My credit card from RAKBANK was stolen in December 2018, which I reported to the bank and they cancelled it. I was expecting a replacement card, which never came. I had settled all the balance on the card and in fact paid more than Dh300 extra just in case. In July I got a statement where they had charged me for the renewal of the card. I called them to say there is a mistake as I do not even have a card with me. They told me that I was supposed to call them back to issue a replacement card, which I did not do, that is why they did not send the card and since the file is still open, they have renewed the card charging the money. It was shocking for me and I asked them to close the file as I did not want to work with such an unprincipled bank who charges for a renewal of a card, which is not even with their customer and they cannot do anything to rectify the situation.
There are more than Dh900 the bank has with them as rewards money I had accumulated with the usage of the card in 2018. I asked them to use this money to close all the balances and the bank can keep the remaining money for charity. They said this is not possible; that I will have to re-issue the card and then ask them to settle the balance using the reward money and only after this can they cancel and close the file. I find it extremely unreasonable. First, it is totally unacceptable that they charge for a renewal of a card, which they know is not with their customer. Secondly they have much more money than they would require to close the card paying these unjustified charges and they refuse to do this. I don’t have time to keep on following them for this procedure, which is their problem and not their customer’s.
I would request Gulf News to help me to get my message across to them and ask them why the way they waited for my call (according to what they say) to re-issue the card, they should have done the same before renewing the card. The bank knew very well the customer has not used the card for last seven months and the customer does not even have a card from them and even then they renewed the card without checking once with the customer. Finally, I would request Gulf News to request them to cancel these renewal charges, pay me back the Dh1,200 the bank owes to me.
From Mr Rehan Ahmad Khan
Dubai
The management of RAKBANK responds: Please note that as per banks’ standards and best practices in the UAE banking industry, the Bank is limited with respect to disclosing or providing details and/or specific information about their customers to any third party to maintain the confidentiality of their data and personal information.
We have contacted the customer and clarified that the charges levied are as per our published service and prices guide and are due to minimum spend criteria not being met as required to avoid annual fees payable on the RAKBANK World Credit Card.
Mr Khan responds: Thank you Gulf News for your help. I received a call from RAKBANK with the reference of Gulf News complaint. They have given me below solution:
1. I will have to get my credit card re-issued.
2. They will charge me the renewal fee.
3. They will cancel and reverse the late fee and interest charges.
4. They will use my accumulated reward money for the renewal charges but this will be done only after I have got the credit card re-issued.
5. They will charge me Dh75 for card re-issuance charges.
Thanks again for your kind help.
(Process initiation: October 21, 2019. Response from organisation: October 24, 2019. Reader confirmation: October 22, 2019.)
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.
