DON'T GO FOR AXIS Bank's Multi-curreny card to ensure Peaceful International Trip

I will keep it short to share why I discourage traveler community from using Axis Bank Multi-Currency card. Before I start sharing details, I have been traveling to US for business for 10 years now and few other places for my personal vacations. Majority of times I have used Thomas Cook card and adopted Axis Bank Multi-currency for last 1 year. One thing I can say promptly that during this one year, I had 3 international trips and during each trip I needed to reach out to Axis bank folks to get support for card not working, or some other things which bothers you when you are on road and that too in other country.  

Here are some of the top reasons, why I say this (this is short summary and then detailed story in the bottom of this post) : 

1. Their cards don’t work for random reasons at times and that embarrassing when you are done with shopping and there are people behind you in the queue for payment. Good part is that I always carry backup cards & cash so it works but still it gives you mental stress. 
2. Staff is extremely unprofessional : Whenever I interacted with Axis bank representative (not customer support but dedicated relationship manager for my corporate), they give you random reasons for not serving you well. Once they even thrown the excuse of demonetisation after 1 year of that event :). That was funny & all the times they throw illogical excuses. 
3. 2 Cards Scam : Over a period of time, they give you 2 cards and then charge fees for transferring the money. And also make money because buying conversation and selling conversation of dollars is different. Money deducted without telling and that too by charging fees... not big deal in terms of money but it shows how Axis Bank look at their commitments and care about their customer.
4. Overall services are not smooth and you would encounter hiccups in terms of communications/notifications etc. I had to call thrice and send various emails in 2 weeks when I was in US. I always have backup cards so not a big deal for me but imagine if such things happen with a person having Axis card only.

Now let me share the interesting part of this whole story, a little longer but worth a read to understand what kind of things companies like Axis do :

So when I started taking services from Axis Bank, I got my first card in Feb month this year and to be fair, things were fine overall. When I had to travel next time, Axis bank denied to add cash to existing cards and I had to carry cash for second trip. 

When I came back we had further discussions and after few rounds of discussions, we agreed to have another card but old amount would be transferred to new one. 

During the third trip, new card didn't work and it took 2 days to resolve it. Then I realised that old amount is yet to be transferred (after 1 month of the agreement and discussions). Reminded again and requested on email to transfer the remaining dollars from old card to new. After a few minutes I receive notification that amount has been deducted from old card but nothing about that it's added to new card.

Reminder again on email and then I receive 2 emails - one auto-generated mail with details of getting back money in rupees which means they applied transaction fees by using conversion rate of buying back the dollars which is different from selling conversation rate. Other email by the gentleman dealing with out company - he started the email that my expectations of speed of action from Axis bank are unrealistic and these things take time. And then suggested me to share my account details so that amount can transferred in INR, which was never an intention and he completely forgot about his commitment. 

I picked up my phone in US and called him - now this person starts giving reasoning which were completely opposite to what we had agreed upon. Now he was suggesting to not transfer the amount to new card because any conversation charges/fees will be applied etc. We went back to old conversation of 2 cards and the gentleman says that we had to give you 2 cards because first one was given before demonetisation so things changed after that, which is completely wrong info because I got the card in Feb while demonetisation happened last year.

This whole story tells how unprofessionally these guys & this organisation deals with customers. And it's not only about mental harassment but also monetary loss. I had very less amount which was required to be transferred. Imagine if I had $1000 in old card. Axis must have made 2000+ INR from me without a reason. 

Here I end my rant and state of mind as of now. But lesson learnt to opt for services which give you peace even at a little more cost. AXIS Bank - you ruined this trip for me and I will ensure that this doesn't happen again with my dear ones in my company & in my personal network. 

Only photograph used in this post is a screenshot from Axis Bank because that view would remind you of this horror story and the scams of this Bank.