Barclays Bank:Customer service or disservice?

Dubai:  A bounced cheque has led to an unsavoury exchange of words between a bank's call centre employee and an Indian resident with threats, insults and recriminations being hurled.

The incident

The incident took place on January 28 when a Barclays Bank staff called up Ayush Sasidharan regarding a bounced cheque for a loan payment of Dh1,565. Since Sasidharan, a businessman, was in Kenya at that time, his wife Divya Balakrishnan Ayush took the call. "He [the call centre agent] informed me about the bounced cheque and penalty to which I responded by saying that the payment would be made ASAP," said Divya. "The call could have ended there, but that's not what happened."

Divya said it was just a one-off incident of a bounced cheque as they have always paid without fail in the past. "The agent started shouting at me for not being serious." A female at the call centre also chimed in from the background, -- "yeah, like husband … like wife?"

On February 6, Divya lodged a complaint with the bank, prompting officials to review the recordings. "We have investigated the matter and have taken necessary steps to ensure this incident will not occur again," said the spokesperson.