Waive off charges

I have been using RAKBANK credit card for the past eight years, and I am so prompt in paying the entire amount due before the due date. My usage for the month of May was Dh5,300 against which I paid Dh5,100 (I overlooked the amount as Dh5,100) leaving behind Dh200. When I received the June statement, an amount of Dh214.49 had been charged as Finance Charges. When I contacted the call centre, they were not ready to take the complaint, and advised that the said amount was charged for the entire period from May to June, and not for the balance amount of Dh200. Point to be noted is that my credit card had a credit balance of Dh337 as Cashback amount in my favour. My request is to waive off the Finance Charge. Thank you in advance for taking up such requests.

From Mr Tom Varghese

Dubai

Mr Ian Hodges, Head of Personal Banking, RAKBANK, responds:

Thank you for giving us an opportunity to justify our stance on the issues raised by Mr Tom Varghese, RAKBANK customer. The concerns raised by Mr Varghese have been investigated and we understand that his credit card payment towards his June 2014 statement was short of the total outstanding, due to which Finance Charges were levied on his July statement. Further, we confirm that the client did not place a request for crediting his accumulated Cashback on his Card prior to the statement due date to offset the outstanding amount. Since receipt of your email, we have contacted Mr Varghese and advised him of the reversal of charges being taken forward by the bank as a service gesture.

(Process initiation: July 27. Response from organisation: July 31.)

Additional charges

I have been using etisalat services for the past nine years now. In January 2014, I was charged with an additional amount of Dh100 for two data plans, which I haven’t utilised. I sent a message for cancellation and same was accepted. I also raised the issue with the customer care, and was told to go to etisalat Centre. After almost one hour of queueing I got to speak to a representative who admitted their mistake and took my complaint and informed same will be resolved within 48 hours and refunded. However, nothing happened; no one called or did anything about it. I have called a minimum of 8 times to the etisalat representative via their Customer Care number but every time I am left on hold. This matter which happened in January is still not resolved even after 10 complaints and constant follow ups. I have not paid the Dh100 as per the bill so I keep getting a bill with the additional Dh100. Again in May, I was charged with Dh200 rental wherein my rental charge is only Dh100, including 50 rental and 50 data plan. I have finally decided to use this number and not pay the bill so etisalat will contact me for payment. I hope Gulf News will help me in resolving this issue.

From Mr Prajay Bhagat

UAE

The management of etisalat responds: Kindly note that the customer’s issue was resolved

(Process initiation: July 25. Response from organisation: August 10.)

Getting back my benefits

I am holding a credit card from First Gulf Bank (FGB) and I paid the full outstanding with an extra money of Dh144.39 on January 27, 2014. After two months I received the bank statement for April 2014 showing transactions for 2013, although I paid it in full. I called their call centre and record my objection about all these transactions.After a few days its agent called me back and said that they reject my objection since I didn’t use the minimum required amount during the same month in order to benefit from the advantages of the card. I told him that no one informed me about it.

All transactions calculated on my card came later for May, June, August, September and October of 2013 were not in the bank statement, which is supposed to be presented to me every month.

Now after more than one year, FGB system realised that I was not using the minimum required amount on the same month in order to benefit from the card advantages and they are asking me to pay all the free cinema tickets and valet parking that they provided to me in 2013.

From Mr Hussam Ahmad Ali Ahmad

Abu Dhabi

The management of First Gulf Bank responds: We take all of our customers’ feedback into careful consideration and work hard to ensure that we consistently deliver the highest standards of service. FGB has been in contact with Mr Ahmad and agreed, as a gesture of goodwill, to reverse the excess usage charges if the customer spends Dh3,000 on his card for one month. The late payment fee for these usage charges has also been reversed and the customer is satisfied with the resolution.

Mr Ahmad responds: I would like to thank Gulf News for the great effort. I used the card as they requested and they reversed the amount.

(Process initiation: August 6. Response from organisation: August 12. Reader response: September 3.)

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.