In September 2016, my company issued a notification of termination for me without cause, with effect from December 31, 2016. I have a credit card from Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) and it has credit shield from Takaful insurance, which covers involuntary loss of employment. On February 5, 2017, 35 days from the date of my termination, I applied for a claim from Salama Insurance, which is owned by DIB. On February 16, they rejected my application because of this reason: “Claims intimated after 60 days from the date of event”. I don’t understand why they based their decision on the notification date (September 2016), and not on the exact date of my termination (December 31, 2017).
I consulted DIB and the insurance authority about this, and they also agreed that the actual date of the event should be based on the termination date, not the notification date. I disagree with the decision of Salama Insurance that the date of the event is the date of notification; this is being done simply to avoid their obligations toward the customer. The bank has also sent several emails and complaints to Salama Insurance, however, they never contacted me and just ignore the issue.
I would like to seek Gulf News’ help in this matter. This is not only for me, but would also help credit card holders from different banks, with the same issue.
From Mr Richan Delgado
Abu Dhabi
Mr Delgado updates:
I would like to inform Gulf News that Salama Insurance called me up about the processing of my insurance claim against my credit card. I am overwhelmed and so happy with Gulf News’ prompt action. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the newspaper for its continuous support and for a fair, just solution.
The management of Dubai Islamic Bank responds:
DIB would like to confirm that their Customer Support team has been informed about Mr Delgado’s situation and has contacted the customer to resolve the matter. Having been terminated from his job and notified about this termination on August 16, 2016, he was required to submit his claim to Salama within 60 days from this date, as per the terms and conditions of the credit shield service on his Al Islamic Prime Gold Card.
We have decided to review Mr Delgado’s claim for the outstanding balance payment on the date of the event as a gesture of goodwill. Mr Delgado was updated about the above and he will be submitting the required documents to Salama to settle his issue.
We now consider the matter to be closed and look forward to helping Mr Delgado in any other way we can. At DIB we greatly value our customers and are committed to ensuring the highest levels of customer service as possible.
(Process initiation: April 26. Reader updates: May 5. Response from organisation: May 7.)
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.
