I would like to disclose my experience with Commercial Bank International (CBI). I had shortlisted a property for purchase in Dubai Silicon Oasis, for which, I intended to get a mortgage loan at 75 per cent of the cost. The salesman from CBI was quite convincing, and I agreed to take the loan from them.
In the meantime, I had paid 10 per cent in advance to the developer and was waiting for them to transfer the title deed in my name. The CBI loan then got processed and they forced me to start paying the equated monthly instalments (EMI). I was informed that no banks in the UAE take EMI before the title deed is transferred and the property is handed over. However, CBI started auto-debiting the EMI from my account. I waited patiently and paid the EMI for six months until the developer informed that he is unable to transfer the property in my name, due to a land loan issue with his property. He returned the money that I had given him in advance. So, I gave written instructions to CBI to close the loan immediately on February 16, 2016.
CBI again auto-debited my account for the EMI in March and closed the loan on March 29. It has to be noted that there were absolutely no funds transferred to the developer by CBI, nor were there any financial facilities provided by CBI up until the time the loan was closed.
I requested CBI to return the EMI paid, since there was no physical disbursement of the loan amount. Out of Dh29,000 paid in EMI, they paid back Dh9,000, calling it a principal amount. I could let go of the processing fee and other fees paid to CBI, but I paid the EMIs all the while, for a loan that I have never availed.
Today, I visited the CBI office to take a no liability letter. They again charged me Dh100 for it. There was a current account opened in CBI for this purpose, and to close it they needed Dh100 more.
I feel cheated and extremely disappointed with the whole transaction process at CBI.
From Mr Sasrik Sivaram Vallath
Dubai
The management of CBI responds:
We are pleased to inform you that we have contacted our customer through email, and responded to his queries. We thank you for helping us serve our customers better.
Mr Vallath responds:
CBI acted swiftly after receiving the notice from Gulf News, and contacted me. They credited back the principal amount of Dh16,000 on May 8.
I must admit that this would not have happened without Gulf News’ intervention. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all parties involved.
(Process initiation: May 2. Response from organisation: May 10. Reader confirmation: May 10.)
Setup box mismanagement leads to large fines
I have been a subscriber of etisalat’s eLife since August 2013.
I opted for eLife Triple Play on June 11, 2015 under a new account number by discontinuing my previous subscription. I presented the setup box of this connection at the etisalat counter but their personnel refused to accept it, saying its cost had already been recovered in instalments from me.
Despite my request to retain my land line, etisalat personnel at the counter told me that it could not be retained, as the old connection was being terminated and a new land line number was forced on us.
To my surprise etisalat continued sending me monthly bills amounting to Dh1,342 (previous bill amount of Dh859.50 with the unrecovered cost of Dh490 and perhaps Dh7.50 for service rental) towards the disconnected account.
Subsequently, I returned the setup box (that was not received by etisalat) on December 6, 2015, and a confirmation note was issued by them. I filed the disputed bill amount complaint at their business centre counter.
This complaint was ‘resolved’ by etisalat, with them stating it was invalid!
Subsequently, I started receiving calls and emails from etisalat’s collection partner, threatening ‘consequences’ if the bills were not settled immediately.
On January 11, 2016, I took up the dispute with the accounts department at their main business centre in Deira, where the etisalat personnel took a copy of the set-up box return receipt. Here too, another complaint was raised.
On January 16, I received a text message saying etisalat could not reach me to clear the doubt. Immediately, it was followed by another text message saying this complaint was ‘resolved’. But I did not receive any call or missed call until now. I paid up the bill amount of Dh1,342 on January 18 in order avoid consequences.
I understand that a portion of this amount may be from the previous month’s bill. But I would like to have a proper and conclusive reply from etisalat for billing me Dh1,342. Please help.
From Mr Joseph Edgar Cabral
Dubai
The management of etisalat responds:
Thank you for bringing Mr Cabral’s concerns to our attention. Etisalat customer service team would want to apologise for all the inconvenience caused to Mr Cabral.
He has now been migrated to eLife Triple Play account with the existing phone number, as requested, and the required refund was made to his account. The issue is now resolved and closed.
Mr Cabral responds:
I thank Gulf News immensely for taking up my complaint with etisalat. A staff member from etisalat’s customer service was in touch with me, clarifying certain points from my complaint.
He has assured that they would credit a certain amount to my existing account to resolve the complaint, and I have agreed.
(Process initiation: March 28. Response from organisation: April 7. Reader confirmation: April 12.)
Mortgage gone bad
I would like to disclose my experience with Commercial Bank International (CBI).
I had shortlisted a property for purchase in Dubai Silicon Oasis, for which I intended to get a mortgage loan at 75 per cent of the cost. The salesman from CBI was quite convincing, and I agreed to take the loan from them.
In the meantime, I had paid 10 per cent in advance to the developer and was waiting for them to transfer the title deed in my name. The CBI loan then got processed and they forced me to start paying the equated monthly instalments (EMI).
I was informed that no banks in the UAE take EMI before the title deed is transferred and the property is handed over. However, CBI started auto-debiting the EMI from my account.
I waited patiently and paid the EMI for six months until the developer informed that he was unable to transfer the property to my name, due to a land loan issue with his property.
He returned the money that I had given him in advance. So, I gave written instructions to CBI to close the loan immediately on February 16, 2016.
CBI again auto-debited my account for the EMI in March and closed the loan on March 29. It has to be noted that there were absolutely no funds transferred to the developer by CBI, nor were there any financial facilities provided by CBI up until the time the loan was closed. I requested CBI to return the EMI paid, since there was no physical disbursement of the loan amount.
Out of Dh29,000 paid in EMI, they paid back Dh9,000, calling it a principal amount. I could let go of the processing fee and other fees paid to CBI, but I paid the EMIs all the while, for a loan that I have never availed. Today, I visited the CBI office to take a no liability letter. They again charged me Dh100 for it. There was a current account opened in CBI for this purpose, and to close it they needed Dh100 more.
I feel cheated and extremely disappointed with the whole transaction process at CBI.
From Mr Sasrik Sivaram Vallath
Dubai
The management of CBI responds:
We are pleased to inform you that we have contacted our customer through email, and responded to his queries. We thank you for helping us serve our customers better.
Mr Vallath responds:
CBI acted swiftly after receiving the notice from Gulf News, and contacted me. They credited back the principal amount of Dh16,000 on May 8.
I must admit that this would not have happened without Gulf News’ intervention. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all parties involved.
(Process initiation: May 2. Response from organisation: May 10. Reader confirmation: May 10.)
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.
