Wrongly unblocked
I took a loan from Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), where I have a salary transfer account. I paid instalments on the due date without fail until October 2014.
Then, my company changed my status, outsourced in March, and I changed my visa in September. After my visa change, they blocked my money after receiving the settlement (gratuity) .
It took around four and a half months for me to get my visa stamped and receive a labour card.
I visited the bank with all the necessary documents (such as passport copy, visa copy, salary certificate and so on). At the time, the bank representative asked whether I needed to adjust the settlement amount with my outstanding loan. I replied in the negative and told him that I needed my money and I would pay my instalment, just as I had paid before.
Then, after some days, I received a call from a bank representative and she told me they would not unblock my amount. I requested her to meet with me and she arranged a meeting with her manager.
I went to ADCB’s Academic City branch and met with a manager. In the meeting, she asked me to provide break-up details of the gratuity so they could unblock the amount. I went back to my office and provided all the required details, and the same day in the evening, my amount was unblocked. I don’t know whether it was a system error or a staff member’s mistake. I withdrew my money.
The next day, in the morning, I received a call from a bank representative, asking me why I withdrew money. I told her that the money was unblocked so I thought the bank had release my money, and so I withdrew it. She told me that I would have to return the money, otherwise they would deduct it from my salary and they put down the money in my account as minus figures (negative).
I sent them an email to release the negative figure. Then, I received a call from a bank representative stating that they would not remove it and would deduct from my salary. I asked them why they unblocked my money, and she said they we were in process.
I asked her how long their process time was? The bank’s timing is up to 8pm and I withdrew the amount at 7.30pm. I made another transaction after 12 in the night and I thought since their timing was only till 8pm, that I was in the clear and the account had been purposely unblocked.
Still, they rejected my request.
I tried to contact their customer complaints department, but still have not received any positive response from their side.
My question is — when I submitted all the required documents, they release my amount. So after that, have they put the figure in my account as a negative?
From where am I now supposed to eat, and how do I pay my rent? I withdrew the amount because it was unblocked and that is not my mistake.
From Mr Hammad Raza
Sharjah
The management of ADCB responds:
Thank you for your cooperation and communication with us in the endeavour to best serve our customers and resolve their issues.
Customer satisfaction is at the very top of our agenda, which is why we have an established Service Quality Unit that is dedicated to handling all customer enquiries and complaints. While we cannot comment on specific customer cases, we do take finding a solution for our customers very seriously and approach every situation with the best interest of the customer in mind.
With reference to Mr Raza’s issue, the customer received his end of service benefits from his old employer and as per policy, the amount should be adjusted to his loan since his new employer is not registered with ADCB. Before doing this, the customer has withdrawn all the money, which resulted in blocking his account, a matter that can’t be avoided till he returns the money to the account. The customer has been contacted and the policy was explained to him and hence the case is closed.
We continually urge all customers to contact our Service Quality Unit 24/7 by phone, email or web, should they need any further clarification regarding their issues.
We would like to thank Gulf News for bringing this issue to our attention and hence giving us the opportunity to further our servicing to our valued customers.
(Process initiation: November 15. Response from organisation: November 25. Process completion: November 30.)
Sorry, wrong number
It was a surprising day for me in July 2013 when I got an SMS on my existing etisalat line that there is an outstanding amount of Dh1,200 under my name with a certain mobile number. I couldn’t understand it so I called etisalat customer care to get more information.
I was shocked to hear that there is one post-paid mobile number with a Samsung S4 device under my name with 12 months contract and bill was not paid for the past four months.
I told them this doesn’t belong to me, so please remove the charges.
They took my complaint and provided me with a complaint number.
For the next two months I kept calling them and asking them what are the updates and etisalat’s only response was that “it’s still pending”. Then a customer service officer told me to visit etisalat office to tell them the whole story. I went to Sharjah etisalat head office and they informed me to visit any of Dubai office. So I went to Al Tawar branch and there I met the branch manager and informed them about the whole case. He gave me a very positive response and advised me to go to the customer service counter and lodge a complaint since this is a very normal case and that I wouldn’t need his assistance.
I was again given a reference number and the officer told me it should be resolved within the next 48 hours.
To date, my case is still pending and I am still receiving calls from etisalat recovery department that outstanding amount has now reached Dh3,200.
Whenever I receive calls from the recovery department, I always ask them to please guide and assist me on what should I do and where I should go to solve this issue but no one is giving me the right directions. They always advise me to visit the Al Tawar Branch again to check for updates.
I am a working woman and really don’t have time to take off from my office and visit etisalat again and again.
I already visited them many times after managing time from my busy schedule and their response is always the same: “It will be solved within next 48 hours.” I don’t know where should I go?
From Ms Iram Ajmal
Ajman
The management of etisalat responds: Kindly note that the customer’s issue has been resolved.
Ms Ajmal responds: I really appreciate all your efforts and would like to confirm that I have received a call from etisalat that all charges had been removed and the case is now resolved.
I would like to specially thank Gulf News because without the newspaper it was not possible, as I was completely hopeless.
(Process initiation: October 15. Response from organisation: November 27. Reader confirmation: November 30.)
Charged incorrectly
I shifted to a new house in May 2014 and purchased a new eLife package from etisalat. During my first billing in June, an amount of Dh400 was charged, stating “equipment not returned”.
When I complained to etisalat of this charge, the call centre agent advised that this is a technical error in the billing and many customers had been incorrectly charged for the amount, hence the same would be reversed soon.
It has now been nearly five months and despite various emails to the customer care centre and calls to 101, I only get a standard response that this will be reversed soon.
I would appreciate if this issue can be raised by Gulf News so that immediate action is taken by etisalat to reverse this amount.
From Ms Payal Gehi
Dubai
The management of etisalat responds:
Kindly note that the customer’s issue was resolved.
(Process initiation: November 23. Response from organisation: November 26.)
Editor’s note: Do you have similar issues that you would like to raise with us? You can write to us at readers@gulfnews.com.
