'I could not redeem Dh1,300 credit card reward points'

How to redeem reward points?

I had a credit card issued by Standard Chartered, which had an annual fee of Dh750. This credit card was a covered/secured card with a Fixed Deposit (FD) of Dh25,000 by my small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) company. The annual fee for the card was due in August, 2015. Fixed Deposit maturity was also due in August, 2015, with an automatic re-deposit/renewal, as it was tied to the credit card.

Due to a change in their strategies, Standard Chartered decided to close down all SME accounts in the Middle East, towards the end of last year. My company received a notice informing us that all accounts would be closed effective November 8, 2014. Upon receiving the notice, I immediately contacted Standard Chartered in October 2014, about the FD and the credit card. They assured me that those would not be affected.

Specifically, I was informed that the FD maturity is in August 2015 and the account will be closed in August 2015. Since the credit card was tied to the FD, I was informed that I can continue using the card until August 2015. I asked the question for two reasons – annual fees were charged in August 2014 and I had reward points that I had accumulated until then to redeem them at a later stage.

On November 18, 2014, Standard Chartered decided unilaterally to close the FD, pay off the balance on my credit card and cancel the card. They did this without refunding the prorated annual fee of Dh750 they had charged in August 2014 and without allowing me to redeem the points.

Since then, I have made repeated calls to Standard Chartered, and I was assured that the cash equivalent of my points was around Dh1,300. On every follow-up call, I was told the manager will call back in an hour but I did not receive any calls. The last call was on June 7, 2015.

I have given Standard Chartered six months to resolve this issue that has primarily been created by them, as they decided to close my account without notice. Please let me know what my options are.

From Mr Srinivas Poluru, Dubai

The management of Standard Chartered responds:

Upon receiving the complaint, Standard Chartered Customer Care Unit tried to contact the client, however were not able to reach him as he was abroad. The issue raised has been resolved and the client has been notified about this via an official email.

Mr Poluru responds:

I am happy to inform that Standard Chartered processed the refund and delivered the cashier’s cheque. I received the amount on October 14, 2015.

There has been a successful closure to this case. I appreciate the great service Gulf News provides to the community.

(Process initiation: June 17. Response from organisation: June 24. Reader confirmation: October 20.)

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