Every three months, Mohsin Hossain paid a visit to Premier Bank’s
Green Road branch to draw returns from his savings scheme worth Tk 18
lakh.
“But one day when I went to the branch to collect my returns, I was told there were no funds in my account,” he said yesterday at the unveiling of Bangladesh Bank’s (BB) customer service division’s annual report for fiscal 2012-13.
Shocked, Mohsin contacted the branch’s high officials, who asked him to come after 5pm. He did, only to be told to come after three days.
Three days later, Mohsin was advised to come after a month. Out of despair, he called in the Premier Bank branch several times over the next two months, but in vain.
Frustrated and aggrieved, he contacted BB’s customer service department for intervention, which, at long last, brought him some relief. “Thanks to them [BB's customer service centre's], my money has been retrieved.”
Hasna Begum, a customer of Prime Bank, had a similar story to share at the event.
“I went to the branch to take out money from my savings account, but was told that the amount had already been withdrawn from an ATM booth—I was stunned.”
She shuttled between the bank branch and its head office over the next three months. Still, she could not find out where and how her funds vanished off to.
At her wits’ end, Hasna contacted the BB customer service department, who got her money back.
Mohsin and Hasna are not alone to have suffered harassment in the hands of commercial banks last fiscal year. There were about 2,200 in the same boat as them.
In fiscal 2012-13, the financial integrity and customer services department of BB received a total of 4,296 complaints from public, up 70 percent year-on-year.
Of them, 51.47 percent were general banking services, ranging from loans and advances and remittance to mobile banking and bank cards.
Nonpayment of accepted bills brought in next most complaints.
The department managed to solve 2,941, or 68.45 percent, of the complaints received last fiscal year.
To safeguard the interests of customers, BB earlier in March 2011 introduced a help desk, which was renamed to Customers’ Interests Protection Centre in September of that year.
To meet the rising number of complaints, the central bank on July 25, 2012 transformed the centre into an independent department known as the financial integrity and customer services department.
“But one day when I went to the branch to collect my returns, I was told there were no funds in my account,” he said yesterday at the unveiling of Bangladesh Bank’s (BB) customer service division’s annual report for fiscal 2012-13.
Shocked, Mohsin contacted the branch’s high officials, who asked him to come after 5pm. He did, only to be told to come after three days.
Three days later, Mohsin was advised to come after a month. Out of despair, he called in the Premier Bank branch several times over the next two months, but in vain.
Frustrated and aggrieved, he contacted BB’s customer service department for intervention, which, at long last, brought him some relief. “Thanks to them [BB's customer service centre's], my money has been retrieved.”
Hasna Begum, a customer of Prime Bank, had a similar story to share at the event.
“I went to the branch to take out money from my savings account, but was told that the amount had already been withdrawn from an ATM booth—I was stunned.”
She shuttled between the bank branch and its head office over the next three months. Still, she could not find out where and how her funds vanished off to.
At her wits’ end, Hasna contacted the BB customer service department, who got her money back.
Mohsin and Hasna are not alone to have suffered harassment in the hands of commercial banks last fiscal year. There were about 2,200 in the same boat as them.
In fiscal 2012-13, the financial integrity and customer services department of BB received a total of 4,296 complaints from public, up 70 percent year-on-year.
Of them, 51.47 percent were general banking services, ranging from loans and advances and remittance to mobile banking and bank cards.
Nonpayment of accepted bills brought in next most complaints.
The department managed to solve 2,941, or 68.45 percent, of the complaints received last fiscal year.
To safeguard the interests of customers, BB earlier in March 2011 introduced a help desk, which was renamed to Customers’ Interests Protection Centre in September of that year.
To meet the rising number of complaints, the central bank on July 25, 2012 transformed the centre into an independent department known as the financial integrity and customer services department.
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