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.
21 comments:
I am so happy I just closed my account with ICICI...
If you can unsubscribe 'before' 28th Feb, what's the issue?
@riddhi...whats the issue? Why arent they allowing me to unsubscribe rite away ? Why did they postpone the date from Jan to Feb?
To me this looks like that they are hoping that the customer will forget abt the subscription and end up paying for it. Its just a cheap shot.
What I meant was if the notification was that you can unsubscribe 'on or BEFORE 28th Feb', technically you should've been able to unsubscribe on 31st Jan, right?
@riddhi thats the point..the language is confusing rite...Practically it means that max by 28th Feb 2011 we will enable the unsubscribe function or we may choose to do it before that date.
Now you see, why I am so cross with them.
@Aditya... Were you able to unsubscribe from Money Manager successfully? I tried many times to unsubscribe, but could not find an option at all! I don't understand why people are being forced to use it!
Yes, I was able to unsubscribe but only after they had extended the time before which you could unsubscribe.
I don't even find unsubscribe button on the page! I called cust service, he asked me to send a mail at a mail id which doesn't exist!!! i am getting mad at icici. am stuck with useless money manager service
What is the link to unsubscribe?
hi,
by mistake i have subscribed to money manager .What should I do now .how to unsubscribe..please let me know..
how to unsubscribe.. please let me know
1. How to unsubscribe from Money Manager?
Login to ICICIBank.com, Under 'My Accounts' section, click on 'Go to Money Manager'. In the Money Manager tool, Click on 'Settings' tab on the top right corner. Click the 'Unsubscribe' button and click 'Unsubscribe' again to confirm.
I had unsubscribed from Money Manager a long time back (about 6 months). However, to my surprise, my account was debited Rs. 25 last month again. I then had a harrowing experience when I tried to explain my problem to a phone-banking officer. I would like to warn users against even trying out the Money Manager.
Also, I feel ICICI is trying dirty tricks to force the Money Manger on its users. Why else would it 'automatically' start charging users after the expiry of the trial period, without requiring them to confirm? How hard is it to put up a Yes/No button to activate the service?
ICICI BANK tends to BAD BANK
My money manager is activated without me doing anything except log in to my online account. At least I think so
I just get an sms frequently showing my balance and portfolio value. That's not money management !
I was charged 25+taxes for last 2 months. I am in no mood to argue with some stupid customer care executive. So I tried to unsubscribe. Unfortunately it says "The Money Manager service is currently not available. We request you to access the service after some time."> Wish me luck
ICICI BANK`S MONEY MANAGER SERVICE SUCKS... IT IS ACTIVATED WITHOUT ANY PRIOR REMINDER TO THE CUSTOMER ABOUT ITS USE OR CHARGES...
The recent shocker from the same moneymanager is that they had "Change of Venbdor" and hence deleted all historical data without any notification. You can only see information from ICICI bank... rest all gone
vivek ..
Agreed vivek..
hence i have unsubscribed to it and purchased similar software from Aditya Birla (myuniverse.co.in)
I never subscribed for this service and they charged me Rs.300 without any prior notice. ICICI bank break my trust.
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