I would like to seek Gulf News’ help regarding two online remittance transactions to India, which I made using Emirates NBD’s Direct Remit.
The first transaction was on June 6, for Dh20,116.47, which was instantly deducted from my account. However, on the next day, I got an email from the bank that the transaction had failed due to technical error: “system temporarily unavailable”. I got the money credited back to my account on June 13, however I only received Dh19,511.08, which was Dh605.39 lower than what had been deducted. This was because the bank had used a different exchange rate to credit the money back (for deduction, bank used UAE dirham to Indian rupee conversion, while for the refund they used Indian rupee to UAE dirham). I contacted Emirates NBD’s customer support, and they told me that they are investigating the issue. They did not give me any clarity on why the transaction had failed and why different exchange rates were used to refund me the money. I have made multiple phone calls but they keep pushing the deadline for resolution. Why should a customer incur losses due to technical issues from the bank?
While I was still waiting for resolution on the first transaction, I made a second attempt to transfer money to the beneficiary in India on June 13. The amount was Dh20,090.94 which again was instantly deducted from my account. Next day, I got a similar email that the transaction had failed again and that the amount would be credited to my account in three days. However, it took much longer, I finally got my money back on June 22 but yet again, it was lower than what had been deducted. I received only Dh19,328.73 which was Dh762.21 less, due to a different exchange rate like last time.
So in total, Emirates NBD owes me Dh1,367.60 from two failed transactions due to technical errors in their system. Moreover, the entire process has already taken more than two weeks and the bank has not shown any inclination to resolve the issue. I had to finally resort to another money exchange company to transfer the money.
I request Gulf News’ help to kindly intervene and resolve this issue so I can get my money back and to make sure this does not happen in the future to other customers.
From Mr Abhinav Verma
Dubai
The management of Emirates NBD responds:
We are pleased to inform you that our Group Customer Experience team provided Mr Verma with the necessary clarifications and the matter has been resolved.
We have investigated the customer’s query and would like to clarify that as per the Bank’s policy, DirectRemit transactions are for personal or individual related payment purposes only and are not intended for commercial use. This information is clearly mentioned on our online banking service whilst initiating the transfer.
Furthermore, Mr Verma’s transactions were commercial related and hence were returned with the message ‘System temporarily unavailable’ and not due to any technical issues.
As a service gesture and in appreciation of Mr Verma’s relationship, the Bank has arranged to reverse the exchange rate difference to his account on an exceptional basis.
We would like to reiterate our commitment to providing superior service to our customers and thank you for your continuous support in providing us with the opportunity to resolve their issues.
Mr Verma responds:
The issue has been resolved.
(Process initiation: July 4. Response from organisation: July 13. Reader confirmation: July 13.)
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.
