‘On a plane but someone will respond’: DBS Bank chief’s mid-flight reply to Singapore customer complaint draws praise

SINGAPORE, May 29 — When Neelkamal Semwal took to LinkedIn to air his grievances with Singapore’s DBS Bank, he probably expected the usual corporate silence. 

What he did not anticipate was a personal reply from the bank’s chief executive — while she was on a plane.

In a now-deleted post on Wednesday, Semwal vented his frustration after nearly three weeks of unresolved technical issues.

A service allowing customers to register their NRIC with their DBS account had been non-functional, he said, leaving him unable to link his FIN to PayNow for a tax refund from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore.

“I wonder what’s wrong with DBS Bank Singapore but neither their customer care nor their app development team seems to be sincere about fixing issues,” Semwal wrote, according to media reports.

He added that he had contacted customer service over a week earlier, but “they still haven’t either figured out how to fix this or just don’t care”. 

He tagged DBS’ chief information officer Eugene Huang, chief technology officer Mallya Ramesh, and CEO Tan Su Shan in his post.

About an hour later, Tan replied.

“Am on a plane but someone will definitely respond,” she wrote, adding that she had already alerted her tech team to look into the matter.

The response landed like a small thunderclap in Singapore’s corporate and banking circles. 

Semwal, speaking to Singapore-based media organisation Mothership, said he had been promised a follow-up email after raising the issue with customer care — but never received it. That was until Tan stepped in.

“Thank you for the quick response,” Semwal replied to the CEO. 

He apologised for escalating the matter to social media but said the issue had dragged on unresolved despite repeated calls to customer care.

Tan’s intervention did not go unnoticed by her professional network. 

Among the comments on her reply, one user wrote: “Love that you take pride in responding to these issues.” Another praised her “impressive reach and response”.

Soon after, Semwal posted an update: he had received a call from DBS, and the issue would be resolved shortly. He thanked Tan for taking the initiative to fix the problem.

Tan, who became DBS’ first female CEO earlier this year, has built a reputation for being accessible and hands-on.

المصدر: Malay Mail