Thank you Gulf News for the help to readers. I’ve been humiliated by Emirates NBD (ENBD) bank. Without giving me prior intimation they have started charging my account Dh25 every month. Then I received a rude call from a bank employee asking me why I am fighting for Dh25.

The background of the issue is that I had taken an account from ENBD in February 2012 with a promise that there will not be any charge applied and that it was a zero balance account. I trusted them and used this account for the past 24 months. Suddenly without informing me they have started charging my account. When I questioned them over emails, I got a rude phone call from a manager asking me why can’t I afford Dh25. Please help me take necessary action.

From Mr Nabeel Shamsudeen

Al Ain

The management of Emirates NBD responds:

We are pleased to inform you that our Group Customer Experience team has been in touch with Mr Shamsudeen and provided him with the necessary clarifications with regard to his query.

We wish to clarify that accounts with ‘Savings’ variant are required to maintain a monthly minimum relationship balance of Dh3,000 in order to avoid a charge of Dh25, as per our schedule of service charges. This revision in our policy was communicated to all our customers to their mailing address. As Mr Shamsudeen’s relationship balance for the month of October and November 2013 was below Dh3,000, the minimum monthly charge of Dh25 was applicable to his account.

As a gesture of goodwill, Emirates NBD has decided to exceptionally waive the relationship fees applied on the account.

We would like to thank you for providing us with the opportunity to receive our customer’s feedback and resolve his issue. We take our customers’ feedback seriously to enable us to address any areas where we may fall short of our high standards.

Mr Shamsudeen responds:

Thank you Gulf News for your help. Without your intervention the service providers such as the banks will not be loyal to customers.

As the bank currently does not have any account, which matches my requirement I have agreed to close my account. Banks should keep their customers informed regarding change of charges via email, postal mail or SMS. I would say SMS would be most appropriate. Email would be a great valid record in case the customers are travelling and using their account from overseas.

Editor’s Note: Have you faced similar consumer issues? Have you tried escalating it but have not received redressal? Perhaps we might be able to help you. Contact us on readers@gulfnews.com