In the first week of February 2014, I applied for a balance transfer with Mashreq bank in the amount of Dh2,000 to be transferred to Emirates Islamic bank (payment due date March 7, 2014).
After two or three days, I got a call from Mashreq to reconfirm my details, and they told me it will be done in four working days.
On February 16, I got a letter from Mashreq that my balance transfer has been done with all the details.
When I got the Emirates Islamic monthly statement, I was shocked to see late payment charges and monthly membership fee. The balance transfer was not reflected in the statement.
I immediately called Mashreq and asked for my balance transfer, which they have approved and confirmed with the letter on February 16.
Now the customer service centre person said it was rejected due to some technical reason. They have no answer why it was rejected. It was their duty to inform me about the problem, so that I can do some other mode of payment.
Then I called Emirates Islamic and told them about my balance transfer, which was confirmed by Mashreq but was canceled due to some technical problem from Emirates Islamic.
Emirates Islamic asked for a SWIFT code from Mashreq, which I got from them, and I have emailed Emirates Islamic nearly 10 times. When I called them for follow up with the customer care number from them I got the same answer that somebody will call you back within two working days, but till date I have not received a single call from Emirates Islamic.
Both the banks are not ready to take responsibility and are blaming each other.
But I have lost Dh560 for late payment and monthly membership fee.
Emirates Islamic is not ready to reverse my hard-earned money for the fault of the bank.
Please help me to solve this matter.
From Mr Aslam Darbar
Dubai
The management of Mashreq responds: Thank you for sharing Mr Darbar’s letter with us.
Our investigation has revealed that our customer had requested for a Balance Transfer on his Mashreq card to be transferred to his other bank card. We processed the Balance Transfer request with correct details as information was given by the customer on a recorded line. However, it was returned by the other bank with the reason of invalid beneficiary details. Mr Darbar once again confirmed the same card details, therefore there was no error in the processing by Mashreq or incorrect card number given by the customer. We have explained the same to Mr Darbar and he was satisfied with it.
Thank you for seeking clarification.
The management of Emirates Islamic responds: Thank you for bringing Mr Aslam Darbar’s concerns to our attention. On behalf of Emirates Islamic, I would like to inform you that the bank has been in constant touch with Mr Darbar to try and resolve this matter.
While Mr Darbar informed the bank that Mashreq had processed his balance transfer to Emirates Islamic, he was unable to submit a copy of the SWIFT transfer for the same, despite several requests from Emirates Islamic. Accordingly, in line with the relevant regulations at the bank, the customer was charged both a late payment fee and a monthly membership fee.
Subsequently, since Mr Darbar has settled the outstanding on the credit card, and keeping in mind his positive credit history, Emirates Islamic has decided to reverse the monthly membership fee charged, as a goodwill gesture.
Emirates Islamic is a customer-centric organisation truly committed to providing our customers with the very best customer service.
(Process initiation: July 1. Response from Mashreq: July 6. Response from Emirates Islamic: July 10.)
Disputed collect calls
Back in March 2010, I placed collect calls to the US for which etisalat charged me Dh268.69.
For nearly four years, I have been paying my GSM bill in full minus the collect call charges waiting on the disputed amount to be deducted from my account. Needless to say that I have done everything humanly possible to resolve the issue by lodging complaints, calling 101 countless times, sending e-mails only to get generic responses such as “sorry for the inconvenience”, “we have escalated the matter” and “the problem is solved”.
In November 2013, I was finally fed up and made one last call to 101. I made it clear to the agent that I am not paying for collect calls, I am not wasting any more time, I am tired of broken promises, I no longer wish to be their customer and to disconnect my number in December should the disputed charge still appear on my account.
I made a final payment towards my December 2013 bill minus Dh268.69.
Even though I discarded my Sim card, I find out that etisalat continues running a tab on my account by charging me a monthly rental fee and call forwarding charges which I have not authorised to a Du mobile number that does not belong to me!
I have paid what I owed. Collect calls were paid by the recipient four years ago. etisalat needs to close my account and not expect me to pay for neither imposed nor unauthorised charges.
I hope that Gulf News will persuade etisalat to treat me fairly.
On a separate note, does anyone know why etisalat charges 0.30 fils per unanswered call?
From Ms Sandra Moujaes
Dubai
Ms Moujaes updates: I guess I am not getting any reply through Gulf News [from etisalat]. I thank you for your help.
Editor’s note: The complaint was forwarded to etisalat for comments. However, its management did not respond.
(Process initiation: March 20. Process completion: May 11.)
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.
