Kotak Bank — Complaint against kotak credit cards

I, the undersigned am a kotak privy league credit card holder since late december 2013. The annual fee (Taken in advance) per year is 6000 plus taxes.In the first year the credit card company offered me very good deals like a nike voucher, taj epicure membership and 4 pvr movie tickets redeemable every quarter (Total of 16 per year). I was sold the credit card on this deal without mentioning any fine print.

The card got renewed in december 2014 and i got only the pvr movie ticket benefit. I was surprised as i was never told this would be the case. Since i had already paid the annual fee by the time i had no option but to continue the credit card as would also stand to lose the complimentary tickets. And since these movie vouchers are very smartly released by the bank only every quarter, i had to continue the card till i used up the benefits i had paid for.

This year the card was automatically renewed and advance fee posted for 2016 on dec 26 2015. I called up the credit card team first on the 28th dec 2016 and immediately put a message to my privy league relationship manager mr. Hanif khan. I was told by the credit card team that they would respond to me within 3 days.

I received no such call and emailed mr. Rohan surve, the dedicated credit card relationship manager on 2nd jan 2016. I did not receive any reply from mr. Surve and sent another email to the credit card department email i got from the internet. I finally received an email providing me a request number on 8th jan 2016 and asking for further time to look into the matter. The email stated that the request for reversal of credit card fee 'is subject to approval'. I was baffled by the reply since as a customer it is my prerogative whether i would like to continue a particular service and pay for it. I believe since i am an account holder with substantial funds in the bank, the bank is trying to arm twist me into continuing the credit card by paying the fee.

After numerous follow ups, i was finally told on 21st jan 2016 that the bank cannot reverse the fee and i would have to pay the amount to avoid paying any further charges. There was no reason what so ever given. I was outraged and asked the bank to act ethically. I even told them that i would take up the matter with the relevant authorities. On saying this i received an email immediately on 22nd jan 2016 saying that now i would have to pay a fee of inr 7441.32.

I would also like to highlight that i recently cancelled my american express credit card after the renewal fee was posted and all it took was a phone call to do the same.

In kotak mahindra bank, the same is 'subject to approval' i. E. The whims and fancies of the the credit card officers. I have referred the matter to the banking ombudsman.

Any help on this regard would be appreciated