Advance taken

I had not taken a cash advance through my Emirates NBD Titanium MasterCard, yet the bank charged me Dh99 five times — totalling Dh495 — by stating that it was a cash advance fee. I have complained to the bank by email on May 31 and June 15. However, I have not received any acknowledgement or explanation.

From Mr Ramzan Jemani, Dubai

The management of Emirates NBD responds:

We are pleased to inform you that our Group Customer Experience team has been in touch with Mr Jemani and has resolved the matter to his satisfaction.

We wish to confirm that our team looked into Mr Jemani concerns and provided him with detailed information and calculation relating to his credit card transactions. He was also informed about the nature of these transactions and has agreed to the same, and based on that an official confirmation reply has been released to him.

We would like to thank you for your continuous support in offering us the opportunity to further assist our valued customers.

Mr Jemani responds:

On July 1, an Emirates NBD representative called and explained to me that certain transactions are considered cash transactions by MasterCard, even if one does not actually withdraw cash using the card. Gulf News’ intervention has helped me resolve the issue for which I thank the newspaper.

The management of Emirates NBD responds:

We would like to thank you for bringing this matter to our attention and inform our customers and readers that as per the credit card terms and conditions, the following transactions are considered as cash transactions by the card issuers MasterCard and VISA: ATM and over-the-counter withdrawals, returned payments and cash equivalent such as money orders, foreign currency, travellers’ checks from a non-financial institution, person-to-person money transfers, and bail bonds among others. To view the full list, customers may refer to the credit card terms and conditions.

We take this opportunity to thank you for your support and giving us the opportunity to better serve our customers.

Insufficient compensation

I would like to share my experience about how Gulf Air lost one of my suitcases, which I had sent through cargo in January 2013. They are yet to return it to me with a satisfactory response.

Initially, I was merely disappointed with the level of service and communication as it seemed almost impossible to receive a reply from them regarding my claim. However, after more than 15 months of constant follow-ups on my side, they came back to me with a $400 (nearly Dh1,500) reimbursement offer.

Considering that the suitcase alone cost $200 (Dh734.58), and the contents therein amounted to more than $2,000 (Dh7,345.80), not taking into account the items’ sentimental value, my response was that their offer was completely inadequate. Gulf Air then bumped their offer up to $500 (Dh1,836.45).

I highly doubt that mine is the only case. Please look into the issue.

From Mr Mohammad Al Tayeb, Dubai

Editor’s note: The complaint was forwarded to Gulf Air for comments. However, despite repeated reminders, its management did not respond.

Do you have similar issues that you would like to raise with us? You can write to us at readers@gulfnews.com