Beware.. and think..
a long post.. so bear with my thought process..
This is a scary and illegal tactic that DSA of credit card companies are following. And it made me think twice whether I am to be blamed for being who I am…in the larger scheme of things around me
I believe all of you are aware of how the process works. They get your number from some database, esp. social networking websites or promo websites, where you would have registered, which sell your name and number for profit to such marketing companies.
In my case, I came to know of the source because I had put my registration name as a unique one on Indiatimes.com and when I got calls, they addressed me with that name. Thus I could figure out the source of my data leak.
Coming back to the main point, the DSAs call up and tell you that you would be required to fill up the application of such and such card, after explaining the features of the card, ask relevant documents to support your application.
Remember, these documents that they ask for give them ALL the information they need to know about you - for they have access to a lot of background sources to know more about you.
So the DSA agent comes to take documents from you. This is one point where you need to be careful. They have forms of different types of credit cards so if you are not sure which card you were told on the phone about, you will be filling up the application of the wrong card. My case in point, this happened with Standard Chartered credit card application. But I figured the guy who came along was acting up to get me to sign the wrong form.
Here it gets a little ‘dirtier’. The StanChart card DSAs are playing another fraudulent trick. Have not come across this ‘yet’ with any other bank so my first time with this kind of experience.. On the phone, they did not mention about CPP (card protection program) that a customer has to MANDATORILY enroll for.
(esp. in today's times where there are so many risks that 'insurance' has become a part and parcel of how you can get someone to join the EMI/annual fees/ maintenance charges band-wagon! Besides, taking insurance itself has become a huge risk from which there is no further protection)
The CPP comes with an annual charge which the agents deliberately
skipped telling me about. When I filled my application form, I did not sign on
the terms and conditions for CPP.
Here came the tricky part.. I got a
verification call from the bank. I was asked specifically that since I enrolled
for the CPP, was I aware I will have to pay an annual fee for it.
(btw the verification call is a good process they have in this sense, as you can actually clarify what all things are mentioned in your application form).
I was told that I have signed the CPP T&C hence I should be aware of the fees... now this was a shock for me. I was suspicious for in my copy of the form, I did not sign for CPP… so what happened between then and now???
On calling back the DSA the guy sheepishly admitted that HE FORGED MY SIGNATURE. And he ALSO admitted that he did this to meet his targets since the bank was pushing them to sell CPP as the annual charges are waived off...
(are we sure the economic crisis is actually supposedly OVER.. oh wait, it is the recession that is supposedly coming to an end, who even thinks anymore now about the root cause that led to the big downfall)
On questioning him, he was absolutely nonchalant about it... saying
'theek hae sir,
aapko chahiye to
mein bank ko bol deta hoon ki card
process mat karo' ...
how conveniently he shifted his behavioral
responsibility on me - and doing me a favor of getting the application cancelled
because I said so..
--
...skipping the remaining events & sharing my thought
process ...
--
So coming to think from this series of events... If I extrapolate such activities across our changing 'evolving' social sector, I can't imagine what people at every level are doing - to earn some extra commission... to 'make' money... to get that bonus, to meet the targets/SLAs etc. etc.
for isn’t moolah the ONLY means left of justifying one's 'existance' on this planet now...
but at what cost, and what are the payoffs from this in the long run.. do people even have time to think of the long run, the long term gratification vs. the short term gratification factor? or things have made us all the proverbial "gerbill".. "running to stand still" with no thought of what we are doing and why and wht impact it will have on the surroundings?
It seems there is no connection between thought, Word and action.. words have lost their meaning,.. and I am beginning to believe I can't 'trust' 'someone's word' no more...people say something, they mean something else, they act in some other way and then forcefully justify each and every word and action.. in a way pushing me, the recipient, on the 'wrong side' of today's ways of being..
Millions of such questions come up in my head and disturbed me..
why?
Because I happen to be from the generation who were taught some
'values'..
‘maybe’?! or is there something more I am missing
here???
Do such events leave you with any faith in 'any system' that you are a part of today? if it does, pray explain how.
I wonder if we are living in a time where such things instead of being classified as problems have actually come to be accepted as the norms, normal way of being and doing.. and that people like me, have to change, have to go against my grain to 'fit into' the system..
Think.. where have we all come to and where do we go from here? and is someone to 'blame' for this or that we have to 'accept' this as the new way of life and adapt our own selves to 'ignore' all such events which go against the grain of what remains to be theoretically called - ‘values' ??
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