a.

Introduction
Rukmini Devi is a retired high
school principal and a 76 year
old widow. She had issued a
cheque of Rs. 25K to a plumber
for plumbing services at her
house. The Plumber asked his
daughter to deposit the cheque
and withdraw the fund from his
account in order to submit her
college admission fee. The
Plumber’s daughter learned
that cheque has bounced back
and her father’s account did
not have enough balance for
her admission fees. She
informed her father about the
incident. Realizing the due date
of admission which was on the
same day and that she might
miss her chance for college
admission, she posted the
whole incident on her Facebook
account to
get some help.

Somehow the Plumber

managed the admission fee
fund for her daughter’s college
admission before due date.
Rukmini Devi actually did not
notice a SMS received by her
from the Bank that it was due to
insufficient balance in her
account that the cheque
bounced back. Hence a heavy
penalty had to be paid. She was
very upset with her Bank when
she get to know about the
incident through the plumber.
She also felt insulted when it
became public by Facebook
post.
With the help of her student,
Rukmini Devi wrote a complaint
about her Bank and also posted
the same to her Facebook wall.

b. Problem
Identification

1. Rukmini Devi did not ensure

enough balance in her bank
account before signing a
cheque of 25K to the plumber.
2. Plumber did not inform
Rukmini Devi immediately upon
cheque bounce.
3. Bank also did not confirm
with Rukmini Devi for unusual
activity happened with the
account.
4. Bank missed to inform
Rukmini Devi about levied
penalty through effective
communication.

c. Solution1 :
Supporting Rukmini
1.1. Bank need to retain the
customer as Rukmini devi
always has other options.
1.2. Bank Manager should call
Rukmini Devi and apologise
personally ( bank won’t loose
anything for apologising ) and
wave off the penalties. Explain
that the fine was not levied
personally on her but being an
automated system, as soon as
the cheque was rejected the
system added the surcharge for
the particular transaction
1.3. Bank should confirm
Rukmini devi, if the same
situation comes again next time
they will inform her before
taking any actions . Bank can
set these things manually for
specified accounts .
1.4. Senior citizens should be
informed well in advance in
case there is any unusual
incidents happening with their
account.
1.5. The bank should endorse
the letter saying that the letter
opened their eyes and
appreciate the letter for the way
it is written. As a response to
the post, list down the
measures that the bank has
taken that the situation doesn’t
repeat. Also mention that the
fine levied has been removed.
1.6. Assign a Customer
Representative until the
situation is brought under
control. Bank representative
should approach Rukmini Devi
in person and clarify her
grievances.
1.7. In order to avoid future
inconvenience like this Bank
should ask the customer, how
she would like to be notified
from Bank’s end. Either by
Phone call and SMS.
1.8.Rukmini's requirement of
direct communication with
Bank assigned employee can
be carried out through the
earlier assigned representative.
However, the complexity can be
talked over after ensuring
proper solutions for her
grievances are made.
1.9. It was unfortunate that
the credit transaction was
recorded after the cheque
bounce . The bank can explain
to her that the bank has
modified the software to wait
for the end of the working day
to close all the transactions and
if there is sufficient balance at
the end of the day the
surcharge is not levied.
1.10. Further more if there is a
recurring amount that comes to
the account, like a salary,
pension, interest from another
deposit or something like that,
even if the amount in the
account is not sufficient in the
account, the bank can offer a
credit which is at the discretion
of the Manager after notifying
the customer and getting
approval which will be adjusted
back from the deposit that
comes to the account.
1.11. Explain that the bank has
modified its SOP that the
customer is contacted in
person over phone and email if
in case there is no sufficient
balance in the account, and
only if the customer is not
reachable or acknowledge the
situation the bank returns the
cheque. Effective
Communication is to be
ensured.

d. Solution2 :
Supporting Bank
1.1. Go public. Explain that
every customer is same for the
bank. The bank treats every
customer the same : Rich or
poor, elderly or a child everyone
is same for the bank.
1.2. Say that the entire things
happened due to the fault of
Rukmini Devi that she even
caused a child her future.
Being a teacher it was not
acceptable.
1.3. Show the letter : Explain
that the customer is not a
uneducated widow whom the
bank is trying to loot her money
off. She is a well educated,
retired high school principal.
Given that the customer is a
High school principal and has
drawn salary for so many years,
it should have come to her
mind that before issuing a
payment there should be
enough balance in the account.
1.4. Inform Rukmini Devi that
issuing a dishonoured cheque
is fraud and the bank is about
to start the legal proceeding
both for fraud and defaming the
bank with false information if
the facebook post is not taken
down and apologise publicly.
1.5. Additionally, put a press
release stating the plumbers
daughters case, that the bank
is planning to start a short
term, small credit facility for
students such that when any
student is in the situation of the
plumbers daughter, that she
had the cheque in her hand
which would make the balance
in her account to meet her
tuition fee requirement, but
because of the fault from the
party who issued the cheque
she was not able to pay the fee.
In such cases, if the amount is
small then the bank can issue a
small short term credit( say for
a week) so that the tuition fee
deadline is not missed which
will be at the sole discretion of
the bank and the manager.
1.6. Rukminidevi's justifications
cannot be taken into
consideration. Because its
clearly known to an educated
person like her that cheque will
be bounced if there is a
shortage of money in account.
So regarding the facebook post
she could ask the reason with
plumber why he did such an
action. From Rukminidevi's side
before writing a cheque she
shoul ensure the balance
available in bank.