Citibank, Banglore, India - cash deposit problem - all money put in deposit envelope wasn't credited to account

Complaints.com received the following consumer message on November 25, 2002:

From:

RE: Citibank, Banglore, India - cash deposit problem - all money put in deposit envelope wasn't credited to account

To, 15.11.02

Sudha Venkatesan

The Manager,

Customer Services,

Citibank, Chennai

PO Box 4830, Anna Salai PO

Chennai – 600 002 By Registered Post, Ack Due and fax Dr. Saptarshi Mandal, MBBS (AIIMS)

Research Scientist - B

National Center for Biological Sciences, TIFR,

UAS-GKVK Campus

Bangalore-560 065 Dear Ms. Venkatesan, I received a letter from you (copy enclosed), dated 05-Nov-2002, about a discrepancy between the information I provided on the Citibank ATM about my cash payment [Rs. 4000.00] and the “contents” of the envelope. It also said that my account has been credited as per the “actual” contents of the envelope after “verifying”, which was Rs 1500.00. In that case let me relate the facts to you: I reached the Citicard Banking center near Cauvery theatre, Bangalore on 31st of Oct’02, at ~6PM. As I had not received a card statement for sometime, I did not know the exact amount to be paid.

I guessed the amount would be more than Rs. 1500.00. So when I filled the form on the payment envelope, along with my name and card # etc, I also filled x 3=1500 at the 500’s slot as I was carrying only 3 of 500 notes and the rest were in 100’s. On the payment coupon, I left the rest fields (including the total) empty, thinking that once I reach the counter I would check my amount; come out of the queue; complete the form; and rejoin the queue. But when I reached the counter it was already ~6:15PM. and I remembered that I had an important appointment at 6:30 which I could not afford to miss. So I did not have time to go back at the end of the queue.

As I entered my code, ATM showed that I had to pay more than Rs. 4000.00. I typed that I would be making an envelope payment of Rs 4000! .00 [the total amount I was carrying], and the payment slot opened up. I put all the notes I had into the envelope, making sure that there was 3 x 500 + 25 x 100 = 4000 rupees in total. I sealed the envelope and put it into the slot. As I reached halfway home, I remembered that I had forgotten to write the 100’s amount and the total amount on the envelope.

Because of my faith so far on Citibank, I thought that the matter is trivial and could be sorted telephonically. Therefore I did not go back immediately when I remembered the problem. As soon as I got back I made a call to Citibank, Bangalore (Ph. # 2272484), at about 7:45PM. I informed them about two things. 1) About my new address and Cell-phone no. 2) My recent cash payment with the form on the envelope incompletely filled. I very clearly mentioned the time and place of payment and the details of it. The ‘officer’ over the phone informed me that the cash will be deposited in a few days and I should get to know the amount deposited on the next Monday [4th Nov’02]. If it is Rs. 4000.00 then there would be no problem, otherwise I could follow it up after that. It seems to me now, in retrospect, that my complaint was not properly registered on that day. But the proof that I called that day is in the change of my address and phone # from that day [unfortunately your Citipho! ne “officer” did not even know what a scholar is, and miss-spelt it even on multiple dictations of the spelling]

On 4th Nov’02, which was the day of Diwali, I received a message on my cell phone that citibank has received a payment of Rs 1500.00 from me. Immediately I rang up Citibank, Bangalore again and repeated my problem. This time the gentleman seemed to type my complaint. He assured me that he had put a message across and since I have put all the money in the same envelope, there was nothing to worry.

I called up Citiphone again on this Monday ie 11th Nov’02 and described the problem again. He informed me that the reply to the previous message is that they have verified my payment and there was nothing but only Rs. 1500.00. The officer said he could not commit anything to me but he could only pass on one more message across. I saw your letter after all these telephonic conversations had happened.

Your “verification” of “actual content” was done by wonderfully “reliable” people on whom you may trust more than your customers. But your customers may not think the same. I am not sure anymore whether you care for any customers. I have been outraged and saddened by seeing this state of an organization on which I had such a great faith!

I would like to see the relevant camera recording of the time when my money was counted after 6:15PM of 31st October’02, if you have an in-camera counting of the cash received by ATM. If you don’t have a foolproof protocol to verify the truth then you have no rights to question the authenticity of the statements of your bonafide customers. I am especially bothered because if I let go of this, then the involved employee who got away so hilariously, [celebrating a happy Diwali], may be encouraged to repeat adventurous exploitation of the privileged access to money of customers whenever there is a possibility to get away with it easily. He could become a criminal under the patronage of your organization.

I have not so far conveyed anything to my Citicard-holder friends hoping that you might be able to trace the truth, and revive my trust. But if this letter goes unattended, I am afraid that I will be forced to pass on my disappointment to at least 500 of my doctor colleagues who I know are using your services. [My card was one of the ~500 complementary “free” cards given to AIIMS and other doctors in Delhi]. If not for my money, but for the safety of their own money, they would not like to put their hard-earned money with bankers who don’t give a damn about their customers.

This incident should also alert you that similar things might have been happening in the past where careless mistakes of your customers have been take advantage of by the involved employees. Also in future similar incidents may happen, and more and more customers are going to loose their trust. I hope I don’t have to tell you that a bank or for that matter any organization strives upon the its goodwill and reputation as a trustable one. Your company may be very big and may not care for single individuals but I again request you to look into the truth. Thank you for reading this long letter, Yours aggrieved,

(Dr. Saptarshi Mandal)

Copy to: Shri.B.K.R.Rao, I.P.S.

Banking ombudsman, Karnataka state