Citigroup NRE account within 24 hours for USA NRIs - not my experience

Citigroup promises to open your account within 24 hours , but it took more than 20 days to open my NRE account and i am still waiting for the account number, check book, ATM card etc.   I just received an e-mail indicating that my account has been opened.

Its online application submission is redundent, it may help CITI when creating your account, but does not help you at all.  You fill the application and submit it, and then Citi asks you to print the application and send it along with the required documentation.  Its online tool has some issues as well.  The other frustrating thing is, you need to notarize each copy of the documentation.  If you cannot find a notary at your work, you are looking at spending $10 per signature.

You need to then mail the application and the documentation to a local NRI services center, and they will then send the application to India (i think), and then the account opening process starts.  Overall, i submitted my application online on March 12th, and then mailed the application the next day to CITI's Santa Clara office.  I received the application back with a yellow sticker stating that my name is not exactly matching the passport.  Your name must EXACTLY match that on your passport.  The application guidelines does not tell you anything about it.  Anyways, i corrected that and send it back in overnight UPS (return label was attached).  By then, it was 18th.  Then onward, i constantly pinged CITI employees for updates. 

Then my account was finally opened on April 6th.  The e-mail directs you to goto a link and enter the reference number (online application submission will yield you a number) and password etc to retrieve the account number, but it did not work.  It just told me that my account opening process has been initiated.  I had to wait until the DHL courier to come from Chennai.  It finally reached me on 9th, and opened to find that i did not receive the PIN numbers.  Anyways, long story short, i called their 1-866 number twice and finally reached an officer who helped me with creating online access.  Then i attemepted to transfer some money to another CITI account in India.  It failed again and gave an error that states that i have no permission to transfer money.  I called CITI again and was on the phone close to an hour and half (got disconnected twice) to told that i need to send the error message to their standard info e-mail. 

I called its Santa Clara NRI division and talk about the 24 hours opening deal.  They do not aware of this and told me that it is impossible to open a NRE account in 24 hours.  The officer promised me to look into the advertisement posted on Citi's website.  It has been more than a week, but the ad is still there - now in much bigger font and box.

Confident Bellatrix

It is all started in October 2007.  We were looking to buy a VILLA in Bangalore.  Within days, my sister told us about Confident group.  My brother in law's colleague bought a VILLA in Confident-Bellatrix and he is impressed with their service and quality of their already completed "Confident Regal".  Until then, we were looking at only tier 1 builders including Shoba, Purvankara etc.  In any case, after visiting, we were convinced with Confident and decided to buy a VILLA in December 2007.

Confident group promises to complete your Villa within a year.  However, per contract, it can extend this deadline by another 6 months.  If it cannot complete the construction after this extension, it will need to pay you for the delay (RS. 2 per sqft per month).  But of course, they are quite of few other clauses in the contract through which they can bypass these payments to you.  Also, Confident group can modify clauses of the contract any time with a written notice.  As far as Villa payments, you pay some in advance and the remaining in installments based on status of the construction.  

We chose the plot and things have started moving pretty fast.

• We were told that there were hundred plus Villa plans to choose from.  But be aware, these plans are for all plot sizes and directions.  When you sort these plans for your plot size (say 40 by 60) and the direction (say east facing), you will be left with only a handful number of plans.  Confident group does not make any changes to the exterior, but they are very flexible with the interior.  I must say their engineering group is really good.  They are knowledgeable and nice to work with.  With their help, we finalized the floor and electric plans by March 2008.
• By October 2008, they asked us to choose tiles, the color and finish, for the flooring.  We did it accordingly. 
• Then in December, we were told that the construction would be delayed by 6 months to June 2009.  Again, as I said, they can do so contractually. You cannot do anything about it except withdrawing from your purchase.
• Not a word till March 2009.  When we visited to find out the status, we were told that they did not receive floor tile and color selections from us.  That was not accurate.  Before sending our selections, we spoke with them in detail.  However, they failed to log our selections in their computer.   
• They promised us again to complete the Villa by July 2009.  July passed, no sign.  
• Finally, they asked us to register the Villa in October 2009.  Per contract, they must complete the Villa within 60 days of the registration.  We delayed the registration due to other issues till March  2010.  In any case, we are waiting for the Villa to complete (April 2010).

Their construction is pretty good.  Their engineering department is pretty good, but commercial department requires improvement.

• There were some changes to their commercial department and the quality has fallen down substantially.  It used to be very good when we initially signed the contract.  But now, do not expect any responses to your e-mails. Call.
• Even when you call, they promise something and will not deliver.  You need to follow up several times before it gets done.  Frustrating.
• Their engineering group and Mr. Ranjit John are excellent.  They are helpful, but their hands are tied with Commercial group, which deals with finance related issues. 

To conclude, it is a good buy, but you will be on top of it always.  Delays in the construction are a big problem, you need to be aware.