Life as I find it

Recently, I created a current account with HDFC bank for my business - Wide Aware. Its convenient. Yes, but there are some problems people might want to watch out for.

Using the Netsafe account for online purchases is a prime example. What basically happens with this is that you purchase a Netsafe card which is a one time thing and use the data from that card to do your shopping, so that you don’t end up sharing your real card details.

Great! Now comes the glitch. You need to put a maximum limit on your card. The maximum limit is debited from your account!!! Not your purchase amount. Your balance statement shows the purchase of a Netsafe card rather than your actual purchase. So, if like me you use it to activate your Paypal account and put a generous limit on your card in your ignorance, what you get is a loss of Rs.1000/- (for example) with the added pain that you can’t activate your account, because the 4 digit code that you should get will not come into your bank statement at all.

I see this as a horrible service, since no one tells you that the maximum limit you put on your card is going to get indefinitely debited from your account. Its 44 days since I made the payment, and I have yet to see any kind of refund of the balance. How’s that for a reliable banking experience?

I have phones the bank 4 times about this. The first time, I was told that it takes a month from the purchase for the Netsafe balance to return to the account. Then I called after the month was over. Their computers were down. Then I called again. They said they would look into it. Then I called again and was told that the baking executive would get back to me within a day or two. It has been a week since that. I have also used their contact form to email them about this, and have received a nice email of thank you for contacting them and their representative will get back to me.

I am now in the process of wondering if its worthwhile to bother with this any more or should I simply shut down my account and approach consumer courts? Wouldn’t this be fraud?

So folks, big banking names are not necessarily more reliable with your money. Be careful with your hard earned money even when it is in the bank.

Update:

It tool almost a month, but my balance WAS refunded.

Wisetechie has shared this link and information:

When does the source account get debited - at the time of creation of NetSafe Card or at the time of purchase payment ?

The amount gets debited at the time of creation of the NetSafe Card.

What happens if I do not use the NetSafe Card at all or if I use only part of the NetSafe Card amount?

For a completely unused NetSafe card created from your Credit Card, the amount is credited back at end of validity period. For Netsafe cards created from your Debit Card, the amount will be credited back in 3 working days to the source account.

In case the NetSafe Card was partially utilized, the balance amount gets credited to the source account within 7 days (for Netsafe Card created from Credit card) or at the end of 35 days (for Netsafe card created from Debit Card) from the date of transaction.

Thank you!

So, you want to earn more faster, get better clicks, etc. Join the club.

I’m just sharing a few of the things that seem to work for me and are relatively hassle free.

• Write, write, write. Not like this blog. Write regularly. This brings regular visitors to your blog and helps the search engines keep their attention on you.
• Don’t worry too much about super planned keywords and content. Of course, be relevant, but write naturally. Cramming keywords into an unintelligible mess is not going to make visitors want to visit.
• Its far easier to write three quick and easy posts than try and include all the keywords you want into the one post. Reads more natural, more posts for less time.
• Focus on more than the money. Like they say men can smell a needy woman from far and run away, so can a visitor. You don’t want to give, don’t be surprised if people don’t want to stay
• Enjoy your writing. Write with passion. If you’re passionate about subjects that attract better ads, great. If not, enjoy even then!
• Think of angles you can include in your posts that sell better.
• Read around to see what others are doing, incorporate when you can, but if you find yourself obsessed, think of the posts you could write in the same time you spend nit picking.
• SEO happens automatically if your writing is clear and concise. If you’re not good with writing, work on that. It will help you with readers, search engines and ads.

I was wondering if I should write something about adsense and revenue.Discussion forums all around are full of stuff about how you can fix up your site so that it earns better revenue, more search engine hits and what not. While I understand that it makes sense to do things in a way that it facilitates earning, it doesn’t make sense for people to go overboard with it.

I haven’t counted clicks, I have no clue how many page views I get at the moment, I rarely tweak content on my site unless I get feedback about it or I change my mind about something on the site. Still, my earnings keep rising slowly, but steadily. Queries for work are increasing also slowly but steadily. Perhaps there is some truth to content being king.

Every where we talk about adsense, and we have people complaining about their CTR going low through smart pricing. I don’t know. My earnings have increased, and if this is about reducing false clicks, I’m all for it. I’m happy to see advertisers getting what they pay for, so that they come back and spend more

I have discovered something extremely alarming about the online payments of MTNL. If you use a credit card to pay your MTNL bills online, please note that it is not a fast and convenient way as one would assume. Apparently, clearing up your bill will debit your card immediately, but takes 7 days to reflect in your MTNL account, so in the meanwhile, if some smart guy there decides to disconnect your phone, its a communication exercise for a week to get it started again.

From the conversations we are having with their help desk, regardless of the reason for disconnecting your phone, to restart it with negotiations and you begging every step of the way, it will take a week, and otherwise, it will take seven days.

It happens only in these government institutions where an online payment is slower than a cheque being deposited. Talk about sarkari inefficiency!!! Their whole attitude with this tone of inevitability reminds me of my nephews bedwetting problems as a child, where he was very sorry for peeing in the night, but he couldn’t help it. Luckily, with age, he grew out of it, while these institutions are only developing more and more excuses to be able to use the word “sorry”. “Sorry for disconnecting the phone, sorry for your discomfort and it will be started within a week!”

So folks, before any of you go through this pain, please remember that if you need to pay an MTNL bill in a hurry, DON’T use the online payment. It may sound instant, but it is not - the ancient organization hasn’t yet figured out about life in the 21st century and credit cards and stuff. They probably think that it is a magic trick or something and you are fooling them when you say you have paid instantly. How could such a thing be possible?

To make things work fast, you have to pay like you would 40 years ago - go to an ATM, withdraw cash, drop everything you are doing to be able to land in their payment centre in office timings, hand over cash and stand there while they immediately get your phone started again.