Cancelled ticket
On September 19, I had to go to Bahrain with a colleague. I was due to stay there and he was supposed to return the same night. We booked one-way tickets on one airline and my colleague’s return flight was booked on flydubai.
I booked the required flight on flydubai’s website; i.e. from Bahrain to Dubai. When I was asked to enter the payment details, I did and then the website reloaded due to an error, so I did it again and it failed again.
I then went on to cleartrip.ae and booked the same flight from there and the transaction went through smoothly. Around 20 minutes later, I received two text messages from my bank stating that I had spent Dh54.590 Bahraini Dinar on flydubai, which makes a total of 109.18 Bahraini Dinar. That is about Dh1,091.
I called flydubai’s call centre and explained what had happened, They asked me to send an email to them and ask them to cancel both tickets, which I did straight away.
When my colleague went to check in at the airport in Bahrain, he was put on a flydubai booking instead of the cleartrip.ae. I have since been calling flydubai to sort this out, but they refuse to help.
They told me that they would refund one flight and issue me a voucher to use for the cleartrip.ae booking. It has been more than six weeks and I haven’t received any update from them. Every time I call, they ask me to send another email and that they are working on it. I get the usual answers of how they are very sorry and there is nothing they can do.
I asked them to give me the location of their offices to go speak to a manager, but they tell me that they don’t have an office for that and I cannot see them face to face — only by email.
I think this is wrong. They are not supposed to take that money in the first place if they had issues in their system, as they mentioned. Also, I don’t want a voucher, I want my money back!
Even though I accepted the voucher, they still haven’t sent it to me nor have they refunded me for the other ticket.
I would like someone to please sort it out. I am honestly not worried about the money, it is more about their etiquette and business ethics.
From Mr Khaled Zaazouh
Dubai
The management of flydubai responded:
flydubai can only apologise for the delay in resolving this matter and any inconvenience it may have caused to our passenger. Our customer service team has investigated the issue internally and with the third party involved, and has expedited the full refund process to the passenger for the cancelled bookings. We have been in touch with the passenger to inform him that the refund is now underway and the case is now resolved.
Mr Zaazouh responded:
I would like to thank Gulf News for sorting out this issue with flydubai. They have refunded me for both flights.
(Process initiation: November 17. Response from organisation: November 20. Reader confirmation: November 28.)
Credit card woes
Every year, First Gulf Bank (FGB) promises to make their credit card free for life, if we use it for swipe transactions or if we take their quick cash option. But, every year, they charge me an annual fee despite several complaints I have filed by contacting their customer care centre or visiting a branch. Later, they say there’s no free for life cards in FGB.
In October, 2014, they waived my annual fee after I had made a Dh3,000 purchase. And they promised me that if I made a transaction worth Dh8,000, they would make the card free for life.
I spent Dh9,900 on my Titanium card. However, I still haven’t received any confirmation from them. On inquiring with the bank, I was told that my request had been registered. I would appreciate it if Gulf News could help me to resolve my complaint.
From Mr Imran Qureshi
Dubai
The management of FGB responded:
FGB is grateful for all customer feedback to which we give careful consideration as we strive to consistently deliver the highest standards of service. FGB has been in contact with Mr Qureshi, and the matter has been resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
(Process initiation: November 17. Response from organisation: November 30. Process completion: December 1.)
Charged for free card
I am writing to inform you about an experience I had with Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB). A sales agent approached me for an ADIB credit card. Although I wasn’t interested, he forced me to take one. I didn’t even activate the card for the first few months as I wasn’t interested.
The same sales agent contacted me and convinced me to activate the card. I then used it for two transactions and paid those amounts in full.
After the completion of 12 months, I received a statement asking me to pay Dh1,032 before October 26, 2014. I raised a complaint immediately. On October 19, I received a call from them and since I was busy, I asked the gentleman to call me in 10 minutes, to which he agreed. Since then, I haven’t received any calls.
I tried contacting ADIB more than 25 times over the past 45 days; I can submit proof for this. I received a standard response that someone would call me within 20 minutes. I had no other option other than calling customer care again; there is no way you can directly contact their complaints department or any escalation points. I kept receiving text messages saying that I need to pay a late fee of Dh200.
I have sent multiple emails to ADIB and nobody is even bothered to respond. I have been a resident of the UAE for the past four years and I have banked with several banks. There isn’t a single late payment.
Also, I use a Barclays card extensively — it has been converted to ADIB now — with an average spend of Dh15,000 every month and I pay the entire amount in full every month.
However, my conscience is not allowing me to pay this amount for someone else’s mistake. They are mentioning that I have signed the contract. If I am not interested in using the card and just took it on humanitarian grounds for someone to retain his job, would I take a paid card with an annual fee of Dh1,000?
From Mr Gopan Sivasankaran
Dubai
The management of ADIB responded:
Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. Our customer service team has contacted the customer and the issue has been sorted and the customer is pleased.
Mr Sivasankaran responded:
I received a call from the head of the complaints department in ADIB. They informed me that the card has been cancelled and all related charges on the card have been reversed. I appreciate the help offered by Gulf News.
(Process initiation: November 24. Response from organisation: November 26. Reader confirmation: 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.
