Reliance Mutual Funds - Forget about a good online user experience!!!

I am back after a long hiatus (which was mostly out of laziness and nothing else.....)

We Indians proudly proclaim our country to be a leader in information and technology. I have used online transaction services of several companies – both, in India and outside of India. I have to confess that the best online experience of an India-based company has been mediocre and that is being quite generous. Today, I will lay out in front of you my experience with Indian Mutual Fund giant Reliance Mutual Funds.

I have two different folio numbers for purchases made on separate occasions. Having received PIN numbers from Reliance Mutual, I used that to register myself and get a user ID. So far so good. Then I tried to map my other folio to the same user id and what should indeed have been a simple step turned into a nightmare. The online system accepted my PIN number and I proceeded to the next screen. After clicking through and accepting the terms and conditions, the system wanted me to change my PIN. I enter the same PIN again (remember – the system had already accepted this once) and enter the new PIN of my choice and click OK and guess what… the system says the PIN is incorrect. Now how is a PIN correct in one place and the same one in the same user session incorrect on the next page?

Several email messages to the customer service about this problem virtually go unanswered. The after about a week, I get an email from a customer service lady of Reliance Mutual Fund but this is a form letter which had zero relevance to my original complaint. Several attempts after this have gone unanswered.

Fed up with this, I finally decide to bite the bullet and set up another user id for the second folio number I have and have no problem setting up the same with the SAME freakin…PIN numbers. I take a deep breath and say OK – at least I got this working and since this folio also has my PAN details, I naively think that I can now do online transactions. I click my way merrily through various screens, select the scheme (where by the way – the list has error – one scheme name is repeated exactly same and has different NAVs – which does not make sense – I am guessing one of those names should be Dividend and other should be Growth – but I guess it is too much to ask for clarity and consistency – but I digress) and as soon as I click to submit my transaction – I get a cryptic message saying “Username cannot be found”.

I am at a complete loss now since I am logged in and doing the transaction through my account – how can a user name not exist?

As usual, my several emails to customer service have gone unanswered. If any of you savvy readers have had similar problems and have been able to get it resolved – please send me a message as to how you did it. I have tried to reach various officials at Reliance (including branch and service center chiefs in Pune and even head of IT for Reliance Mutual Fund) but so far all my efforts have come to a complete naught.

Some of my other observations about Reliance Mutual Fund online access application are:
- Poor user interface
- Very cryptic and unfriendly messages
- Mostly non-existent customer service
- Inability to send message to change any personal information details like bank account number.

If this is the state if affairs with the largest mutual fund company in India, it is hard to imagine what others in the mutual funds business have to offer.

And as I said earlier, by no means is Reliance MF the only one guilty in providing poor online user experience. Most big names will compete fiercely for that distinction. And I personally think, we as the consumers are equally guilty in accepting the poor service offering these companies put in front of us.