Have to send attested ID? | ICICI Bank | Discussion forum

Craig's experience is similar to mine. I opened an account on line, indicated that we wanted it a joint account, sent the initial deposit cheques as requested (2 - one for each of us) and received immediately a confirmation and two temporary confirmation numbers.

The account was eventually opened (took two weeks to get the "kit" and access on line), and everything was fine, until I asked if the account was set up as a joint account. It was not! They wanted ID from my wife. Initially they were stonewalling any inquiry and it began to look like discrimination against females, something one could believe, based on where their head office is.
This all started May 4th, 2008, and I only just about now have resolved this issue with many calls and e-mails, elevating the matter (they are very reluctant to let you "move up" and are very secretive about names and contact info). Yesterday I finally talked a CS operator into giving me a 416 number and a real name (first names only). I still need to find out who runs this outfit and get to someone at the top!
As far as I can tell -- and I have several stories -- the account was not made joint, since a flag went up on my wife's information. We think, there's a note on her Equifax info that one of her credit cards was compromised a year ago. Normally this would then be in our interest - so why not tell us up front, and the matter would have been resolved long ago?!
But true to form, nobody at ICICI would really tell us what was wrong, and only yesterday I found that sending in a copy of her driver's licence and her Health card was still not enough: the driver's license is okay, but the Health card (with picture) is not. The e-mail however did not indicate what "other" piece of ID they wanted. Only after I spoke again to an operator - she was the best of the lot I encountered so far - I found out they want a copy of her SIN card or Birth certificate.
Why they could not tell us right away, is beyond me, as it would have saved literally hours on the phone and a dozen e-mail exchanges.

My info they took from the on-line application, no questions asked.

And yes, the music on hold is very annoying!

I went to the Vancouver branch after waiting 2 weeks for my ID to be received and the account opened. CS was telling me that they had not received my ID. So after getting to the branch and telling them that the phone support said that the ID had not been received, the initial answer I got from the teller was "that's impossible". That's it. She just kept on working on whatever she was doing and let me hang there with that answer.

After a few seconds where I was waiting for a bit more information, I asked what she meant, and she said that it is sent by internal mail so it should have gotten there. Again, she left me hanging with that answer. I told her that obviously that was not true because they hadn't received it. She just kept saying that it should get there soon. I kept saying that 2 weeks is pretty long already and if they haven't received it yet, then there is something wrong with their infallible internal mail system.

So after some back and forth, I got her to agree to contact them to see what the problem was. I asked her to call right there, so that I could also be there and provide whatever info I needed to provide. She said that they don't pick up the phone at the head office and she would email them instead. She didn't bother to ask for my contact information so that she could follow up with me. She said that they would figure it out. Looks like I"ll have to make another trip to the branch in a few days. Not liking service at the Vancouver branch.

update: I ended up sending in a copy of my wife's SIN card, not"confirmed", and was told yesterday, that the account is now joint. I had other contacts with their CS in the time leading up to this, and was given different versions of what's required. at one point they wanted to open a separate account for my wife, which is not what I tried to do.
Next week my wife should receive her "welcome package" according to the CS rep yesterday. We'll wait and see.
conclusion - they are really not ready for doing business here, but the rate is good and up to the limit insured.......