I had an auto loan account with ME Bank, which later merged with Emirates NBD. On two different occasions, I received a call from the bank’s customer service stating that my instalment cheque had bounced and asking me to pay the due Equated Monthly Instalment (EMI) in cash immediately to any branch.

I asked them the reason for the same but they are unable to give any proper explanation. Nevertheless, to avoid any penalties or complications, I immediately paid the due amount (Dh1,109) at Al Muhairy Centre branch both times.

Strangely, the very next day, after paying cash, the cheques were also debited to my account for the same amount both times.

Hence, I paid two extra instalments for a total amount of Dh2,218 (which reflects in the bank’s generated statement, as well).

When I discussed with the bank that the extra amount needs to be refunded, to my surprise, they said only one extra instalment, which was nearly Dh900, was paid in the account as per their system. The remaining amount, which was reflecting in the statement (as per their records) was an unadjusted amount in the system.

I raised the complaint on different occasions with different branches of Emirates NBD, but no clarification or refund was provided (only that they refunded the amount Dh900 out of Dh2,218 on settlement of loan).

My mistake is that I lost one cash slip for the instalment, which I had paid for.

Finally, after lots of hassle, I kept quiet and lost all hope. After reading reader complaints in Gulf News, I regained the hope to recover my money. Once again, Gulf News is my last hope, and I hope to receive a favourable reply.

From Mr Shaikh Mohammad Yunus

Abu Dhabi

 

The management of Emirates NBD responds:

We are pleased to inform you that our Group Customer Experience team has been in touch with Mr Yunus and provided him with the necessary clarifications in regards to his query.

Further, we wish to clarify that Mr Yunus was making his auto loan payments through Post Dated Cheques of Dh1,109. After one of the cheques was returned unpaid, he deposited the cheque amount in his auto loan account and the Bank had presented the cheque for clearance again on the same date. Hence, prior to the loan closure, the excess amount of Dh1,109, which is equal to the duplicate payment has been refunded back to the customer as appropriate.

For more clarity on the issue and upon Mr Yunus’s request, the Bank has forwarded the auto loan statement to Abu Dhabi Main branch and he has collected the same and shall get back to us if further clarification is required.

We would like to thank you for your continuous support in offering us the opportunity to further assist our valued customers.

 

Mr Yunus responds:

The bank representative promised to provide me with clarification details. He called me three times and gave me several different explanations. First, he said the instalment was not posted in the system. The second time, he said it was a system error due to an incorrect entry. In the third instance, he said there were two entries made to two different people by two different teams. Every time, I received some amusing and illogical clarification from him.

Finally, on February 18 and 19, after a long discussion, he promised me once again he would come back to me with the information from the concerned department. I told him this time, I would need a written clarification from bank. He promised he would check and let me know; hence I am still waiting for his reply.

 

Emirates NBD responds:

Based on Mr Yunus’s request, please note that after further investigation into the matter with the concerned team the bank’s stand relating to this case remains unchanged.

Please note that as of date, the loan is closed and nothing is payable to the customer as per our systems. We have provided him with the necessary clarifications on February 17, 2015. He has requested to be provided with a written justification after providing him with the Auto loan account statement, which is considered an official document. Furthermore, since this is a historical case dating back to 2012, we have requested Mr Yunus to provide us with the cash payment receipts to support his claim, which we are still awaiting.

We would like to thank you for your continuous support in offering us the opportunity to further assist our valued customers.

 

(Process initiation: January 29. Response from organisation: February 9. Process completion: March 3.)

 

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.