, located in the basement of the building, at 04:25 pm and the lady was called for. Though she came after making lot of calls by the person sitting on her desk, she called the technical dept of the godrej for the follow up - it was clear from her conversation that she was calling them for the first time during day, however she claimed that she called them in the morning. After making couple of call and complaints at 05:00 pm she tells me that the technician has got stuck somewhere and will not be able to come [This was utter nonsense]. After almost a month I was given an appointment and very conveniently telling me subtly "GO AWAY".

Though I was adamant to get my work done - i asked the lady to call the 'technician' - I am willing to wait even if I have to stay all night. [It was my work and i had to make an effort; otherwise the bank employees are least bothered once the customer in in their kitty]. At 5pm, she tell me that the technician would be here in 30 min and she disappears. At 5:30 pm, i am conveyed that the technician would be here in next 10 min. At 10 to 6, i inquired from the person at the lady's desk to let me know the status - he just nodded his head with no response; from 10 to 6 till 15 past 6 i asked the person atleast 5 time for the status but the person just nodded his head with no response and continued to do his work. At 6:15pm all of staff in the basement including the person sitting on the lady's seat left the office leaving me all alone with just the guard outside. After waiting with no results and updates; at 06:30 pm, i went to the ground floor office to check and there the scene was such that the lady in question was busy doing her work and least bothered that she has left a customer waiting in the basement. When inquired, the branch supervisor, a Ms Naini, told a different story - "the 'technician' got confused and mistook the job for some other branch and was to report to this branch the next day ie Tuesday. My question her is:
1. when the employees were aware of the status why was i kept waiting in the basement?
2. why were there 2 different story?
3. when Akriti claimed that she followed up in the morning, then why this confusion was not cleared then?

Also, I was kept waited for almost 2 hours for no fault of mine and was left all alone for some time - there was no one to check on me or offer a glass of water. And THE hdfc Bank claims for a "world Class" customer service.

Had I not come to the ground floor office, the staff was least bothered to check on the customer in waiting. At 06:30 pm i was told that the technician would be there in 5 min; which he came. By 06:40pm i was taken to the locker section in the basement and i got the RUDE shock of my life - the technician just push both the keys inside with the set of pliers and LO!! the lock was opened. For 2 seconds job the bank kept me waiting for almost 2 and a half hours.

I have a question to the bank authorities - Don't you think you should train the authorized staff of the locker section with some basic technical knowledge for locker operations instead of harassing the customers. If your staff had this much knowledge, so much of time would have been saved.

With this attitude, I would never ever advice anyone to be a customer to the HDFC bank.

The whole of the incident left me harassed and humiliated. Just because it was my locker and my valuables no stones was left unturned to make me realize "Madam, its you who has left your valuable with us so bare the brunt"

Regards