NEW ICICI Feedback Poll - Has it got any better?

tomstickland

My application went fine, but then I put my passcode in incorrectly 2 times. It's been almost 3 weeks now and no new passcode through the post.

made2fade

Hi everyone. I opened an account with ICICI in September. Initial application was fast and smooth and the account was up and running in no time.

I conducted test transfers in and out, which worked fine. I particularly liked the fact that you were effectively earning double interest on your money for a while because ICICI took their time debiting the transfer from your linked account, although they had already credited it to the ICICI account.

So impressed was i that i quite happily deposited £35000 into their care.

I've lurked around the forums for a while and was well aware of the negative feedback from some, however my own experience was good and you'll always have some people who are just unlucky or unfortunate.

As the account was working flawlessly and i've been conducting my banking through the internet for a while without any problems at all, i was content to watch my interest appearing every month and not pay too much heed to the merchants of doom and gloom.

I then had to transfer some money from my ICICI account to my linked account. The transfer request was made and 3 days later i checked my linked account. Unfortunately the money was not there, although it had been debited from the ICICI account on the day of the transfer.

This was rather worrying, as this had never occurred before, despite banking online with numerous organisations. I phoned Customer Service, using the London Number. They were unable to provide an explanation as to where my money was, other than saying there must have been a technical fault with the transfer. They said they would investigate and get back to me.

Suffice to say, over the next 2 weeks, with my money still missing somewhere in cyberspace, i experienced the most inept and woeful "Customer Service" i have ever known. I did eventually recover my money but it needed numerous phone calls and emails from myself to bring the matter to a succesful conclusion.

I have since closed my account with ICICI because if i can't rely on instant access to my funds then i'm afraid it's not the account for me.

I'm glad people with both good and bad feedback are contributing to this thread, such as HGLT Superstar and amadwoman, it gives a balanced picture for those thinking of saving with ICICI.

I also recognise that bad experiences motivate feedback more than good.

However, just because you have had no bad experiences with ICICI to date, doesn't mean you won't in the future, so i'd pay a little heed to those who have. There again, perhaps i'm just one of the unlucky ones.

Merry Christmas to you all. :xmassmile

David_Aston

Hello made2fade
Very comprehensive post, and very balanced. I was interested to hear that you had successful transfers in and out, before coming unstuck with your last attempt. You perhaps will have read my experience with icici as I have posted.
I intend to leave the grand in the account for the time being, but find it difficult to imagine I will have the confidence to top this up properly when funds we have in a bond elsewhere mature.

tomstickland

I've decided that I want to speak to someone in the UK who works for Icici, so I've just looked up the branch number via BT since they don't list it on their .co.uk webpage. Going to call tomorrow; I'm quite concerned that my instructions to their call centre staff are not producing any activity.

anticlaus105

I have given up any hope of any form of customer service from this organization.

Thank god for A+L OS2 5.15% account with it's 0.9% bonus until 30th June 2006 (assuming it doesn't drop before then).

ICICI can hold onto a small portion of my money (less than £2000 due FSA compensation rules) for now as I don't want to risk loosing it by trying to transfer it out LOL.

Merry Xmas all (except anyone linked to ICICI).

innovate

Thanks for your report, made2fade - makes me think twice now to up my deposits with ICICI.

I have only got about 5% of my savings in ICICI, rest in ISAs and Cahoot introductory offer which pay better than ICICI. I'll experiment with some withdrawals before I contemplete depositing any more in ICICI, despite my positive experience to date!

tomstickland

Cahoot introductory offer which pay better than ICICI

Sounds interesting.

Paul_Herring

innovate wrote:

I14.63% (lots of hassle, open now, but still not running smoothly)

Sorry - when was this option added? If I'd have seen it when I voted I'd have opted for this instead of the nearest to my situation which was a 'positive' one. (See my post #5 - it appears that once you've voted you cannot change it, even if someone adds options after the fact!) My guess is those vote %ages are skewed because those of us who would have gone for the option I've quoted above ended up voting for 'Took a long time, but is now set up fine.'

made2fade

I get the impression that for some people ICICI will be a breeze and they'll never have a problem, but for others.....

I think it's the Uncertaincy Principle, it'll all go along fine and then suddenly you might have a "Technical Error" on one of your transfers out, whatever that actually means! I've certainly never had that problem before with anyone else and i've not heard of it either.

The question is, what are ICICI doing differently to everyone else when it comes to initiating BACS transfers? Has anyone else had this problem with another bank?

I must admit, i only started to get really worried when i got a taste of the Customer Service that awaited me. I understand they need to keep costs to a reasonable level to be competitive when offering a high interest rate, but i think they need to find a better balance.

Anyway, i hope that everyone who is still with ICICI never experiences the Technical Error and the farce that follows.

Good Luck all. :xmassmile

wattapain

Hi all, this is my first post on here. I opened an ICICI hisave ac following recommendation from this site, and after getting my password today, tried to log on to start transferring some money. But after following instructions, I got the message 'user not registered - please register'!!
But I couldn't find where to do this! Anuone who can help me?
Though after reading these posts I'm not now entirely sure i want to do it after all!!
Terri