sorry for such a long details, I m not creating any sides or promoting the banks, simply sharing our mental torture me n my mother been through n the lesson learned!!
subject: applied MCB debit Lite card (Mother's Account)
background: I m completing my ACCA and in order to pay examination fees (manual fees paid through online for f5-f9 subjects, F1-F4 is computer based exams n can be paid by cash n appear for exam any given time in month), i need to pay thru credit/debit card. anyhow i went to the official website to check from which banks i can pay the fees turns out i can pay through MCB and UBL, (i withdrawn all the amount from UBL account for good due to the branch being moved far away from our home from Metro Cash & Carry to Punjab University) so ultimately I decided to use MCB Debit card (normal card issued when account is being opened) entered the card number n other relevant details but the transaction was failed repeatedly, called the helpline n told the issue, they said that ur current card is not eligible for international transactions n for that u need to apply MCB Lite card in order to pay the fees, 1000 will be deducted and asked further information for maximum online transaction per day and how safe it is! so below is the rest of the fiasco:
8th September: booked MCB lite card n assured us that we will get it in 7 working days
17th September: 8 working days have passed called helpline and assured us once again that we will get it before EID!!
22nd September: called the helpline again, they said the card is in the bank where the account is! called the bank and the manager said: aapko card EID kay baad milega!!! humaray paas abhi koi lite card nahi hai!! dc'ed the phone instantly didnt bother to hear our problem!
29th sep-1st Oct: repeated calls to helpline and their same old crap reply: EID kay baad card issuance ka load bohot increase hogaya hai aap parayshaan na hoo Insha Allah miljayega!
15th October was the old date for standard fees submission and after that late fees will be charged so........ (by Grace of Allah the date was moved forward to 26th of October)
2nd Oct: got the card thru Tcs Finally!
my mother called the mcb helpine to activate the card immediately n she asked if i can pay the fees now, the agent congratulated us several times for choosing lite card and said now u can shop, pay online with no worries! I instantly log into my acca account and filled the formalities! as i CLICKED ON PAY! the same error came up!!! :@
Frustrated, called the Helpline again went thru 10-15 min on hold, some agent Name Miss ***** attended the call, told the situation again (dozen times) went thru same procedure (ID Card number, Account Number, Secret question) and her response was to my mother: KYA AAP apni Taqreer band kersakti hain! my mother got shocked while i was beside her n told me what the hell is wrong with them! she hung up the phone after keeping us hold for 2-3 minutes!!!
called them again after a while, asked 1001 crappy questions for security reasons (lol!) this time my mother proudly told me that i have memorized my NIC number, ACCOUNT number and Lite card number due to their nuisance!!! well they said it that this card is not merged with the account holder's account and it is like a prepaid card (top up and shop) and maximum online shopping limit is 15k!!!!!
while i have to pay the fees in 30k amount along with the other charges which they clearly lied that we will not charge an extra penny, means no FED or other charges!
finally it was concluded that it will take another 7 WORKING days to get us to level 2 card which will increase the online transaction limit to 200,000 and the account will be attached as well in that period!
8th October: we got a call from MCB that ur request to upgrade to Level 2 has been rejected due to following reasons
1- need to show salary certificate or other legal source of income documents to upgrade to level 2
2- remittance is not considered as salary (previously they mentioned that it was considered as income but now they refused)
This time my mother was furious and called the bank manager after keeping her hold for 30 minutes, he answered told the problem again n he said: abhi deekhta hun is issue ko, dont worry aapko thori dair mein inform kerta houn, funny part he didnt bother to asked the account number n card number n my mother sarcastically asked that how will u resolve the issue without asking details! he apologized and wrote the details n hung up immediately! then we didnt heard from him at all after repeated calls n some incompetent employee answer it told the same problem again n their reply: ohhooo Miss mujhay to pata nahi aapkay maslay aap aisa karay aik ghantay baad try karay!
Conclusion:
they were adamant that we need to show the certificate then we will proceed with the upgrade, made a serious complain to head office about this problem, made a complain against soo called manager & helpline lady agent. since then they are calling us that shall we finish the complain u made against us as ur problem is resolved! we said no as we want our 1000 back for making us fool n havnt been told clearly about the terms n conditions!!!
result: went to UBL branch in PU skipping my morning class which i didnt want too, reactivated the account, deposited the amount asked few questions about charges n online access, got 12 hours internet access for 100 + 14 fed, went home entered the details again (4th time) and VOILA transaction successful!!!!!!!!! mother decided to withdraw all the amount quietly once she gets new account number in another bank. total pathetic n have no work ethics at all!!!
verdict: most of the banks are issuing new types of card schemes without providing enough details or basic requirement! seems banks are making money through this scheme. I blame my self that i should have gone to UBL at first place but due to time constraints (work+study) i was unable to resolve the matter! paying with credit card is easier but i dont have or plan to use one ever! having horrible experience with my father never ending debts with credit cards!!! So i recommend everyone to ask all questions before applying for it!
