Mr A.S. Rao from Delhi had trouble transferring his daughter's Canara Bank savings account from Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh to a Gurgaon branch. Despite repeated reminders, when the account was not transferred, he expressed his angst on a consumer Web site that caught the attention of the bank's top officials. Three days later, the transfer was done.

For Canara Bank customers, it now pays to post their grievances against the bank or its officials on any consumer Web site. The bank, in a bid to proactively reach out to its customers, has identified six Web sites where such complaints can be posted.

“We have asked our executives to proactively look up these sites regularly and search for complaints against our bank, and address the issue,” Mr Jagdish Pai K.L., Executive Director, Canara Bank, told Business Line .

The bank looks at this as one way to leverage technology to reach out to its 37.5 million customers.

Addressing complaints

“Our customer service cell will be the monitoring wing of the bank,” he said. According to him, most complaints are regarding ATM cards, delay in sanctioning housing loans, delay in transfer of accounts and pension-related issues.

There are about three complaints a day now, he pointed out, adding that the bank will try to solve issues with a 72-hour turnaround time. The centralised customer service cell currently has three members, in addition to separate cells in each circle office of the bank.

“The six sites that we have identified are not exhaustive, and the circle should monitor such other sites for taking further action on matters regarding our bank,” said Mr Pai, adding, “We are in a services industry, and the attempt is to convince the customer that we are sensitive to their requirements.”

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW