[Resolved]  ICICI Bank — New card was tricked and sold to me by mis-information and bank did not cancel or reverse debit charge

Address:

Mumbai City, Maharashtra

Dear Sir, I am Ms.Preeti Rao (Account no :[protected] and hold an account with ICICI Bank, Mumbai. Due to the bank's new initiative i found that i was unable to do Net Banking as my debit card did not have the grid nos. So, i on 25th April I called up ICICI Bank phone banking. I explained them my problem and they told me to call up phone banking and place request for a new card which would have the numbers and the same would be sent to me very soon. I asked the officer if he could take my request but he told me to call up Phone Banking again following the proper phone-options. I again called up Phone Banking and spoke to the Concerned Phone Banking Officer and told him the problem I was facing and that i wanted a new card in place of my Original default card. At this point of time, the Officer said -Ok, we will give you the Rubyx card. After this he just went on explaining the benefits of the Rubyx card. I was happy that ICICI was now providing the facilities on the normal debit card for its customers as a new and improved initiative for customer satisfaction. He then informed me of the high annual charges, I enquired him why it was so high thinking that my HDFC atm card charges were only in a few 100s and also asked him that why we should pay such high amount to withdraw our own money, he said that I will get the amount redeemed. I said Ok as we don’t have any choice but to accept this card. I thought that this specific Rubyx card was being offered to ALL the customers in exchange to their current default debit card as a friendly gesture of ICICI bank, so just accepted it thinking this was the only choice and it is mandatory for us to take the Rubyx card. For Not a single moment was I given the option between the normal card and the Rubyx card. If I had been informed that there was a choice I definitely would have opted for the normal defaut card as that is exactly what i wanted. The officer DID NOT tell me NOR DID he ask me that- We have another card named Rubyx and would you be interested in taking that card instead of your default card? He just said- We are giving this card to you. All i wanted was a normal default debit card with normal charges of Rs.200 and i was tricked into believing that the Rubyx card is now given in exchange to the normal card by default to all the customers due to mis-information and half-information given by the officer. This is completely against ICICI Bank’s Fair Policy Code clause 3 which mentions that- You are to help the customer choose the products and services. However, in this case, I was misinformed and tricked into saying yes to a product which i never wanted in the first place. Further, when on the next day, i.e. 26th April, i enquired of my colleagues and they said that there is something fishy in this and I wrote to ICICI's Customer Service with my queries about the high and incorrect charges as mentioned in their website. I got a call from the Customer Service officer Mr. Raj and after telling him everything he informed me that the customer does get a normal default grid-numbered card in exchange of my card and the Rubyx card is offered as a choice and is optional. I was surprised to know that and told that in that case I do not want the Rubyx card with such high charges and want to cancel the request and get my normal debit card. He said that since he could not cancel it by mail and I can just call and they will cancel the request of the Rubyx card and I can ask for the normal grid card. I called ICICI bank immediately to cancel the Rubyx card but they said that the service amount for Rubyx Rs. 1, 122.48 had just been debited from my account. I told that I do not want the card and that the amount has to be credited to my account immediately. But both the officer and supervisor bluntly denied it. I also explained to the supervisor the whole scenario and requested her to understand the customer’s viewpoint and how a new card was sold by keeping me misinformed with half-information. All i wanted was a normal card in exchange to my normal default card and i was tricked into accepting the Rubyx card which i did not want. I wanted the charges to be credited into my account without any cancellation charges to it. She said she will look into it but after many so mails ICICI Bank just keeps on raising the Service Request without giving me justice and reversing the charges. Now they have told they would revert to me on 8th May with another new request no SR: SR[protected]. Thus I was now forced to seek your help in this matter. Also, inspite of knowing the issue, the Rubyx card was sent for delivery at my home on 28th April. This also shows that they did not do anything to cancel my request and also dispatched the card. Sir, this has caused me extreme mental trauma. Is this the way to treat a customer who is a mere salaried class and who just does normal transactions?? How easily it is for the bank to debit our hard-earned money in an instant and how many days they are still taking to credit my money back to me and that to without imposing any cancellation charges only because they hold account to our money? At this time, I am also losing interest. Is this not my loss?? Dear Sir, I request you to please look into the matter and give me justice. This is not only about the rightful credit of my amount but also that the bank has no right to just push its product to the customer by mis-informing him/her or by providing half-knowledge by various means. Looking forward to your help and reply on priority. Regards, Preeti Rao ([protected])