I am so angry at ICICI Bank for trying to force its customers to use the Money Manager software on its Internet Banking offering.
Ok, so a little background first....around New Year's time (or atleast thats when I noticed it) ICICI Bank introduced a service called Money Manager on their Online Banking system. The way I see it, it is a personal finance software which aims to help with your day to day expenses. I think its quite neat as a concept and its bound to catch on with other banks having a substantial retail base.
This is fine but there is a catch to it. The Bank has decided to charge for the software (25 rupees per month) after an initial trial period of 90 days. So far so good, the Bank can do what ever it pleases as long as it makes the rules clear upfront. Obviously, I am not interested in the software as I dont want ICICI Bank to charge me Rs. 300 a year for a software that I personally will not use.
So, whats the way out? Thankfully there is a way out! Customers can unsubscribe from the service. Hey but, whats this. I cannot unsubscribe before 31st Jan 2011 ? Really !? Weird. So I put a reminder on my phone to unsubscribe from the software on 1st Feb 2011. When I visit Money Manager on 1st Feb 2011, surprise - surprise. The unsubscribe date has been postponed to "on or before 28th Feb 2011". What a cheap, underhand trick.
They think, by forcing people to remain subscribed to the service they can induce customers to use their software. No it does not... It makes people mad. And it makes them write a blog about the horrible experience and let their friends know about it.
And oh yes, I have updated my calendar and shifted the date to 28th Feb 2011.
