Sunday, 15th August 2021, I had gone shopping for electronics for my farmhouse, I used my American Express credit card for paying for them. I usually have a habit of paying off my credit card immediately after using it. So, while I was waiting for a table at the restaurant, I opened the Cred app to pay off my Amex credit card. Since it was a high value transaction, I had to pay via net banking instead of the UPI method I usually use.
Here is where my set of problems started
1. CRED allows directly to pay only via net banking and not via debit card
2. So I tried to pay via IDFC net banking and the net banking interface/integration of IDFC is probably the worst among most banks in India
3. I entered the credentials and yes it was wrong in the first attempt due to bad interface, I again tried to enter the correct password and it went through.
4. By then, CRED declared the transaction failed and bank debited the money.
5. I immediately called the bank, they said if the transaction failed it should return in 24 hours or 5-7 days.
6. I tried to check with CRED to ensure money is not stuck in their authorization queue, CRED bot said the money was not received as the transaction failed.
7. I didn’t get the credit back to my account, since there was no other way to reach out to CRED other than bot, I posted on twitter. Got a response requesting details of the transaction.
8. They confirmed that transaction didn’t come through and it’s not with them, I need to check with my bank.
9. Tuesday evening, I get a call saying, there was confusion, and the money was indeed stuck with CRED. They told me that they will instantly refund if I set up my instant refund account (nice one to get bank account details). I set it up while on the call, the agent said he has done the transfer and it should be credited in about 2 hours if not immediately.
10. Wednesday morning and nothing in my account yet, so I DMed them and no response, I checked with the bank, and they said they have no information.
11. Thursday went on a twitter rant, finally get a DM saying this is the UTR and I need to check with my bank. When I gave the UTR to my bank, they said it doesn’t match the RTGS/NEFT UTR format. Again, tried my luck via twitter, after half a day of struggle and tagging Kunal, RBI, talking about taking legal route, I get a response via DM that the UTR is from payment gateway, and I should wait for the credit to my bank then they will send me the UTR.
Here are the issues with CRED
1. When a company deals with financial transactions, not having a customer care number/email and leaving the customers at the mercy of bots. This is by far the worst customer experience
2. When the money is stuck in the middle, it is important to give clear information to the customer.
3. The CRED faltered so many times, initially saying transaction failed and no way they have the money, second saying they have the money, and they will instantly refund and money will be credited immediately, third we have refunded but it takes 5-7 days. How can such conflicting information be given?
My question to CRED is simple, how does someone deal with the fact that they are paying their credit card bill on the last day and the money gets stuck. Imagine the financial loss for the person. I don’t think the anxiety of hard-earned money getting stuck is worth any CRED coins at all.
People who run apps that deal with money need to a lot more empathetic and responsible. This shows that every company treats its users as commodities. I am sorry but the brand voice or PR angle versus the reality are way apart. The brand talks about building trust, they call everyone cheaters and want to show if there are any hidden charges etc but they have no accountability or responsibility towards their users.
I am not the one to say, I will never use the app etc but I hope they really fix these things, I could afford my money getting stuck for a week or so but not sure if many people would be able to afford that.
#CRED #Banking #Fintech #CX
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