Suspicious conduct from ICICI bank regarding annual fee, Sapphiro

[catcat]

In the last annual cycle, ending November 2022, I had managed to reach the spending limit by repeatedly adding money to my mobikiwk wallet, and then sending it to my account, which was free at the time, at least for me.

This time, I known I had zero chance of meeting the threshold, as there are more rewarding cards for spends.

So in September, I asked the bank to cancel my card. Subsequently a person called from the cancellation team, and asked me the reason for cancelling the card. I said annual fee. The lady on the line said "But you have crossed the spending threshold for the year! The fee will be waived off for the next year!", to which I replied that I don't think I had met the threshold, but she insisted, and I continued with the card.

In this statement they've billed me 3500 + GST. There's nothing wrong inherently in this, as even in earlier years they billed me, and then reversed the fees in the next statement.

But the whole thing strikers as very suspicious, because my total pends in the last year was not even 100,000.

In the event that they don't reverse the fee next month, what are my options?

 

[Shubham Yadav]

Bank has now became a notorious pirates of ocean

Strike a hole in ICIC ship

 

[saucy]

Your options are
1. Pay the fees
2. Default and become the next Mallya
3. Kidnap the current ICICI CEO and get it reversed
4. write an email, so that you have proof for your story. Not sure if it's gonna be Tobe sensitive, but if you're eventually gonna reach the ombudsman, a sooner email will help

 

[Shubham Yadav]

Your options are
1. Pay the fees
2. Default and become the next Mallya
3. Kidnap the current ICICI CEO and get it reversed
4. write an email, so that you have proof for your story. Not sure if it's gonna be Tobe sensitive, but if you're eventually gonna reach the ombudsman, a sooner email will help

OP after using third option

 

[Walter White]

Lag rha hai ICICI Axis aur HDFC ke saath zyada time spend kar rha hai 😂

 

[shrewdoc]

In the last annual cycle, ending November 2022, I had managed to reach the spending limit by repeatedly adding money to my mobikiwk wallet, and then sending it to my account, which was free at the time, at least for me.

This time, I known I had zero chance of meeting the threshold, as there are more rewarding cards for spends.

So in September, I asked the bank to cancel my card. Subsequently a person called from the cancellation team, and asked me the reason for cancelling the card. I said annual fee. The lady on the line said "But you have crossed the spending threshold for the year! The fee will be waived off for the next year!", to which I replied that I don't think I had met the threshold, but she insisted, and I continued with the card.

In this statement they've billed me 3500 + GST. There's nothing wrong inherently in this, as even in earlier years they billed me, and then reversed the fees in the next statement.

But the whole thing strikers as very suspicious, because my total pends in the last year was not even 100,000.

In the event that they don't reverse the fee next month, what are my options?

Any calls from banks are on recorded lines. If you had call recording turned on, it's your greatest proof. If not, send an email with all the call details and ask compensation.

 

[D₹V]

In the last annual cycle, ending November 2022, I had managed to reach the spending limit by repeatedly adding money to my mobikiwk wallet, and then sending it to my account, which was free at the time, at least for me.

This time, I known I had zero chance of meeting the threshold, as there are more rewarding cards for spends.

So in September, I asked the bank to cancel my card. Subsequently a person called from the cancellation team, and asked me the reason for cancelling the card. I said annual fee. The lady on the line said "But you have crossed the spending threshold for the year! The fee will be waived off for the next year!", to which I replied that I don't think I had met the threshold, but she insisted, and I continued with the card.

In this statement they've billed me 3500 + GST. There's nothing wrong inherently in this, as even in earlier years they billed me, and then reversed the fees in the next statement.

But the whole thing strikers as very suspicious, because my total pends in the last year was not even 100,000.

In the event that they don't reverse the fee next month, what are my options?

She had to stop you anyway 😂 even with lying.

 

[luciferlucifer is verified member.]

already discussed here

ICICI Bank charged me annual fees on my credit card even after meeting reversal criteria

Hello everyone, Today, I would like to share my ongoing dispute with ICICI Bank. In February 2023, they charged me 12,000+GST (annual fees) for my ICICI Emeralde credit card. However, in February 2022, ICICI Bank issued me a first-year free ICICI Emaralde credit card, and using that card, I...

www.technofino.in

 

[D₹V]

already discussed here

ICICI Bank charged me annual fees on my credit card even after meeting reversal criteria

Hello everyone, Today, I would like to share my ongoing dispute with ICICI Bank. In February 2023, they charged me 12,000+GST (annual fees) for my ICICI Emeralde credit card. However, in February 2022, ICICI Bank issued me a first-year free ICICI Emaralde credit card, and using that card, I...

www.technofino.in

Hey. Sumanta met waiver.

But OP aka @catcat didn't meet waiver but retention agent told him that he is eligible for waiver, so he didn't close card.

 

[catcat]

Been a bit busy with work & personal issues, the long and the short is that is that ICICI has flatly refused to do anything about this, stating simply that because I did not meet the threshold, I am not eligible for waiver. However, that have told me that I can write to headservicequality@icicibank.com, which I intend to do.

Since it looks like a long battle, can anyone suggest whether approaching the Banking Ombudsman or going to consumer court is a better idea, given the circumstances of this case?

I have approached the ombudsman once with mixed success (SBI had debited a Home loan account, and was refusing to explain the debit; the ombudsman made them explain it), and have never dealt with consumer courts, though I am willing to learn.

I guess one can't go to both?

 

[Talkwithfino]

You still need the call recording though... as tht is the proof.
Try getting tht first and then you can approach RBI

 

[catcat]

Call recording is pretty much unsupported on the new android versions. How do I make the bank give it to me? "

But I think even without that, I think the preponderance of evidnce is in my favour.

It may even be possible that L3 decides in my favour, but I need to be prepared.

 

[Talkwithfino]

How do I make the bank give it to me?

They generally don't give it to you...
In my case, the customer care played the recording and then at tht time I recorded it on my phone.

You can send an email to customer care and simultaneously raise a request for the same at the Branch for the recording.

Call recording is pretty much unsupported on the new android versions.

Actually it is supported...
But it is at least good that you have Android. Tell the customer care the exact date and time of the call; of which you want the recording.
In iPhone; only like 5-6 days of call history is supported. Had you been using an iPhone, you would have had to request your Sim provider for call logs list and then see which date and time you had received tht call🤣

 

[catcat]

I'm

They generally don't give it to you...
In my case, the customer care played the recording and then at tht time I recorded it on my phone.

You can send an email to customer care and simultaneously raise a request for the same at the Branch for the recording.

Actually it is supported...
But it is at least good that you have Android. Tell the customer care the exact date and time of the call; of which you want the recording.
In iPhone; only like 5-6 days of call history is supported. Had you been using an iPhone, you would have had to request your Sim provider for call logs list and then see which date and time you had received tht call🤣

I'm afraid it isn't supported in Android, at least on my model, without rooting. The only effective way is to play on speaker and do it outside. Or a convouted mechanism using an app called APH. Theoretically works on Google's phone app, but not for my model.

I do these things for a living.There's a ton of material on the web from which its clear it can't be done - here's one.

 

[LordPSN]

I'm


I'm afraid it isn't supported in Android, at least on my model, without rooting. The only effective way is to play on speaker and do it outside. Or a convouted mechanism using an app called APH. Theoretically works on Google's phone app, but not for my model.

I do these things for a living.There's a ton of material on the web from which its clear it can't be done - here's one.

Ae bhai. Itna likh Diya. Ek google hi kar leta call recording apks...

Android 13 use kar raha hoon and doing call recording too!

Matlab kuch bhi!! 🤡🤡

 

[catcat]

Okay, now some of the fog is clearing, though it still doesn't make sense.

They said that it's a dual variant card (Amex & Mastercard). They say I've met the threshold in Amex (no idea how), but not in Mastercard, hence they've charged my mastercard. They in the mail also apologized for confusuion, and offered to close the mastercard & refund the fees. They had actually offered this 1+ week ago, but I saw the mail only yesterday, and reverted.

Waiting for a positive resoltution.

 

[catcat]

They went into deaf adder mode for a bit. Finally escalated to level 3, who called after ~10 days. She accepted my side, and the money was credited to my card within 3-4 days.
Thanks for all your advice.

This experience tells me that ICICI bank essentially tries to do the right thing, but there's chaos, lack of transparency, and silly/incompenent/jobsworth low level employees.