Customer Care or Customer Scare???!!

There were times when problems remained problems,without being resurrected to solutions.There still were times when folks had to scream for their problems be heard.Then came the new world of Customer cares.Suddenly people are enthusiastic about how you can just call up and tell your problems to sweet voiced ladies and gentelmen, so they would help us to get the troubles solved soon.Mildly satisfied that somebody actually hear their problems.

I had enough of Call centers when I was looking for broadband connections back in bangalore.But not so bad as calling the Citibank homeloans Customer care center,which has become one of my current nightmares.The service, taken care by E-serve, is so pathetic that sometimes I get sooo pissed off, like how in the world that an international bank like Citi would maintain such a bad, terrible,freakingly idiotic service.(hmm...am not getting the right words.!) ...the so called Customer service.

After paying off the loan amount we had to keep paying Rs.500 every month for an year before closing the loan account.We had sent the post dated cheques which after repeated calls and mails, they responded saying they received the post dated cheques of Rs.500. Before even we could relax that everything has been settled, Citibank tried to deduct its previous EMI amount of about Rs.16,000 from our savings account instead of Rs.500 which was supposed to be deducted. Since we had a lesser balance in our savings account,their cheque got bounced and we were penalised Rs.250 on our savings account.

Again we call them, mail them too, and this time the sweet voiced call center lady says, they have not received any cheques from us completely contradicting the previous confirmations, and she would confirm only after 2 working days.After two working days, we call them again, this time its another sweet lady, who again would confirm after a couple of days.(Huh...managing Indian subjects through international calls is really expensive!!)

After some days, We again find Citibank trying to deduct Rs.16,000 from our account...penality again.And this time it was totally pissing and I found myself get furious and restless even to think about these people.

Enough... please. Ladies and Gentlemen,eventhough you are not fully responsible,I no longer find your voices sweet.

Best hangout place!!! - The public Library.

This might sound corny for people who don’t love to stick their nose in to the smell of books…I love books…at least to be surrounded by them. Somehow my crazy reading habit is not that old. It all started when I was in college. But I still remember how I used to read through all the prose before even the school started.

Needless to say, I was the happiest person to find the Public library very near our house here in Bear,Delaware. I was stunned by the way public libraries function here. Of course, am in a different country and I should expect something diferent from India, but I long for such things back in India too. I remember how I and my ‘book-wormish’ gang used to go to the public libraries just to find torn papers for books, back in Chennai. Here the libraries function like communities. They celebrate summer festivals, arrange kids craft contests and so on. I love being here…at least with a library near home.