Customer service is a very intangible asset that service providers launch to show the world that they really care for their customers.
In reality, this is just a hogwash.. an eye wash, a complete BS mechanism.
In reality, there is no care for the customer, only the money needs to be coming into the service providers account or they will send collection agents to kill the customer.

Below is my complaint I have sent to the Nodal officer of KMBCC div. but want to ensure that this is known to everyone in general so that they can be aware of such products and be very careful dealing with them. In my case, the credit card department has not even bothered to inform me that my cheque has a problem – which should not have been the case in the first place – but they have not done their duty as per their own terms and condition document.
—
The Nodal Officer
Kotak Credit Cards

I would like to bring to your notice the extreme level of dissatisfaction I have AGAIN been made to experience with the customer care unit of Kotak Credit CArds – this time also includes the ‘credit card collection’ dept.
I would like to speak to someone responsible who can take proper action on the issues I need to highlight.

I have drafted this mail as an extension of my earlier list of issues during card application (provided here for information and reference regd. the issues I have faced with Customer care personnel earlier )

My current issues are related to a payment I made but it was not credited to my account and this is where all the loopholes of the system are bared:

a. I have deposited a cheque towards my credit card payment, due 08-05-2009, in the ATM drop box opp. Inorbit Mall on or around 28th April 09,
a week or so in advance of the due date.
b. on 2nd May I received a reminder SMS to make a payment of my bill, which I ignored given that I had already deposited a cheque in advance
c. on 18th May I check my issuing bank account and see that the cheque has not been cleared from my account,
also in my Kotak online account, I see a late fee charges levied.
d. I write to customer service through my online account and I receive a call I think on the next day, 19th May from Ms. Vamsha telling me that she will look into the issue and revert back.
Since I had spoken to Ms Vamsha before also during kotak Credit Card application, and she had reverted back to me on the phone, I was expecting a similar call from her.
I am not sure if she called or not and I am not sure if I missed any call from her.
e. On 22-05-2009, I called up the 24 hr customer care line to check the status of what Ms. Vamsha was to revert back on since I had not heard back from her
Mr. Sharad took the call.
He was a very unhelpful person for whatever reason.

He had no answers to my queries but in turn was questioning me that why I didn’t call up earlier to confirm why my payment was not received by the credit cards division.

He also went to the extent of assuming and telling me that ‘because the amount of payment is not big, the bank did not revert back and inform the customer that payment was due’
What kind of a customer care response is this?
so if the amount of payment is not big, why does the bank then charge penalty on it?

and who is he to decide if the amount is big or small? Does it not make the bank ensure that the payments are received however small or big?

is this the way to justify why the customer was not informed about a delayed payment/payment not received and that the credit cards div has slipped up on its responsibilities?

I asked this person whether there is no process to inform the customer that the payment is not received and the customer needs to make the payment immediately.
He says that a reminder was sent to me on 2nd of May and that should suffice.
What kind of customer service response is this? My payment due date was 8th May and not 2nd May
So why would I bother about this reminder when I know I have dropped a cheque already in advance?

Due to this I wanted to speak to a supervisor to clarify if this indeed was the case.
He kept avoiding me connecting to a supervisor and told me that there was no supervisor on the floor and he could not find any to connect with.
So he said he would arrange for a call back today – 23-05-2009 byaround 1030 or so
It is 530 in the evening.. I am still waiting for a commitment to be fulfilled by Kotak Credit Cards customer care HELL(p) line.

Are these guys not trained to understand what customer care really means, and how they need to tackle the issues of customers by UNDERSTANDING the real problem?
In fact these guys create more of a problem instead of resolving them.

f. So , on 23-05-09 I checked my online account and see that she has replied to my email
The response indicated that my cheque was outdated hence it was not credited to my account.
This response has nothing but this information – no steps to resolve this issue, no advice what needs to be done next, no indication as to what was the date on the cheque and why it was not deposited. What kind of a half hearted response is this when a customer is himself/herself showing interest in getting a response and a resolution for payment not received?

Now I need the following queries to be resolved.
1. As per the Terms and Conditions of the credit card kit, I am told that I will be informed of any delayed payments or payments not received.
Why was this not informed to me that my Credit Card payment has NOT been received – for whatever reason on or after the 8th of May?

2. The response of my complaint on 19th May was given to me on 21st May and not immediately. Why?
If my cheque was outdated the status of payment should be available immediately, right?
Already 10 days have passed that the cheque was not deposited.
So why did it take 2 more days to figure out that my cheque was outdated?

I find this whole trend of customer care very disturbing esp. in the times to come.

In this whole process, I have not been given an opportunity to:
a. know that my payment was not received – which should be the case as per the banks own T&C
b. make an immediate payment had I known the payment was not received on 8th of May –and thus avoid any late fee charges
This status is told to me on my initiated enquiry 13 days after the due date has passed and almost 25 days after I have deposited the cheque in the ATM drop box.

I would like to speak to someone Responsible, regarding taking note of this whole trend.
I want to ensure that my late payment charges are adjusted.