NEW ICICI Feedback Poll - Are the problems all cleared up?

masonic

lisyloo wrote:

No, I don't think you missed anything but I think it's important for people to understand what risks they are taking (even if they are negligeable).

Sure, but it would be sensible to discuss some of the other risks as well, surely? It seems to me that when people ask whether it is safe to put money into a particular account, sometimes all that anyone mentions is the fact that they are protected if the bank goes bust.

There are far more likely scenarios where people's savings might be put at risk, from the simple administrative error to outright fraud. It's the likelihood of those sorts of things happening (and more importantly how the bank is likely to deal with them) that I'd be more interested in.

To borrow your analogy, it seems a bit like cycling around with a shiny new crash helmet without ever checking your brakes.

Paul_Herring

SirSaveALot wrote:

There are still a lot of problems being reported, so I think I'll treat it as a notice account (assume that there'll be some delays in taking money out).

The vast majority of problems being reported are delays in getting the account up and running - once you're able to log on and transfer money both ways, there seems to be few problems reported.

murphydavid

Can anyone tell me why they can't get membership of the banking code?

I don't know of any other major savings institution I am prepared to deal with that hasn't got it. The banking code ensures that decent dealings with customers has been proven and is being monitored. I don't need a poll when there is a profesional body that is telling me (that by their absence) they appear to have failed to consistently provide that service.

lisyloo

Sure, but it would be sensible to discuss some of the other risks as well, surely?

Totally agree with you and we do discuss them regulalrly on other threads.

Cahoot for example have twice charged my in-laws 10% for tax even though they are not tax payers.
They are elderly and if I wasn't keeping and eye on it they'd probably miss it.

Cahoot also take 2 weeks (or more) to send you your interest when you close the account.
Some people have lost interest on this money whilst waiting for their very slow procedures.

So I totally agree with you that an organisation with bad service can cost you money and/or time.

Also it CAN be risky putting your money in "safe" investments.
I don't mean risky in a loss of capital sense but there is definitely a high risk that you won't get as high a return as you could elsewhere.
If you are young and putting money into a pension (for example) then going for investments that are too safe is a risk (although I know that sounds weird).

Mr_Mumble

murphydavid wrote:

Can anyone tell me why they can't get membership of the banking code?

A fresh look at ICICI Bank article gives some info, it is from January though. ICICI say the biggest barrier to entry is that PINs can't be changed by the customer. The rep from the banking code talks of "several aspects of its customer service" at ICICI that don't meet standards.

ErictheHalfaBee

MrsP72 wrote:

We tried opening an account, and sent the initial cheque for £1. They returned the cheque as we'd written it in Welsh. (We always write cheques in Welsh, and have never had any problems, even in shops out of Wales.) When my OH rang up to ask why they wouldn't accept the cheque, they stated that they only accepted cheques written in English, and refused to put him through to a manager, even when the operative was reminded that Welsh is a legally recognised language in Britain!

"We always write cheques in Welsh"...erm.... why? You didn't post in this thread in Welsh, presumably because you wanted your readers (the vast majority of whom will not know Welsh) to understand it. Why would writing cheques to a national bank, particularly one which may have more Indian employees who are even less likely to know Welsh, be any different?

I'm guessing that the reason you don't usually have problems with cheques is because most cheques are barely glanced at when they are processed. My father had his chequebook stolen, and his bank paid cash to the thief who walked in with a cheque made out in the amount of "nighty pounds" and with a cartoonish signature, completely unlike that of my father. If anything, I'd be inclined to congratulate ICICI on being thorough, and not accepting a cheque that they had doubts about.

ErictheHalfaBee

All my savings (as opposed to investments) are in a HiSave Account, opened at the beginning of June. I was with Cahoot, but they rejected my application to open a current account, and refused to tell me why, beyond assuring me that my credit rating was fine and not the reason. They quoted unspecified criteria, which I apparently didn't meet. All very strange.

Anyway, that prompted me to switch to ICICI. Everything happened very smoothly, although it's true that the unchangeable numeric ID is a pain. Initial application was with £10 cheque, and was processed quickly. Have since made one large deposit (can't remember if I did it via ICICI or where the deposit was from) and two small withdrawals, at least one of which was a "push" from the HiSave account. All have gone through smoothly and in timely fashion. From the sound of it, I've been lucky, because the website has always been up whenever I've visited it.

astrag

Last July, after reading about ICICI in Martin's Newsletter, I opened an account with £1, as suggested. All went well. A few week's later, I added another £10 and again all went well. At this stage, the Newsletter was making lots of warning noises, so I decided to hold off investing any more.

This month, the Newsletter was making much more encouraging noises, so I decided to add to my investment. I tried to access my ICICI account but it refused to accept my User ID and/or password - although I know these were correct.

I sent an e-mail explaining the problem and got a reply confirming the ID I had been using and asking me to phone for help with my password. After a long and very confusing conversation, I was told that they had re-set my account and I should try again. This time the system said my user ID had expired!

I was told that they would re-set again and I should re-try in 30 minutes. I did this but again without success. I phoned back and this time I was told they would issue me with a new password. This would be sent by post and would arrive within 10 working days!

This raises two questions - were my logon details "expired" because I had not accessed the system for almost a year and what sort of a mess would I have been in if I had needed "instant access" to my savings?

Needless to say when I receive my new password, I shall be using it to close my account rather than giving them any more money to look after!

masonic

astrag wrote:

This raises two questions - were my logon details "expired" because I had not accessed the system for almost a year and what sort of a mess would I have been in if I had needed "instant access" to my savings?

Others have found the same - ICICI do expire the credentials for accounts that haven't been accessed within a certain timeframe for 'security reasons'. It is a pain and they should do more to make people aware of the fact (an automated e-mail warning people it's about to happen would be nice).

astrag wrote:

Needless to say when I receive my new password, I shall be using it to close my account rather than giving them any more money to look after!

Alternatively, now that you know ICICI expire unused accounts, you could always just log in from time to time in order to keep your account active.

Optimist

masonic wrote:

Others have found the same - ICICI do expire the credentials for accounts that haven't been accessed within a certain timeframe for 'security reasons'. It is a pain and they should do more to make people aware of the fact (an automated e-mail warning people it's about to happen would be nice).


Alternatively, now that you know ICICI expire unused accounts, you could always just log in from time to time in order to keep your account active.

Now that concerns me slightly anybody know the period of time needed without accessing the account before they lock it ?