Kotak Securities and the art of differential scrip pricing...

Kotak Securities has a lot of holes in its software. When you login to Kotak Securities and go to a scrip that you have under the "marketwatch" link, you have a list of securities that you are interested in. Kotak has different prices for the scrip under the "Open" heading.

When you click on a scrip like "Shaw Wallace Industries", It shows you
the "High Price" as 178.00
the "Low Price" as 170.30
the "Open Price" as 174.25
the "LT Price" as 260.00 (last traded prices is Rs 260!!!)
the "% Change" as 50.99

Thus customers are mislead into beleiving that "Shaw Wallace Industries" has gained 50.99% today!!! Even if they did design their software for the lowest price possible, how exactly did they overlook the fact that a scrip cannot gain 50% in a single day??

www.moneycontrol.com clealy shows that the stock opened in the same range and that this price of Rs 178 is a couple of months updated....

But that is not all... Kotak claim the stock of Hotel Leela went down by 10.05% yesterday....

High 48.70
Low 47.00
Open 48.40
Close 47.75
Last Change No Change
% Change -10.05
LT Price 42.95
LT Qty 75

"Think Investments, Think Kotak"


Visit http://kotakscam.blogspot.com for screenshots of the differetial pricing model that scammed me

My email to Kotak on August 30, 2007

From: *****
Subject: Re: Response awaited..
To: narendra.agrawal@kotak.com
CC: Hemal Vakil //Kotak/Bank ,
Ajit Pillai //Kotak /Bank ,
Mayank Patel //Kotak /Bank ,
Narendra Agrawal //Kotak /Bank ,
Sujit Sood //Kotak /Bank ,
"ajay.sondhi@kotak.com" ,
"ajaykumar.kv@kotak.com" ,
"arpit.desai@kotak.com" ,
"c.jayaram@kotak.com" ,
"chetan.dave@kotak.com" ,
"dipak.gupta@kotak.com" ,
"gaurang.shah@kotak.com" ,
"jignesh.thakkar@kotak.com" ,
"rohan.shankar@kotak.com" ,
"swati.singh@kotak.com" ,
"uday.kotak@kotak.com"


Mr. Agarwal,

I am still waiting for a reply. You have SMSed me twice, but I still dont see a resolution remotely in sight. I'm sorry I'm having to trouble you so much, but I'm just an insignificant customer of yours. This actually is my last attempt at trying to talk to Kotak; not that I have received exceptional service or gratification, but just giving you guys an opportunity to set things right because I have had a relationship of three years with you.

I however am absolutely revolted by the fact that someone in your bank management, a Mr. Prakash Naik, or a Prakash Nair, called up *****, asking my university to intervene. I am disgusted by the fact that an institution such as yours would stoop to such levels. Instead of apologizing for the way you have responded to two written requests from me and setting things right, you choose to have different people call my institute and try to leverage the fact that you are a recruiter at *****. You sit at the end of a phoneline and say "resolve amicably"; does this mean that I suck on my thumb and kiss my losses goodbye? Your ineptitude cost me Rs 61000/- and you expect me to overlook it because you recruit at *****? So if I get a rash by using a cake of soap tomorrow, I don't talk to the company because HLL recruits from my college? Please remember that you are not doing us a favor by recruiting at *****, you recruit here because the quality of education is good and ***** students are an asset to you and perform well once recruited by Kotak.

I resent the fact that my attempts at communicating with you are being referred to as "childish" and am happy that Mr Prakash Nair (or Naik) has come clean and suggested that I take this up legally. We are both aware of how much time it takes to get things legally sorted out in India, and this is exactly what you choose to hide behind right now rather than own up to your mistakes. The least that anyone in your organization could do is grow the balls required to apologize and make good my losses.

I will very shortly launch an advertising campaign to educate customers on the inadequacies of Kotak. You have already cost me a considerable sum of money and I am willing to spend more money. I would suggest that you please read the newspapers more carefully next week. I am working on a website also for this purpose. I will send you the link shortly. This email will be posted on my blog as well; be ready to kiss your reputation goodbye.

Its time for you to find out the hard way what determination backed by a lot of money can do...

Goodbye

*****


visit http://kotakscam.blogspot.com for details on how Kotak Securities scammed me with its differential scrip pricing

Kotak telephones my institute asking them to intervene ...

The Sr. Vice President of Kotak, Mr. Prakash Naik, has a most unique way of addressing customer issues... He doesn't ....

After 15 years of staying with Kotak, Mr. Naik has a deep sense of responsibility and has "winning at all costs" ingrained in his conscience. He handles the situation as best as he can...

He calls up everybody he knows in my institute and trys to leverage the fact that they recruit at my institute. I always thought that recruiters come on campus because they can interview and recruit a lot of qualified manpower at one go...

But Kotak begs to differ. They actually try to leverage this in their favor and talk to a lot of people in my institute asking them to "intervene" ...

The sheer magnitude of this loyalty baffles me ...

visit http://kotakscam.blogspot.com for details on how Kotak Securities scammed me with its differential scrip pricing

The negotiations...

I was privileged to play host to none other than Mr. Narendra Agarwal, Associate Vice President, of our illustrious Kotak Bank on Saturday, September 25, 2007. He already knew where my institute was located ("I come there every year for placements!") so found his way without difficulty. He listened to me patiently and promised to get back with a solution on Monday, September 27, 2007. His only question really was, "Do you want an overdraft or are you looking for compensation." I explained to him clearly that I was looking at compensation because as a result of Kotak's incompetence, I had lost the opportunity to invest in three very successful IPOs. He promised to get back with a resolution.

Come Monday, there was no reply. I sent him an email On Tuesday, I got a message at 23:00 that stated that he was in Rajkot so would get back on Wednesday. On Wednesday I sent them another email (see next post for the email) and on Friday finally was honored to meet him in person. He brought with him a letter from Kotak giving me their best offer.... hold your breath.....


90% of my security of Rs 61000 as an overdraft at 8% ....

I couldn't believe my ears.... their best offer was the same as their Branch Manager's !!!!

Honestly, its about time everybody banked with Mickey Mouse... he surely will deliver better service ....


Visit my blog http://kotakscam.blogspot.com to see how I was scammed by the Kotak Securities differential scrip pricing model

Kotak Vice President threatens physical violence

I'm sorry I have not been able to write any new posts in some time, but its just that Kotak decided to come to the negotiating table and requested that I do not write any blogs in the meantime. Their Vice President, Mr. Prakash Naik, who apparently heads Gujarat went to the extent of proclaiming "I am very loyal to Kotak. I am even willing to spend Rs 20000 to Rs 30000" to sort this out. Strong words indeed, but then again isn't it truely admirable that Kotak Bank instills in its employees such a high level of committment that they are willing to spend their own personal money to cover up service issues and protect the "holier than thou" brand image?

I sincerely hope that every organization in this country has such dedicated and efficient managers. We won't even need a court of law. Everything will be settled "outside" ...

"Think Investments, Think Kotak"

Visit http://kotakscam.blogspot.com to know how I have been scammed by Kotak Securities.