Coimbatore : "If you are an SBI customer and planning to transfer money for an emergency through net transfer, then beware! Not only it could take an unusual time but the banker's callous replies will leave you puzzled", warns a US citizen who is on a vacation to Coimbatore.
Coimbatore : "If you are an SBI customer and planning to transfer money for an emergency through net transfer, then beware! Not only it could take an unusual time but the banker's callous replies will leave you puzzled", warns a US citizen who is on a vacation to Coimbatore.
Deepa Sivagnanam, a Coimbatorean settled in the US holds a NRE account with SBI main branch, Coimbatore. Her OCI card permits her to hold accounts in Indian banks. Deepa, along with her one year old child has come down to India for personal reasons. Since July, she has been transacting money from her Bank of America account to her SBI account, here. Deepa never had issues, till last month when she had to transfer 49,970$ which amounts to Rs. 35,62,236.00 ( as per today's exchange rate) from her Bank of America account on November 29, 2018.
"The said amount got debited from my Bank of America account on November 30, however I received the amount in my SBI account only on December 19. A transaction which probably takes 3 takes was prolonged for 20 solid days", reveals Deepa.
Briefing on this issue further, Deepa Sivagnanam said," Since it was an emergency, I even paid extra 75$ to get the transaction done immediately. Under usual circumstances, the money gets credited in the account in three working days. But this is the first time, I am transferring such a large sum. As I did not receive the money within the stipulated time, I raised a query to Bank of America which tracked my transaction and apprised that money has been lying with SBI Mumbai, since then".
"Inspite of escalating the issue thrice to SBI, it turned futile. Left with no option, I had to make ISD calls to Bank of America and take up the matter with SBI's nodal office in Chennai. Finally, they gave me a reply that the money is at SBI Mumbai which seems to be the intermediate bank and finally after 20 days of toiling, I got the money credited in my account on December 19".
Deepa questions that Why this undue delay of transferring funds from. SBI Mumbai to SBI Coimbatore? "During this period, I was subjected to severe anxiety and mental agony because of SBI Mumbai's irresponsiveness.Though an officer in the NRI division of Coimbatore SBI branch tried helping me, the response from Mumbai branch was very cold", she alleged.
The undue delay has even made the customer think if SBI has been purposefully holding back big size funds for their benefits and making the customers run around for their money. "I am even thinking about filing a suit against SBI for their heckless handling of the transaction".
Even Bank of America's escalation of the issue to SBI, Mumbai fell in the deaf ears.
And, this allegation in SBI is just not Deepa's bitter experience, seconding her J. Ramesh Kumar who runs a private agency in Coimbatore recalls a similar mishap. "We had a current account for our previous company at SBI, 10 years ago. One fine day Rs. 5 lakh went missing from our account, we were pretty sure that we did not withdraw or spend money from that account. When I rushed to the bank to enquire, the person in charge requested me not to raise a complaint. They opened a new account for us and got the 5 lakhs transferred to that account. I knew pretty well that there was something fishy but did not escalate the issue, as they accepted their mistake and sorted it out".
Imitating the foot steps of private banks, SBI has been widely promoting to use their online banking facilities for ease of hassle free transactions. Time slippages are unavoidable during such transfers, especially made from abroad to local branches.
From clerical mistakes to local holidays, the delay could be fated many times. But irresponsiveness from the banker to the customer is simply inadmissible, under any scenario. Be it small or large sum, after the fund has been debited from the bank and has not reached the intended bank, the customer is been put under immense pressure. In such scenarios, if the banker does not respond or update the customer on the queries, then things go haywire. Tracking such transactions aren't a herculean task for the banker but the delay and primitive answers from their end is what infuriates the customer.
Deepa Sivagnanam, a Coimbatorean settled in the US holds a NRE account with SBI main branch, Coimbatore. Her OCI card permits her to hold accounts in Indian banks. Deepa, along with her one year old child has come down to India for personal reasons. Since July, she has been transacting money from her Bank of America account to her SBI account, here. Deepa never had issues, till last month when she had to transfer 49,970$ which amounts to Rs. 35,62,236.00 ( as per today's exchange rate) from her Bank of America account on November 29, 2018.
"The said amount got debited from my Bank of America account on November 30, however I received the amount in my SBI account only on December 19. A transaction which probably takes 3 takes was prolonged for 20 solid days", reveals Deepa.
Briefing on this issue further, Deepa Sivagnanam said," Since it was an emergency, I even paid extra 75$ to get the transaction done immediately. Under usual circumstances, the money gets credited in the account in three working days. But this is the first time, I am transferring such a large sum. As I did not receive the money within the stipulated time, I raised a query to Bank of America which tracked my transaction and apprised that money has been lying with SBI Mumbai, since then".
"Inspite of escalating the issue thrice to SBI, it turned futile. Left with no option, I had to make ISD calls to Bank of America and take up the matter with SBI's nodal office in Chennai. Finally, they gave me a reply that the money is at SBI Mumbai which seems to be the intermediate bank and finally after 20 days of toiling, I got the money credited in my account on December 19".
Deepa questions that Why this undue delay of transferring funds from. SBI Mumbai to SBI Coimbatore? "During this period, I was subjected to severe anxiety and mental agony because of SBI Mumbai's irresponsiveness.Though an officer in the NRI division of Coimbatore SBI branch tried helping me, the response from Mumbai branch was very cold", she alleged.
The undue delay has even made the customer think if SBI has been purposefully holding back big size funds for their benefits and making the customers run around for their money. "I am even thinking about filing a suit against SBI for their heckless handling of the transaction".
Even Bank of America's escalation of the issue to SBI, Mumbai fell in the deaf ears.
And, this allegation in SBI is just not Deepa's bitter experience, seconding her J. Ramesh Kumar who runs a private agency in Coimbatore recalls a similar mishap. "We had a current account for our previous company at SBI, 10 years ago. One fine day Rs. 5 lakh went missing from our account, we were pretty sure that we did not withdraw or spend money from that account. When I rushed to the bank to enquire, the person in charge requested me not to raise a complaint. They opened a new account for us and got the 5 lakhs transferred to that account. I knew pretty well that there was something fishy but did not escalate the issue, as they accepted their mistake and sorted it out".
Imitating the foot steps of private banks, SBI has been widely promoting to use their online banking facilities for ease of hassle free transactions. Time slippages are unavoidable during such transfers, especially made from abroad to local branches.
From clerical mistakes to local holidays, the delay could be fated many times. But irresponsiveness from the banker to the customer is simply inadmissible, under any scenario. Be it small or large sum, after the fund has been debited from the bank and has not reached the intended bank, the customer is been put under immense pressure. In such scenarios, if the banker does not respond or update the customer on the queries, then things go haywire. Tracking such transactions aren't a herculean task for the banker but the delay and primitive answers from their end is what infuriates the customer.