Pathetic CS at Andhra Bank

Happen to take a SuryaSakthi Loan [for solar] from this bank through SV Marketing. Had pledged an LIC money back policy with them. Once the loan got closed, they were unable to trace the FD certificate of my money back they got from LIC. Have been following up with Andhra Bank, De-costa layout for the last 2.5 years!!

This weekend met the FD department - the person handling was courteous and gave the new FD Number - again she didn't have any clue about where the certificate went!! She referred me to the so called Senior Manager - who says me there are so many discrepancies in SuryaSakthi loans and that it would take lot of time - just come back some other time. Was literally furious - but just kept cool and try to get info on what I need to do. He repeated the same old things like I'm new to this branch; I don't know you blah blah. Don't know whent he hell these people would start behaving like a corporate!

The previous manager told similar stories and told me that the FD is safe so I don't have to worry. This manager says its your responsibility and you should have got the files when you closed the loan [while the loan was closed - they just wanted to push me off from their table and they didn't have any clue as to where it was]

The only good thing is - the FD seem to exist still and renewed in my name!!

Going to give another chance to these guys before doing an RTI!

How things could have been handled better

• There was no need for the manager to tell me about the indiscrepancies in the other loans - it is internal to the bank and since I had the loan closure certificate!!
• He could have given me a clear appointment or taken my details so that he can call back and update me later - ie if he was really busy and interested in resolving my issue. He bviously didn't show any respect to the Customers schedules and job
• All that he had to do is to find if my FD was still under pledging or cleared - if it was cleared he just had to tell me the procedure to get the duplicate certificate [I don't have any hopes that they would figure out where the first one went or the previous ones went!]

Great Customer Service with Belkin!

Have been thinking of putting up some thoughts on the customer service issues I face in the shops / service stations.

Had this amazing experience with a Belkin product customer service!!

My friend had bought a Belkin 54g wireless router from US. He had bought it for $100 with a cash back of $90!! This has been working perfectly fine until recently, it broke due to a power issue.

Was looking for technical support and was very happy to see that Belkin had a toll free number for India!! Called the number provided the required details. A ticket was logged and details sent promptly with Bangalore contacts. I was informed that Belkin products have life time warranty and hence I can take the same to their frontline company to get it replaced!! I didn't have the bill for the same since my friend had bought for me [even otherwise 3+ years bill?] mentioned the same and had sent an email to the tech support. They were ok with the same as well!

Took a print out of the same and went to Accel Systems [initially there were trouble locating them since they were in the process of moving] at Townhall. They were initially reluctant saying 1. we need bill 2. product bought in US do not have support here etc. Eventually they took the kit and gave me a receipt. Waited there for some time and loosing patience checcked with them. They told me they are delaying since they have to confirm that bill is not required. Told them I would call them another day and come back.

Eventually when I found time to call, it was ready and picked up a brand new Belkin Wireless G router!!

CS Points:

• Life time warranty for the product!! Company is really serious about taking care of the customer!!
• It was good that the frontline engineers took the system - though they weren't clear whether its in the process to replace the item without bill / bought outside India
• Frontline company didn't have anyone to approve the required immediately - which causes delay for the customer
• There wasn't a call back from the frontline company once they clarified and resolved my issue - I had to call them and check. A good customer orientation would be to call the customer and inform once problem is resolved

Hercules Ryder ACT 110 hunt!

Today went to BSA go near safina plaza. I was quoted 10,600 for this cycle. Khan traders in the adjacent street quoted 10,300 [best price with bill, as per them]. Had a chance to look at the cycle in both these places.

Cycle is pretty impressive. Almost buying this.

Awaiting the availability of this cycle in town hall - this person quoted 9K though he didn't have the bike. have to follow up.

meanwhile would be visiting decathlon store in Sarjapur road to see Btwin RR 5.1 [just for the heck of it - looks like it is 110]

+++++++++++

Sandy, Jason and I checked out the Btwin cycels at Decathlon, Sarjapur road.

BT 5.1 had Rotating gear shifts which we weren't comfortable. The speed gear shift in 5.2 and above was pretty easy to operate. 5.2 is about 15.5K out there. Test ride on 5.2 was comfortable.

5.2 felt a bit lighter vs 5.1.

So the index shift seems to be a differentiator for 110 vs 5.1. Again 5.1 had regular mtb tyres. Trek-7100 too seem to have rotating gear shifts. Btwin's had front suspension Hercules 110 doesn't have.

Have to try 110 at the earliest.

Checking Out Cycles

bave been busy looking for cycles!! Have been reviewing the following:

Hercules Ryder ACT 110 MRP of about Rs. 10500

Trek 7100 MRP of about Rs. 20500

Bianchi Aeron Sport MRP of about 29500

At this moment it does look like the Hercules - should be deciding soon.

Have been reviewing quite some articles at http://www.bikeszone.com -> Cycling.

Not sure how imporant are disc brakes and front suspension - both of these are available in Hercules Ryders Act 109. Need to check before deciding.

It Rains finally!!

Whole of this season there was hardly any rain. This weekend and especially yesterday night the rain was damn good.

But it does come with the side effect of traffic jams the following day. Traffics blocked in regular routes withoug any notification.

Keeping it alive

Looks like a pretty big % of blogs are inactive!! Have to keep my blog alive for certain number of days to figure out what I can blog. One for sure is to write about the pathetic state of Roads for Pedestrians enroute my home to work.

Have been following Mint News paper for the last few days - have to get used to livemint.com as well. I liked the news format in this paper - its more like reading on the web rather than a typical newspaper. It does cover good amount of News on Finance [which is good enough for me] and covers a lot more on other news as well. For me Mint was pretty refreshing compared to the subsidized Economic Times I used to get along with the Times of India.

At the moment the panic level of Swine flu has been steadily increasing in and around me. Yesterday bengaluru reported the first death due to Swine flu.

At office, surprisingly, there has been quite some action in the last couple of days - including setting up alcohol based sanitizers!! But the biggest threat in offices might be the door handles - need to see if they can be kept sanitized.

Today happens to be an Ethnic day at work - to celebrate Independance day. Was definitely not in a great mood to dress up ethnic!

Blogiversary!!

Interesting to find that the "wee-b-log" is 10 years old!! It was a shame hadn't gotten into this blogging stuff earlier it seems!!

So this late night started this blog :-)