I've already blogged about HSBC's thuggery and unscrupulous banking methods. The call I got today, however, completely took away the cake, the baker and the bakery for good measure.
HDFC wanted me to take their lifetime free Titanium credit card which apparently comes with a slew of great "features" (the CSR took more than a minute to describe them). I listened politely and then politely refused. The CSR, however, was persistent and began to tell me how very beneficial the card would be and ... At that point I politely told her that I had had a bad experience with "lifetime free" credit cards and didn't want another one.
She asked, was that an HDFC card I had problems with? No, I replied, that was HSBC. She brightened immediately. Ma'am, she began -- HDFC is different. Our lifetime free card is very different. It actually carries an annual fee of Rs 199. Only if you SPEND more than Rs 5000 within the first three months, you become eligible to call and ask for a waiver of the fee!
This would classify as funny if only it didn't seem so totally unethical.
well at least they didnt automatically sign u up for it without ur knowledge like hsbc did right? u actually listened to the entire offer of the credit card's features? u could've just said "no i'm not interested in credit cards at all thank u", simple
ReplyDelete@Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteThat's what I said at first. But that wasn't good enough for the CSR, who went on and on and finally spilled the beans about the lifetime free nature of the card.
Just a small advice for anyone reading this... as of today Oct 28, HDFC Bank's website does not list anything about the charges on this card. Here's the link:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.hdfcbank.com/personal/Cards/Credit_Cards/Titanium_Credit_Card/cc_prm_titanium.htm
@bagoffortune -- I was talking to a banker about this -- this is called "Spending Based Reversal" or SBR which the banks stretch to mean lifetime free.
ReplyDeleteHey it is very nice article. I like it very much. Thanks for it.
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