Strange charges

A year and a half ago, I signed up with etisalat for the iPhone plan which included the phone, 400 minutes locally, 400 text messages and 10GB for 350 a month. Every month, my bill would be an average of Dh500 to Dh750. I always thought it was due to the calls I make, until last month, I went on their website to check my call logs and noticed I did not receive the full 400 minutes during the past year and a half.

On some months, they would only provide me 120 minutes and start charging me right after it. The minutes they gave me were random every month. Some would be 300 minutes, 230 minutes and so on. I went to the main branch and was informed there that they couldn’t help me and that I should call 101 to raise a complaint.

Once I did that, it took them two weeks to reply stating they are sorry for the mistake and provided me with Dh100 a month for the next three months for only international calls. If those dirhams were not used, they would automatically disappear. They closed the complaint and marked it as resolved.

I was furious with the solution as I don’t make international calls and Dh300 against a missing 700 minutes or so from my plan seemed unfair. I called them and told them to re-open the case but instead, they opened a new one and till date I have not received a reply from them.

I have informed them that I will not pay my two-month bill until this is resolved and I see a fair solution towards this scam. I request the help of Gulf News to get what is only fair and to inform etisalat users to double check their bills and call logs as I am sure I am not the only one who has fallen victim to this.

From Mr Mohammed Atta Deaibes,
Abu Dhabi

 

The management of etisalat responds:

Kindly note that the customer’s issue was resolved.

 

Mr Deaibes responds:

Yes, the issue has been resolved, thanks to Gulf News. I received some cash in my account. I would like to advise everyone to read their contract and terms and conditions before signing up. It took almost three months to get such a simple issue solved but in the end, it finally happened.

(Process initiation: September 23, 2014. Response from organisation: October 12. Reader response: November 2.)

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.