One ticket for two passengers
I recently had a bad experience with Emirates airlines. I had booked three tickets to Mumbai, India, for June 4. About three days before departure, I called Emirates to check how much I would get in a refund if my son did not travel (as he was having a cold). The representative said a refund would not apply, so I told him I would let him know.
The funny thing is that on the same day, the airline issued the ticket from Mumbai to another passenger, which he got for Rs15,000 (Dh912). The passenger was sitting next to me on my son’s seat, which I had paid for. The passenger said he knew somebody in the airline and bought the ticket three days before departure — the day I had spoken with someone in Emirates’ call centre.
I had not cancelled the ticket, in case my son managed to come with me to the airport at the last minute. If this had happened, what about the seat, which they had issued to the other passenger?
The management of Emirates can play the recording of my conversation with their call centre to confirm what happened. Decency demands that they should refund my ticket fare, because you can’t sell one ticket to two people.
Another incident happened with my son who was travelling from Mumbai-Zurich-Dubai-Mumbai. He was on his honeymoon, so I told him to halt in Dubai. He was returning to Mumbai on June 27 in a 3.30am flight on a confirmed ticket. He was at the airport three hours before the flight but there were apparently no seats on the airline. What is the use of a confirmed ticket? It seems they had overbooked and he had to return to a hotel at his own cost, with ill treatment meted out by the ground staff.
I would be grateful to Gulf News if the newspaper could bring this to the notice of the management of Emirates.
From Mr Suresh Shroff
Dubai
The management of Emirates airlines responds:
This issue has now been looked into by our Customer Affairs division, who have responded directly to the customer. We have nothing more to add.
(Process initiation: July 15. Response from organisation: August 6.)
Getting back benefits
I hold a credit card from First Gulf Bank (FGB) and have paid the full outstanding with an extra amount of Dh144.39 on January 27. After two months, I received a bank statement for April 2014, showing transactions from 2013, although I had paid it in full. I called their call centre and recorded my objection against all these transactions. After a few days, an FGB agent called me back and said that they rejected 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, which were not in the bank statement and are supposed to be presented to me every month.
Now after more than one year, FGB’s 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.)
Recurring payment
I had an eLife account with etisalat, which I cancelled. I also returned the equipment to the etisalat office at Salam Street in Abu Dhabi.
When I asked for a receipt, I was told there is no receipt for equipment return. After that, I received a bill claiming unrecovered equipment cost, so I called customer care and visited the same representative to whom I had returned the equipment. He told me to file a complaint and that I would receive a reference number on my phone.
However, I did not receive anything. Again, I went back to visit the same representative and was again told the same thing, so I got fed up and paid the bill of Dh288. Then again, a month later, I received the same bill with the same amount, despite having paid it.
From Mr Sooraj Veliyampalam Sukumaran
Abu Dhabi
The management of etisalat responds:
Kindly note that the customer’s issue was resolved.
Mr Sukumaran responds:
I have been contacted by etisalat and was told that I would be refunded.
(Process initiation: July 25. Response from organisation: August 27. Reader confirmation: August 28.)
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.
