Credit please
I was happy with my Al Wasel prepaid package for many years, until the first week of November 2013, when an etisalat staff member called to offer me a postpaid plan. He offered a package of Dh200 per month on November 7, 2013.
On November 30, 2013, my account had 113 minutes remaining as per an etisalat SMS dated the same day.
On December 4, 2013, I received my account statement via SMS, showing bill amount as Dh385.09, wherein Dh185 was for November and Dh200 for December. I immediately went to etisalat’s business centre in Al Twar to inform them that I am a postpaid subscriber and to enquire why the December bill had been deducted in advance.
The representative informed me that postpaid is now also billed in advance and I told them that this is not acceptable and that I want to revert to prepaid. The counter staff said it would be possible only when I pay the billed amount of Dh385.09 and an additional Dh40 to receive a new prepaid sim card. I settled the bill of Dh359 and lodged a complaint.
On April 17, 2014, they informed me that my complaint had been resolved and when I contacted their call centre to find out how it was resolved, they asked me to refer to their business centre. I again visited their office and they confirmed that the file had been closed.
As I was not satisfied, I lodged another complaint on April 30. On May 6, etisalat sent another SMS to inform me that this complaint had also been resolved. I wonder how the complaint was resolved without refunding the advance subscription of Dh200 for December, 2014, as it was wrong to bill in advance for a postpaid package without any advance notification and especially since the subscription was cancelled. Now, I seek Gulf News’ help to take up this matter with etisalat.
From Mr Mohammad Ahmad
Dubai
The management of etisalat responds:
Kindly note that the customer’s issue was resolved.
Mr Ahmad responds:
I am pleased to inform that I received a call from etisalat and they offered me a package with free credit of Dh300 (Dh100 each month) and they gave me instant credit of Dh100 for the current month. I am thankful to Gulf News for the help and etisalat for their consideration of my request, as the issue was resolved to my satisfaction.
(Process initiation: July 25. Response from organisation: August 6. Reader confirmation: August 12.)
Still pending
I had cancelled my du postpaid connection on March 25 and during that time, I was told in detail that the outstanding balance amount has been recovered and was assured that the account cancellation could not be processed without remitting the balance amount. Surprisingly, I got another bill from du, stating that there is a pending amount of Dh190.72 to be paid.
I have followed up on the issue, but they have not taken any action to resolve it. I am not clear on the following issues:
1. How can a closed and cancelled account be billed again?
2. How does the system accept a cancellation without remitting the balance amount? If so, anybody can sign for a postpaid connection and leave the country without paying all the dues.
Even though the amount is very small, I should not have to pay for something that I don’t have to.
From Mr Gurusamy Nagarajan
Dubai
A spokesperson from du responds:
With regard to Mr Nagarajan’s query, we have investigated and are glad to confirm that the matter is resolved. There is no outstanding amount pending against Mr Nagarajan. We apologise for any inconvenience.
Mr Nagarajan responded:
I paid the outstanding amount and it has been resolved.
(Process initiation: July 25. Response from organisation: August 1. Reader confirmation: August 12.)
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.
