Complaint Against: Citibank N.A
I have an account with Citibank whose head office is located in Bangalore. On 31st of January I got
a message on my mobile that the cheque that was sent to my account, would be sent back without any
clear reason as to why the bank is taking such actions without my permission or consent. So I called
the customer service team for an answer and I got through Ms. Sangeetha. U, who was one of the
representatives, who told me that the name did not match? When I asked her which part did not match,
she said it was last name. According to the cheque it has come as Jeevan Rajendra where as my account
is under name of Jeevan R. As you can notice it very clear that there is no major difference in the name
for them to take this action as only the initial is not elaborated. I understand there are situation when
someone’s cheque would come to someone else's account but you can also find that in those cases the
name would be completely different that is when the bank can take this action and stand by it. In this
situation they could have called me and verified if I was expecting a cheque and from where and after
cross verifying they could have kept the cheque and waited for me to provide proof of the name to
collect the cheque.
This cheque is from the PF Office which I have been waiting for the past 6 months and Citibank without
my permission or authorization have sent the cheque back the PF Office which is located in Mumbai.
So When I called them myself and while speaking to Ms. Sangeetha, I identified myself and told the
representative that it is a cheque that I have been waiting from the past 6 months and it is from the PF
Office. I also advised her to keep the cheque in the branch for me to come with documents for the name
verification. Ms. Sangeetha said that she would do it and the cheque would be in the branch for sure
the day after tomorrow and one of the representatives would give me a call to update on that. As the
cheque would be in the branch I thought the issue has been sorted out and waited.
On 2nd February as I did not get any call as promised by Ms. Sangeetha who had made a official
request for a call to be made to me, to keep me posted of the situation but I never got a call. Before
going to the branch I thought I would call and check if everything is in place for me to collect the
Cheque. But the representative Mr. Aroop Babu (as confirmed by Citibank) told me that the cheque
has been sent back and there is nothing that they can do about it. I was furious as I was misled by the
previous agent who had told me it the issue would be sorted out. I asked to speak to a Supervisor that's
when I got to speak to Mr. Venkatesh TGR who said that he understands that there is an error and he
would try to get the cheque back from the courier office. He requested a day’s time to sort the issue out
and spent a week wasting my time saying that he is still trying to get it back obviously the cheque had
already gone back as it only takes a day or 2 for it to be delivered. So the Supervisor was just wasting my
time with incorrect assurance that he would get it back waiting for me to give up in the process. He had
called on 6th and 8th of February to give me the same update that he is working on it. I advised him it is
sensitive issue and it needs to be addressed with high priority.
On 9th of February, there was a limit to the extension that Mr. Venkatesh required and I forced him to
get me an answer right away as to what is happening with the request that's when the Supervisor told
me that he can't do anything as the cheque has already reached the destination. In that conversation
I also came to know that I was not talking to a Supervisor as Mr. Venkatesh TGR was just a senior
agent located in Chennai. I was not happy with all the wrong advice or information and identities not
disclosed. I clearly requested to speak to a Supervisor or Manager as he is the person who has some
level of authority to get things done but I was deceived, and wasted my time with a senior agent who
did not do anything at the end.
I also spoke to managers 2 mangers from Citibank, on 10th February I spoke to Karpagam Lakshmi
who had nothing new to say and had called just as a formality because I had requested for a callback
and a complaint to be logged. All Ms Karpagam Lakshmi had to say was that she apologized for the
inconvenience caused by the agents. I asked Ms. Lakshmi to take this error caused by them as process
update as it is clear mistake from their end. I asked to me give a call as no resolution was provided. Ms
Lakshmi said she would call back after checking as to what she can do.
On 13th of February I Spoke to Ms. Anandhi D who is also a manager, she had called regarding the
same issue and I was not happy with the call as I was talking to a different person and each time I would
have to go through the process explaining the entire issue again which is just a waste of time as they
could have to assigned just one person to handle it. While I was explaining to Ms Anandhi, the manager
confirmed to me that the agents were given feedback and appropriate training will be given to them
which basically meant that they accepted their mistake and that would be reason the 2 agents I spoke
to were getting feedback and special training for them. The manager continued with the excuses the
rest of the people have been giving all this days and still there is no official apology or resolution from
Citibank till date.
So there is lot of breaches from Citibank
1. They sent the cheque back without verifying with the customer.
2. On whose authority did they send the cheque back that came to my account number?
3. The agent I spoke to gave me wrong information by telling me the cheque would be available at the
branch.
4. I never received a call back to update me on anything related to the transaction; initially I had to call
every time though it was their responsibility.
5. I requested to speak to a Supervisor but was transferred to a Senior Agent who did not introduce
himself as a senior agent.
6. The Senior Agent try to assure me with false promises.
7. They made go through the hassle of applying for the PF Amount again though I didn't have to go
through that in the first place, which means It would take another 6 months for me get the amount.
I would request the authorized person to look into the matter and help me out here as the amount that
I was waiting for was very important for me and the bank thought they can do whatever and get away
with it. The Bank could have handled the issue in a better way which would have given them the right
results instead they chose to be adamant about it. So I would request if justice can be served in this
matter.
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