State Bank of India - A love story

Well this is a story straight from daily life. It has happened to many others and keeps happening to all of us day in and day out. Only on a few occasions we sit back to think about it. This is one of those occasions. State Bank of India - a love story......

You might be disappointed at the end but it has given me thrill and hard kicks as hard as Shoaib Akhtar or Brett Lee bowling bouncers on my face.

I came to Bangalore in July (2005). Though I had an account in ICICI (Allahabad) but still I felt it will be good to have a bank account in Bangalore as well. In last few years I had heard stories about SBI becoming a dream-bank to be with and its out of blue transformation from being a desi bank has left impressions on me. What could be a better place than Bangalore to give a try specially its great work culture and what not, at least it will have some effect on the work culture of SBI as well. If I believe some Maddi's (I am sorry to be impolite, to be precise people from south India) then the southern part of the country is the place to learn work ethics and culture. Well I had all these hi-fi ideas and high expectations with this part of world.

I went to Rajrajeshwari nagar branch of SBI on a Saturday to ask whether we could open an account. Here a friend of mine Suhas, was also party to my adventures another one, Vadehee, joined later. We got a little late not because of our fault perhaps we were not used to Saturday culture, so we were given forms and were asked to come on Tuesday (Monday is a holiday in that bank) with all possible proof of identity. When we went there on Tuesday we found computers were slow and all works of the bank were hung. Very proudly they pointed it out that its not their fault and gave 'galis' to the technology. We were told to come next week as there was a holiday and there will be a possible strike of bank employees for one day in between.

Well ! we went there following week and went to the counter got open our account only to be told that "come tomorrow" to collect the passbook. Making a passbook is a one minute job once all your data is fed in the computer. Next day we went there to collect our passbook and inquired whether we get cheque book now. The answer came in a flash, "we don't issue cheque-books to students". I asked why, every account holder is entitled to get a cheque book and we are not just a student but PhD student and get scholarship and have source of income. After a lot of argument he told us to fill a form and "come tomorrow" to get the pass book.

After a week my other two friends received their ATM card and went to the bank to get their PIN code. There ATM started working but I did not receive any such card. I went to the bank approximately after a month to inquire about it then I was told to fill a form. Still another month passed but I did not receive ATM card. Again I went to the bank, a bit pissed off, and asked about it. Answer came "wait siiir, it will come. Opening an account is a life time achievement, how do you expect it to happen so quickly". My mind went off with rocket speed to the sky. I just controlled myself and asked for the reason why I am not getting ATM card. He did some searching etc. and told that you fill another form.

Again a month passed with no hope of getting ATM card. I decided that I should close my account instead of spending my head over the issue. Specially when people in the bank do not know who issues the card and is there anyway to find out what is happening to my card. This time an employee was very polite with me and cooled me down, of course, he did not have any clue about what was happening? I filled another form, this time marked with "replacement card".

Finally it has five months passed in all and had filled form thrice for ATM card. I decided to enjoy the whole adventure and not to care about getting ATM card. Let us find out how this system works. I did net search and found ATM complain phone numbers and email addresses. I wrote emails and called help center. I found that the address initially filled by my bank was wrongly written. What was the mistake was that they forgot to enter PIN-code of my address. Why my next forms where rejected where I had given correct address? An old stupid government system..... that once something goes wrong I should give a notice to some officer who issues an statement that "let a card should be given to this person" only then my forms will be accepted. Did the bank employees of my bank know of existence of any such thing. No! clearly they did not even bother to call toll-free help center even and ask for an explanation.

I decided enough of it. Let me open a new account in another branch of SBI in Bapuji nagar. Again I got form and with all identity proof I went to the bank. I waited and waited but it seemed they had some internal problem and were not being able to open an account for me. I asked them what was going on. They only apologised to me for getting delayed and asked me to give sometime. I told them that I can "come tomorrow". Later in the afternoon they called me and asked whether I had another account. I told 'yes' and gave them the reason why I wanted to open a new account. They told me that since the bank is online once you open an account it is accessible from all over the places but I could open another account if I close this one or possibly give satisfactory explanation for opening a new account. I told them I will do the necessary thing. I decided to close my account in Rajeshwary nagar, anyway I was tired of going to that bank. I went there to close my account. The guy on the counter was shocked and spell-bounded, gave me 10 minutes lecture on how difficult it is to open an account and how big you are counted if you have an account. This was the same guy who gave fundas that opening an account is a life time achievement. He tried to bully me but I was determined. Finally I got my account closed.

Next day I went to Bapuji nagar branch and informed them that I have closed my account. Only to find out that they do not clear the central data immediately when they close an account. So effectively I still have an account. After a lot of hodge-podge the lady on the counter opened an account with all my old data which I found only later after few days. That means the problem continues and I will not get an ATM card again. She promised me that she will make sure that I get an ATM card. To her word I received an ATM card within 10 days. I was so happy and joyous and I told myself after all things work in this country. Anyway it was my bad luck with the other bank and hope now things will be very smooth.

I went to the bank to get my PIN code but I found that it has not arrived yet. It might take 2-3 days. Well ! another chapter in this story starts here. It's almost six months since I got ATM card and have been to my bank 15 times but they haven't received PIN-code for my ATM. This time the help center and help line email is of no use. As they just bypass by saying that it has been issued or it will be issued soon.

This is our great country. Will it ever improve? At least not in my life time..............