Annual fee waiver
I have a credit card with Standard Chartered bank and normally, they charge an annual fee of Dh300. I was aware that it would appear in my July 14 statement, and that I would have to pay it in August 2014. Hence, in the first week of July, I called the contact centre and requested to cancel the card. They registered my request, and accordingly, I was contacted by the concerned department and was asked about the reason for cancellation. I told them that I have a few credit cards and that it they were free for life, so why should I pay Dh300? In turn, the representative said that I could get a waiver of the annual fee if I show a retail purchase transaction of Dh5,000 before August 31. With that in mind, I never expected that the annual fee would appear in the July statement, however it did.
I contacted the call centre and enquired, and was told that I still have time to show the transaction until August 31 in order to get the annual fee waived. As I could not show any transaction, I asked to cancel the card and again, I was contacted by the concerned department. The representative said that as I had agreed to the conditions, they could not cancel the card, and in case I still want to do so, I would have to pay the annual fee. I was not aware of the fact that if I could not meet the condition, I would still have to pay, as otherwise, I would not have agreed to it in the first place. I think this is unfair, because I had already informed them in advance that I was unable to meet their conditions. I was trying to get it waived, but now they have charged me Dh200 for late payment fee as well as finance charges, which add up to Dh510.
From Mr Prasanth Muthukrishnan
Abu Dhabi
The management of Standard Chartered responds:
Upon receiving the complaint, Standard Chartered Customer Care Unit contacted the client and informed him of our resolution. While we did agree on the reversal on certain conditions as mentioned by the client, the reversal has been declined as the agreement was violated.
(Process initiation: January 7. Response from organisation: January 20.)
No phone available
On November 14, 2014, a sales representative from etisalat came to my office and took documents from me for the iPhone 6+ (64GB). He told me that it would take a maximum of 10 days and I would be able to get the phone. I was a priority customer with du and they asked me to cancel my du number so that they could change it to etisalat. I agreed and they immediately cancelled my number and I paid the cancellation charges to du.
However, I still haven’t received my phone. I called the etisalat office and complained, but nobody responded. I called again and spoke to the manager. Every day, he would tell me the phone will come ‘tomorrow’, but I didn’t receive anything.
Finally, they told me that etisalat doesn’t have an iPhone 6+ in 64GB! My question is, if they didn’t have stock, why did they offer it to their customers? They still continue to take documents from other customers.
I was happy with du and if I knew that etisalat would trouble me like this, I would never have cancelled my du connection. Additionally, they first told me that my plan would be Dh375 per month for a year, but a few days ago, they told me it was for Dh490.
From Ms Arezoo Bavili
Dubai
The management of etisalat responds:
The case is resolved and closed. The complaint in brief: The customer claimed against the delay of iPhone delivery. The final outcome: The device has been delivered, the limit of Dh500 has been added, instead of zero, as per the customer’s request and she has been contacted and confirmed for the same.
(Process initiation: January 13. Response from organisation: January 19. Process completion: January 28.)
Wrong account
I had accepted a balance transfer offer from HSBC credit card to my other bank’s credit card on December 1, 2014. But due to an error, the balance transfer was done by the bank towards a wrong card (the card doesn’t belong to me).
The issue was reported by me to the bank on December 10, 2014 and I was assured that it would be solved in six days.
Regular follow up calls were made to the call centre of HSBC, but till date, the complaint has not been resolved and the reason mentioned was delay due to internal process.
The greatest inconvenience I have faced is that I am always kept on hold for 10-20 minutes by the agent during calls and the complaint is not being resolved due to internal delays.
Gulf News’ support in resolving the issue would be highly appreciated.
From Mr Shiraj Shaikh
Dubai
The management of HSBC responds:
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. Please note that we have contacted Mr Shaikh and his case has been resolved.
Mr Shaikh responds:
This issue has been resolved by the bank. Thanks Gulf News for your kind support in resolving the issue.
(Process initiation: January 8. Response from organisation: January 21. Reader confirmation: January 22.)
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.
