January was a good month
January 2008 was the best month for me in terms of Google Adsense earnings. It was my highest so far and I also did break the record of highest earnings on a single day.I am seeing that my keywords are getting more paid compartively, the CPC has increased and also the CTR has increased.
It is amazing to note that how a slight change in your ad placement can do the trick. The same ad unit was getting clicked 5 times more, soon after it’s position was changed. I must start writing a book on Money Making using Google Adsense, but this book of mine will be different from all the other books I have come across. Well it’s just a thought and I don’t see the possibility of turning it into a reality atleast in the near future. At the moment, I don’t have time to implement my own findings in the other pages of the same website and also on other sites as I am so busy and tied up with projects and office work.
Oh yes, in January I finally… yes finally reached the 100USD benchmark in Kontera after 4 months. I had written to Kontera earlier how their ads are not helping much and that I am getting much more clicks in Google Adsense comparatively. They had written to me that they will optmize the keywords for my sites, but it never helped me. Well I like Google Adsense because, you yourself can optimize your keywords, your sites and try to get the desired ads you want and you can place it on any website you own, provided you know that you are following their Terms and Conditions. I will check out Kontera for another month or so and see if there is any difference. Else it will be more beneficial for me to sell my ad spots and links to other sponsors.
So the year 2008 was a good start for me. I hope it continues and by the end of this year, I do break some more records of mine. Yes I always compete with myself 
ICICI Bank - famous for cheating and fraud cases!
Well it seems, it is not just me.. but many others who have been cheated by ICICI Bank. With the bank trying to open up its branches in every nook and corner of the country, the management just forgot the basic management of the customers and taking care of them. I did a search on ICICI bank cheating cases and Oh My God.. there were many of them.
Recently I read in the newspapers how a person committed suicide after being harassed by recovery agents. I think, all the people who were cheated by ICICI should also hire some recovery agents and send to harass the bank people A good idea. The punch line..”Hum hain na..” is really cool… but “hum hai na for what?”…paise lootne ke liye??
With me the cheating case which happened is really very surprising. Well I have credit cards from all the major banks but I never had such experience with other banks. This ICICI card also I got after their people persuaded us to open the company account with them and then was giving CC to all the employees. Well, the bank being a big one, with no proper representative, we felt the service was missing the flavor we want so we have already shifted out corporate account with another bank.
The incident happened when I returned from my trip to Canada and the transaction also happened on a date when I was in Canada. I was shocked to see the statement saying 6K transaction on a card which was already blocked long time back in October 2006.I had lost the card and reported to them and got it blocked and after 15 days, I got a new card. This new card also I lost, along with my whole bunch of other cards and documents, when I lost my wallet in Delhi airport, while coming back to Pune. We had been to Delhi for my son’s Canada visa interview. And they had sent me a new card during my travel which I got just after my return.
I then called up the customer care and reported about it. I asked them how the bank can allow a transaction on a card which was blocked. I also got the dates verified when the card was blocked and she told me the exact date and time. And she was like.. your request number is so and so..you need to send a fax to the bank’s main branch in Mumbai. She also added..” Mam this case is surely going to be in your favor only as your card was already blocked”. I was also optimistic that it will get resolved and as told, I specified all the transaction details and sent a complaint via fax to Mumbai.
Later on some guys from the bank came to my place, asking me to sign some forms and it was told to me that it will get resolved soon and it will be in my favor only and for a few months every month to show the transaction they used to say 6K credit and 6K debit mentioning the case under review and then without any intimation to me, I see that in my august statement, they simply deducted 6K and when I called up the bank, they said, the case went to the bank’s favor. But that was really very surprising as it was negligence on the bank’s part, the card was already blocked and how could the bank allow transaction on a blocked card. They don’t have their process in place and instead they are charging the customers.
When I wrote to them, they replied that it is the customer’s duty to keep the card in a safe place and protect it from misuse. Of course I know that, I have to take care of my cards, but not the ones which were already lost, and were blocked. Well I don’t have the time and energy to go and register a case in the consumer forum, but I will surely file a case as soon as I get some time from my busy schedule. I have paid the entire balance amount and I am planning to close the card itself. I just don’t want to be associated with such a bank which is more famous for cheating and fraud cases. So think twice, before you plan to be associated with ICICI bank.
Read more interesting incidents of ICICI fraud and cheating cases. If you do a search, you will find a number of online forums with thousands of complaints, but it seems the bank is not doing anything about it.
