A 2023 service request the bank could no longer find

Bank · Savings account · account service-request

Complaint no.: N202526016035703
Against: Kotak Mahindra Bank
Filed: 16 Mar 2026
Closed: 30 Mar 2026
Time taken: 14 days
Scheme: RB-IOS 2021
Closure clause: 14(9)(a)
Did it help?: Helped
Compensation: None

What happened

In June 2023 I asked the branch to remove a premium banking programme tag from my account and had a service request number for it. Nothing happened for over two years.

What I asked the Ombudsman for

Remove the programme tag, explain why the 2023 request was never actioned, and compensate for the delay.

What the entity said

The bank said it could not establish what happened in 2023 because the staff had been transferred and the old system had been shut down. It took a fresh consent letter in February 2026, removed the tag on 10 February, apologised and said staff had been sensitised.

My reply to the entity's response

I pointed out that the bank admitted the 2023 service request existed but said it could not retrieve it, and that losing a customer's request is the deficiency.

Did the closure deal with it? In part.

What the Ombudsman decided

Closed as settled on the Ombudsman's intervention, 14 days after this (properly timed) second filing.

Helped

Did the Ombudsman help?

Mostly. The fix and an apology came. The closure recorded my point about the lost request and did nothing with it.

What I took from it

Keep service request numbers. The bank admitted the 2023 request existed only because I could quote its number. No compensation was given, and I had not asked for a specific amount.

Related complaints

Filed ten days after complaining to the bank (Kotak Mahindra Bank, 2026) Not maintainable

Summarised from the RBI closure letter and my own correspondence. Names of individuals, account numbers and reference numbers other than the complaint number have been removed.