I would like to seek Gulf News’ help regarding my purchase of an iPhone 7 from a du outlet in Deira City Centre, Dubai. When I was told about the offer, the sales staff mentioned I would need to pay Dh350 as advance, which would be settled in bills. I would be paying Dh260, which includes my monthly plan and equated monthly instalment (EMI) for iPhone 7. My purchase was done in October 2016 using my FGB credit card.

When the salesperson at the counter punched my card for an amount of Dh350, the card machine gave a ‘chip error’, hence she asked me to insert my card pin again, which I did, for an amount of Dh350 and payment was completed. I received the handset, but as I moved out, I received a message from the bank that I had been charged twice, that is, the amount of Dh350 was debited twice from my FGB card. Instantly, I mentioned it to the salesperson at the counter and she said: “Sir, submit your statement, showing that payment received by us two times, and we will reverse or adjust the excess amount of Dh350 to your bill.”

So I waited till my statement came, in November 2016. I took my statements to du at the Deira City Centre branch and they said: “We have forwarded a query to the billing centre and they will call you.”

I waited for a month, till December 2016, but nothing was done. They created a reference number and closed it without telling me the solution, in January 2017, as I didn’t answer their call because I was in Germany at the time, and my phone was off. I again reopened the case, and started the complaint from scratch. I met a floor manager in du’s Mirdif City Centre branch and he helped me speak to the personnel at the billing centre of du via video call. They said they would resolve it as soon as possible.

I have waited for three months, from January to March 2017, but nothing has happened. No one from du has called. I went again to du and re-submitted the documents to an agent, who emailed my complaint, attaching all the evidence, to his managers. Again, I waited but nobody responded.

Later, in Ramadan, I went to the branch and the agent said they would call their billing centre again. They were kind enough and promised me that Dh350 would be settled in 10 days. I was relieved! Then I waited a full month, but received no calls, and no solution was given.

I visited du’s Mirdif City Centre, and the agent apologised and said the request was taking time as the IT department forgot to post the excess payment of Dh350 on my bill. Afterwards, the staff member said I should wait as they are working on it. I was in contact with them via WhatsApp and the agent said they would post it soon, but after promising and confirming that they have received a payment of Dh350 in excess, they just said they didn’t have any payment.

I forwarded the same complaint to my bank as well, but they mentioned to me that my statement shows the amount being claimed two times by du. The manager at du’s billing section, whom I had spoken with, agreed and said they have my excess money and their IT department forgot to post it.

From Mr Jithin Varrier

Dubai

A spokesperson from du responds:

In response to Mr Varrier’s query, the matter has been investigated internally. After investigation, we discovered that there is an excess amount of Dh350 billed in Mr Varrier’s du account due to double posting. The charges will be reversed in the next month’s invoice. The customer has been contacted and conveyed the same to his satisfaction. We apologise for any inconvenience.

(Process initiation: August 10. Response from organisation: August 15. Process completion: August 15.)

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.