Saturday, November 27, 2010

NOW CUSTOMER CAN COMPLAIN AT SMS ALSO


Hyderabad, November 25: The customers of State Bank of India across the country will soon be able to resolve most of their in complaints within 48 hours. SBI will be launching SMS-based complaint redressal system in all its 14 regional circles in about a month, a top official of SBI told Business Line.

“The trial-run of the system has also been completed in many circles except in Andhra Pradesh where it has been launched about a year-ago under the name ‘SMS Unhappy'”, he said.  Under the system, the aggrieved customers can send ‘unhappy' as SMS to a number to be provided from their registered mobile number which will be responded by an immediate phone call from the central control room of bank.

The nature of complaint would be electronically registered which can be accessed and monitored from the branch level staff to top management. Needless to say, SBI was convinced about the efficacy of this facility and the positive response from the customers in Andhra Pradesh. In last eleven months, 25,000 complains were received out of which 65 per cent of them were solved in 48 hours while it took five days to address 15 per cent of them, according to the data available with SBI.

Requests such as issue of duplicate ATMs cards could take little longer time due to procedures, the official said. At present, majority of complaints pertained to pension and ATM-related issues followed by internet banking, among others, he added.

Feedback

Apart from grievance redressal, the system would provide another channel for feedback or whistle-blowing.  “This is very simple and easy mechanism. A complaint will also be closed on the central server only after a customer declares that he/she is happy,” he said.

Some customers who were benefited by it also agree. “I was denied a locker despite repeated requests. I sent SMS. Interestingly, I got the call from the branch manager when I was stepping out of the branch and my problem was solved,” Mr H.M. Murthy, a SBI customer, told Business Line.

Interestingly, the success of the system in SBI, AP had already inspired others to adopt the system. Recently, Andhra Bank, State Bank of Hyderabad and SBI Life have launched similar facility for their customers though with different names.

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