ExpertDabbler

Some of you might know that I have a special affinity towards any financial products which entails low borrowing costs. That is how chit funds concept attracted me. The chit fund model is explained in detail.

Since low borrowing costs cannot come at the risk of high risk to the principle, I had no choice but to go with an established name like Shriram Chits.

My wife tested the waters by joining for a relatively small chit - Rs.1,00,000 running for 40 months where the monthly due is around Rs. 2500. Things were fine so long as we were paying the monthly dues. At one point, we thought we can take part in auction and bid, and if the bids are low for the month, maybe we can draw the funds for our use. Honestly there was no emergency/ critical need for the cash.

We took part in couple of auctions and we lost out due to more desperate customers, which is understandable. I was very clear that I will not take this money unless the terms were favorable to me. It is tough not to get swayed by the bidding frenzy in auctions. Nevertheless we were taking part in auction on monthly basis.

Eventually, we got through one auction. And that’s were I came to know the fine print in this deal. Apparently, after paying 20 months, to take my bid amount, the company needs some sort of security. For starters, they want two sureties - I was asked to give all my personal details like address proof, ID proof, pay slip, etc. This in addition to my wife’s personal details, ditto as above. In addition to the two, they wanted some government employee to provide surety. Now, this is where I got annoyed. I did not know any government employee close enough to provide their address proof, I’d proof along with their pay slip and also provide an undertaking(surety) for this amount. Eventually I decided not to stake my claim for the bid and asked the folks to give it to the next bidder. Of course none of this was known when I joined the chit. This factor definitely irritated me. Besides my irritation, In one way I was happy that this company was having adequate safeguards before giving out the chit amount.

We continued paying the due amounts until one fine day we participated in the auction and won the bid. This time the difference was I had one acquaintance who was government employed and who was willing to go the distance with me. Really nice of him.

So this time again I submitted all the documents, and staked my claim. There began the arduous journey. It took me two months and 20 visits to the Shriram branch office in , after submitting all the papers. Still there was no signs of it. One fine day I lost my patience and created a scene in the branch. The service levels were pathetic, the staff words especially the manager’s cannot be taken for granted. They lie with abandon and without remorse. The top management may be good.
Eventually I got my bid amount. Now, I do not see how the customer profile will improve if these guys provide service like this. Fortunately for me, there was no emergency, otherwise the customers are purely at god’s mercy. These guys are worse than government offices when it comes to doing work.

I still believe in the concept of chits, but not in the Shriram variety.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 17th, 2011 at 9:08 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.