This is a serious of frustrating things that I have experienced in various Government and PSU interactions
1) Online Grievance redressal with Chennai Corporation - Was very happy that the Chennai Corporation has a facility to raise any issues online. I raised a concern about the newly constructed storm water drains one night. The next day morning the ticket was closed and I received an SMS for the same. I was very happy with the speed of the response. Went to see what actually they have done, to see that nothing has changed. I was confused and logged in online to see an update "Action will be taken" and the ticket closed. They have strict SLAs I believe not for fixing the issue but only to close the tickets.
2) Property Tax Payment with Chennai Corporation - I had paid the property tax regularly and they started tracking the payment data online. I was happy with the digitization. However, they missed one of my payments that I made few years back. Went to the zonal office and gave them a letter with a copy of the bill. They said we will send the letter to Rippon building office and not sure when it will be acted on. They said don't pay the property tax till the issue is resolved as the system will take any payments that I make for that period which they claim was missed out. I have an outstanding of 3 years and I have sent a reminder also still no response. Second issue is why are there charges for paying the property taxes online? Aren't we saving their effort by paying online? Shouldn't they be giving a discount, which actually BSNL does for online payments. They give a 1% discount on the bill if either you pay online or
3) Indian Bank - My mom still uses the services of Indian Bank. The bank opens at 10 am daily, so we cannot go before we get to work on weekdays. Saturday is the only day we can go. Every time I go there for getting entries in the pass book, the teller says don't come on Saturdays. If you send an statement in mail why will I come to the bank regularly? They also shout at us if we don't get the passbook updated frequently. I have a joint account with my mom and we finally decided to apply for a debit card for my mom. The debit card came in my name I went to the bank to complain. The teller say it is ok to use the debit card even if it's in my name. What security!!! Then I explained, what will happen if my mom uses a debit card in my name in a shop. Then they agreed to change the card and reissue one in my mother's name. After waiting for a couple of weeks got an SMS that the card is ready. Went to the bank to see that it's again in my name. Decided that there is no point in complaining again. Next decided to apply for internet banking so that I don't run into such issues. Applied in my name this time but this time the PINs came in my mother's name. Bottom line in case of joint accounts, if you apply one thing in one holders name you will get it for the other holder :)
Not all instances are bad, let me share some experiences where they have learnt
1) Ration card - Addition of my son's name - I just googled what has to be done and went to the zonal office and gave a form. They said it will take 1 month to get the addition done and asked us to come after a month. Exactly after a month's time went and got the ration card with the addition done. Even though 1 month is a long time, was happy that the work got done without multiple follow ups
2) Experiences at RTO - Went for a few things like change of address in DL, RC and cancellation of hypothecation in RC. Every time as long as we follow the process that is laid out, everything got done with just one visit. Also happy that the money spent was very low than what we will do when we go through the agents.
1) Online Grievance redressal with Chennai Corporation - Was very happy that the Chennai Corporation has a facility to raise any issues online. I raised a concern about the newly constructed storm water drains one night. The next day morning the ticket was closed and I received an SMS for the same. I was very happy with the speed of the response. Went to see what actually they have done, to see that nothing has changed. I was confused and logged in online to see an update "Action will be taken" and the ticket closed. They have strict SLAs I believe not for fixing the issue but only to close the tickets.
2) Property Tax Payment with Chennai Corporation - I had paid the property tax regularly and they started tracking the payment data online. I was happy with the digitization. However, they missed one of my payments that I made few years back. Went to the zonal office and gave them a letter with a copy of the bill. They said we will send the letter to Rippon building office and not sure when it will be acted on. They said don't pay the property tax till the issue is resolved as the system will take any payments that I make for that period which they claim was missed out. I have an outstanding of 3 years and I have sent a reminder also still no response. Second issue is why are there charges for paying the property taxes online? Aren't we saving their effort by paying online? Shouldn't they be giving a discount, which actually BSNL does for online payments. They give a 1% discount on the bill if either you pay online or
3) Indian Bank - My mom still uses the services of Indian Bank. The bank opens at 10 am daily, so we cannot go before we get to work on weekdays. Saturday is the only day we can go. Every time I go there for getting entries in the pass book, the teller says don't come on Saturdays. If you send an statement in mail why will I come to the bank regularly? They also shout at us if we don't get the passbook updated frequently. I have a joint account with my mom and we finally decided to apply for a debit card for my mom. The debit card came in my name I went to the bank to complain. The teller say it is ok to use the debit card even if it's in my name. What security!!! Then I explained, what will happen if my mom uses a debit card in my name in a shop. Then they agreed to change the card and reissue one in my mother's name. After waiting for a couple of weeks got an SMS that the card is ready. Went to the bank to see that it's again in my name. Decided that there is no point in complaining again. Next decided to apply for internet banking so that I don't run into such issues. Applied in my name this time but this time the PINs came in my mother's name. Bottom line in case of joint accounts, if you apply one thing in one holders name you will get it for the other holder :)
Not all instances are bad, let me share some experiences where they have learnt
1) Ration card - Addition of my son's name - I just googled what has to be done and went to the zonal office and gave a form. They said it will take 1 month to get the addition done and asked us to come after a month. Exactly after a month's time went and got the ration card with the addition done. Even though 1 month is a long time, was happy that the work got done without multiple follow ups
2) Experiences at RTO - Went for a few things like change of address in DL, RC and cancellation of hypothecation in RC. Every time as long as we follow the process that is laid out, everything got done with just one visit. Also happy that the money spent was very low than what we will do when we go through the agents.
..you are right in all you said....when will govt servants start working?bank staff are also like that... solution is not in the vicinity:(
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