Unknown withdrawal
It has already been three-and-a-half months since my money was swiped clean from my current account at the Standard Chartered bank, but the issue still remains unresolved. I had followed the procedure of raising the dispute form and cancelling my debit card but to no avail.
It was on September 4, 2013. I have an alert SMS system on my mobile but since my mobile was out of charge, I had left it at home. I arrived at home and went to sleep.
On September 5, when we had gone for shopping, I tried to use my debit card to make payments, but to my surprise, the card showed no credit, whereas I should be having around Dh16,000.
I called the call centre to inquire about this issue and they said that I had withdrawn all the money from the Union National Bank (UNB) ATM centre. I told them that it wasn’t me since I still have the debit card. I was told to fill a dispute form and fax it, which I did. I then went online and checked my account. To my shock, the person who had swiped my account clean had done it smartly. He had done individual transactions. He had withdrawn Dh5,000 first at 10:33pm, then Dh2,500 at 10:34pm, and then Dh5,000 at 12:10am, Dh2,500 at 12:11am and finally, Dh900 at 12:12am on September 5. My account was left with only Dh77.68.
It was just the beginning of the month and all my money was swiped clean. I went to the bank and asked for their help. They said that since the ATM is of a different bank the complaint has to go to the central banking authority and it would take time.
Is there no way I would be getting my money back? I have two school going children. It’s really difficult to live without money. All the budgeting goes haywire with the loss of money. I had to take a loan for this month.
The bank personnel told me that they are still looking into the issue. Does it take this much time? There are cameras on all the ATM machines and they could easily come to know who had swiped my money. Won’t they come to know that it was not my mistake but some other person must have hacked the UNB ATM machine and swiped my account clean? Can’t they catch him? Can’t they give me my money? Please help me in getting my money back.
From Mr Durgadas V. Rao
Dubai
The management of Standard Chartered responds:
This issue has been resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Mr Rao responds:
My complaint against Standard Chartered has been resolved and the amount has been credited to my account. I waited for three-and-a-half months with no result and with just one email to Gulf News, the money has been deposited to my account in two days. Thank you so much Gulf News for the help.
Forcing customers
Etisalat is forcing eVision customers to upgrade to eLife packages even if they don’t need it. I subscribed to eVision Pehla package from Etisalat since inception. For the past two months, I keep getting calls from Etisalat sales staff to upgrade to eLife service at a higher cost for the same channels. They want us to pay an additional Dh40 every month for the same channels that I already have. In addition, they will also charge Dh20 every month, which makes Dh240 per year as rental fee of the setup box, which actually costs Dh200 or less for a new one. Looking at the cost implications and the fact that there are no additional benefits, I refused the upgrade offer and said I was happy with my existing package. If Etisalat wants to upgrade the service for their convenience, they should do it at no extra cost to the existing customers. Now, my eVision reception has been blocked and Etisalat staff are trying to get me to upgrade to eLife. However, I have already been charged in advance for the existing eVision service. I lodged several complaints and each time, I get a new complaint number and an assurance that it will be fixed within 48 hours. Can you please take up this issue with Etisalat?
From Mr Sushil Maratha
Sharjah
Editor’s note:
The complaint was forwarded to Etisalat for comments. However, despite repeated reminders, Etisalat management did not respond.
Mr Maratha responds:
Since no one from Etisalat got in touch with me,I had no choice and submitted my cancellation of eVision.
Repeated charges
I downloaded a free application for my mobile “Du navigator” from Du website from my Du mobile number, unfortunately I was charged Dh25. When I asked Du, they said, “You have used third party application and we cannot reverse the charges.” Surprisingly, I did not register or subscribe to anything and not even used the application. I was never informed about it.
I feel it is not a fair practice by Du and charging for a service, which was never used. Du should not reply in such a way that they are not responsible for third party charges. Du should fairly inform the customers about the services and charges associated.
I repeatedly called/sent email to solve the issue; unfortunately my complaint was rejected a few times. Again, I was charged Dh25 even though I cancelled my number.
Du is not considering valid complaints from customers and ignoring the requests/complaints, and simply replies, “charges are valid, we cannot do anything.” Kindly intervene with Du and help to stop their unfair charges and reverse the charges. I request Gulf News to help me in this regard.
From Mr Ramasamy Sekar
Dubai
A spokesperson from Du responds:
In response to Mr Sekar’s inquiry, we investigated and validated that the charges are correct. Our team called him up to explain the charges and the procedure of cancelling his subscription. We will be glad to assist him further.
Editor’s note: If you have similar consumer complaints and wish to raise them with the newspaper, contact us by email at readers@gulfnews.com
