I last used my Barclays card (once) in May 2009. And even before this, my use of this card had been intermittent.

Right from the beginning, my dealings with this card have been extremely troublesome.

First of all, it was the n number of times you had to call them because their systems wouldn\'t work. And then wrong information being provided and what not.

The latest is when this month I received a message from Barclays saying I owed them 983 Rs. I was quite sure, I hadn\'t used it and when I checked online I realized it was because an \"ICICI CCPI payment fee\" I called them up to find out, and I realized it was some insurance thing that I\'d apparently taken up. And obviously, I hadn\'t.

So the lady on the phone tells me she\'ll start off an investigation with the concerned department and that I should call four days later. So I call today, and a man named Rajesh answers the phone and informs me that its actually 16 days at the maximum for any information about this, and that I should call in another 5-6 days to see what the status was.

What\'s the point of recording all these calls if it doesn\'t increase accountability? if anyone can say anything and the customer has to bear the brunt!!

So the deal now is, by the time these 16 days elapse my payment due date would\'ve passed, and they\'d levy a late fee charge. For which I\'d have to call them again!! Because that\'s how the system works.

He cites the example a police station where there is a procedure. Can you imagine that? An international Credit card company drawing a parallel to the unaccountable police system where you have to repeatedly bang your head against the wall to be heard! That\'s what am up against.

Strongly urge people to stay away from Barclays Credit Card! The poorest service providers. I have two other cards and I\'ve never once faced any problems with them, and continue to use them to make transactions of almost 10-20000 a month. Serves me right for keeping this as a backup option!

Of course only after they reverse these fraudulent charges and get my account balance back to zero can I actually close my account!!!