No luck
On October 17, 2014, at a supermarket in Sharjah, I bought an etisalat recharge voucher to recharge my son’s mobile number.
After reaching home within a few minutes, I tried to recharge by dialing *121*pin# but I got an automated answer that I was using an invalid pin number. Immediately, I called 101 and informed the representative about the trouble, to which, he promptly assured me that within two working days, the issue would get resolved. He also gave me a complaint reference number.
Since then, I have received a series of SMSs stating, ‘Your issue has been resolved’, ‘it cannot be resolved by 101’, ‘your issue is under investigation’ ‘your new follow up number is...’ and ‘we tried calling you to inform, but we could not reach you’ despite there being no missed calls on my phone.
I was puzzled by the text messages and without the issue getting resolved, on October 19 evening, I called 101 again. A representative assured me that within a few hours’ time, I would get a call from etisalat to resolve the issue, but no one called me.
Again, on October 20, I called 101. After they kept me on hold, the help desk representative asked me to go to etisalat’s business centre with the voucher to get this resolved.
My contentions are below.
1. It is a simple Dh25 recharge voucher bought in good faith.
2. It is etisalat’s mistake for issuing a faulty voucher.
3. etisalat has already collected the money already from me. Though it is a small amount, it is an unwritten promise to provide me with a service.
4. It is etisalat’s responsibility to resolve the issue at my convenience.
5. It is causing so much mental agony to follow up when there is no progress, and it is humiliating to realise that I have been taken for a ride.
6. I wish to forfeit Dh25 if at all I am asked to go a business centre to collect a token and wait in a queue for ages to get this resolved. At the end of the day, we have better things to do.
I hope Gulf News can help me resolve this issue amicably.
From Mr Senthil Kumar
Sharjah
The management of etisalat responds:
Kindly note that the customer’s issue was resolved.
The customer tried to use an e-voucher but it gave him an error as it was an invalid number. We contacted the customer and asked him to visit any etisalat outlet or business centre but he refused, despite this being our normal procedure in such issues. In good faith, we have given the customer a Dh100 save offer to satisfy him.
Mr Kumar responds:
Thanks for the information.
I got a call from etisalat on November 16, and they offered Dh50 calling credit per month for the next three months, not Dh100 as stated. He also explained that this is a rare offer and would not recur. I would be happy, if etisalat takes this feedback positively and corrects their system permanently.
I really thank and appreciate the whole-hearted involvement of Gulf News in resolving readers’ complaints. I also thank etisalat for their goodwill gesture to satisfy the customer.
(Process initiation: November 15, 2014. Response from organisation: November 19. Response from reader: November 19.)
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.