My husband Steven D'souza (who holds and NRE account in your bank) and myself went to the ICICI Bank, Vashi Branch some time in April. We wanted to invest our money and Mr. Anjan Raisinghani at ICICI Bank, Vashi, was helping us do the same. He had suggested we go in for an FCNR Deposit which has a maturity period for about a year. We told him that we might require the money to buy property and might have to cancel the FCNR before its maturity and would not like to loose out in any way. He told us that if we canceled we would only not get any interest, the principal amount would stay the same but we would have to pay Rs.1000/- as cancellation charges. We also confirmed with him that as our INR money would be converted to US$, at the time of cancellation would we not loose any money if the exchange rate drops. He again assured us that our money will be as it is and only Rs.1000/- will be deducted. We then asked him several times more if we are going to loose out on any more money besides Rs.1000/- and he kept saying no and told us not to worry.
We then invested rupees ten lakhs in the FCNR Deposit. After around two and a half months we bought some property and had to cancel the FCNR. Straight away Rs.50, 000/- approximately was debited from my husband's account. We were shocked and when we contacted the bank they informed us that the debit was because of exchange loss at the time of canceling the FCNR.
We spoke to Mr. Anjan Raisinghani several time and told him that he has done the wrong thing by misguiding us and that the exchange loss debited should be credited back into our account. He did not seem concerned at all he told us he cannot do anything. I then told him that i will go to higher authority and complain. He said that i can go to whomsoever i want and that he does not care and he said that i will tell them that i informed you about the exchange loss. I was stunned when i heard an ICICI Bank employee speak in such a way. Instead of apologizing he is ready to lie further.
I went to ICICI Bank, Vashi Branch and met with the Branch Manager, Ms. Mamta Ashar. She said that i could contact Mr. Chandrashekhar who handles this section. Mr. Chandrashekhar was unable to help and said that i could contact Mr. Kartikey Hemani. All Mr. Hemani did was protect Mr. Anjan and he also mentioned to me that 'he would have done the same thing if he were in Mr. Anjan's place', which means he too would have misguided us. I was shocked once again. Its unbelievable that employees of ICICI Bank speak like this. Instead of sorting the problem they are protecting their friends at the customer's cost, it definitely seems like that.
I then asked Mr. Hemani for details pertaining to the transaction several days ago. I received his regrets for the same today. I was once again shocked. As per RBI rules, a bank has to give their customer information pertaining to their account. I again sent him a mail requesting for the same, but there as been no reply so far.
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