ICESAVE - opening procedure

chesky369

I applied for an ICEsave account on 10 November and sent off my identification bills, plus a cheque for £250. They e-mailed by return stating

You will shortly receive a Welcome Pack by post containing useful information on how to operate your account

Is ten days too short a time to start worrying about no welcome pack?

Cypher

I'd give them a ring and chase it up.

Telephone: 0845 605 6050

tom188

Mine took a while, theyve probably got a backlog after the deluge of applications theyve had recently.

Got direct debit mandate confirmation forms first.
Then identification returned.
Then welcome pack.
Then username details.

Probably took about 3 weeks all in all.

codetown

they are definitely very slow now.

I applied 10 days ago and am still at the stage when I received back the identification and waiting the welcome pack. I have not called them but was expecting a much faster service!

kenshaz

Why bother with them,open an ICICI for a £1 and get 5.45%
www.icicibank.co.uk

chesky369

because there are so many negative reports about them.

kenshaz

chesky369 wrote:

because there are so many negative reports about them.

I have £ 5000 with them they have not put a foot wrong ,and the money is protected.

codetown

kenshaz,
it is logical that the problem will only affect a relatively small proportion of customers of ICICI (as any other bank). So even if you are not affected, statistically it means nothing. With all the negative reports around, it means that at least a good 10% of users had a problem with ICICI at a given point.
This is beyond the money protection you mention. It is just hassle and waste of time to sort a problem not caused by you. And this high proportion of problems is only registered with ICICI and increased also by the difficulty in communication with their indian call center.... So no doubt that in any case your money might be safe, but if you have to go through 20 calls or a lawyer to recover it, then the interest is not worth the time you have spent on it!

So in short: I would never touch ICICI, even if they offered 1% more than others, let alone the same rate. That is because I prefer not to have problems to solve in the first place (have other things to do than tracking down the ICICI guys for passwords, logins not working etc).

At the end of the day it is much better waiting 20 days for an ICESAVE (while continuing your normal life) knowing this company is doing things properly and once everything is activated it will work!

[Deleted User]

Cypher wrote:

I'd give them a ring and chase it up.

Telephone: 0845 605 6050

Geographical number: 0191 255 8377. Open until 8 pm.

kenshaz

codetown wrote:

they are definitely very slow now.

I applied 10 days ago and am still at the stage when I received back the identification and waiting the welcome pack. I have not called them but was expecting a much faster service!

That looks like hassle to me.But you have some valid points,and it should be considered and balanced,my account is set up ,so more hassle to move for the same rate .

anticlaus105

codetown wrote:

kenshaz,
it is logical that the problem will only affect a relatively small proportion of customers of ICICI (as any other bank). So even if you are not affected, statistically it means nothing. With all the negative reports around, it means that at least a good 10% of users had a problem with ICICI at a given point.
This is beyond the money protection you mention. It is just hassle and waste of time to sort a problem not caused by you. And this high proportion of problems is only registered with ICICI and increased also by the difficulty in communication with their indian call center.... So no doubt that in any case your money might be safe, but if you have to go through 20 calls or a lawyer to recover it, then the interest is not worth the time you have spent on it!

So in short: I would never touch ICICI, even if they offered 1% more than others, let alone the same rate. That is because I prefer not to have problems to solve in the first place (have other things to do than tracking down the ICICI guys for passwords, logins not working etc).

At the end of the day it is much better waiting 20 days for an ICESAVE (while continuing your normal life) knowing this company is doing things properly and once everything is activated it will work!

I second that. Have had an ICICI account from the start and would now rather stash money under my bed than use them. They have been absolutely appalling. The list of errors is huge. Your money may be safer than you think. In my case it was even safe from me. Maybe some people would like that though?