Bus blues
This is a complaint regarding bus transportation by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). My husband was on Al Wasl Road in Dubai, recently. He had forgotten his Nol bus card at home. It is difficult to get taxis on Al Wasl Road. It so happened that in the morning he had gone for a meeting with his boss. The boss drove the car. Later, he dropped him on Al Wasl Road, thinking my husband will take the bus home [to] Bur Dubai. It was around 4pm. Two buses went by, but the drivers refused to take him in. The buses did not have the card for sale. This is not correct. He found a taxi 45 minutes later.
There are no recharging machines at many of the stations and if there are machines at some stations, they are out of order, which again creates a problem for the travellers who do not have any balance on their Nol cards. The drivers don't let the passengers in without any card. I too travel by bus and I see many people facing this problem. Many tourists are not allowed on buses because of this card system. There should be a solution or substitutes if the passenger fails to get the card or does not have balance on it.
RTA customer service responds:
The customer service team did call and explain to the complainant that the bus drivers do carry and issue Nol cards to passengers who fail to carry Nol cards till the stock last. The stock was over that day and that's the reason why Mr Lotia could not board [the bus].
Ms Lotia responds:
The RTA customer service did speak to me regarding the issue and explained [to] me in detail. I am satisfied with the information provided and have no further complaints.
Not Free for life
I was approached by a First Gulf Bank salesperson to provide me with its credit card. I said I wasn't interested because it [had an] annual fee of Dh550. The salesperson offered to make the credit card free for life if I did a balance transfer of Dh15,000 or more to the bank with a minimum repayment period of six months. I agreed and did a balance transfer of Dh18,000 and submitted the credit card application. To my surprise when I got my October, 2009 credit card statement, First Gulf Bank had charged me an annual fee of Dh550. I called the bank and a complaint was registered.
A representative from the complaints department called and told me that my credit card was not free for life. I told them what the salesperson had said. The representative said the card becomes free for life only if the repayment period of the balance transfer is 12 months or more. I told her the bank's salesperson made the mistake by giving wrong information to a customer and thus they have to make my card free for life.
The representative gave me an offer to reverse the annual fee of Dh550 by exchanging the points on my credit card. I said I had earned these points and it was the bank's mistake so they should compensate. She called me a few days later and told me that the bank would make the credit card free for one more year. I asked about the third year and she said if I use the card regularly they would try to make it free for the third year, too. The bank makes a mistake and customers have to listen to them — how fair does that sound? A few days later I got a call from the bank again, offering me balance transfer to make my credit card free for life. If the bank really wants to serve its customer, then they should correct their mistake.
Customer service, First Gulf Bank, responds:
Thank you for sending us the letter of Mr Siraj Rajan and giving us the chance to clarify this matter.
Mr Ranjan was given a card in November, 2008. He took a Balance Transfer (BT) for Dh18,000 for six months. The free for life offer was valid only if the customer takes a BT for 12 months. All product terms and conditions are available in the product packs provided to customers. This year when the fee was charged on the card, the customer called in asking for [the] free for life offer, which he was not eligible for. He was offered other offers including spend/usage offer, which the customer didn't want to take. We hope that this clarifies the matter to Mr Rajan. Assuring Mr Rajan and all our customers our best services at all times.
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