Not my mistake
I am hoping Gulf News can help me settle a dispute with etisalat.
On August 1, 2013, I purchased a Samsung Galaxy S4 device from etisalat on an instalment plan of 18 months, at the monthly rate of Dh249, without a monthly minutes plan.
My 18-month contract ended on January 1, 2015. The mobile phone was in limited use, therefore the bill charges for calls was only Dh20 to Dh30 monthly. In March, I noticed that the line was disconnected and when I called customer service, they informed me that a pending amount of Dh1,000 was due. I have checked the bills and there were charges, which have been accumulating and never stopped, despite the legal contract ending.
I lodged a complain with etisalat. I received the answer that this was an error from their end, but I would need to clear all the dues, and then they would refund it to my account!
I lodged a second complaint, but never heard back. I approached the customer service centre, where I was again told to pay in full, to receive a refund. I refused, as I wanted to cancel this number, but unfortunately, no solution has been offered.
If this is a ‘system generated error’, as per etisalat’s statement, my question here is - why should I pay for etisalat’s mistake?
I hope Gulf News can help me settle this matter.
From Ms Parvoleta Bratanova
Dubai
The management of etisalat responds:
The case has been resolved.
Complaint description:
Customer claimed she activated Samsung S4 LTE device with an 18-month contract, with a package of Dh249 — data only, without calls. It started from August 2, 2013, and should have expired on August 3, 2015, but the system renewed the package without prior permission of the customer (auto renewal data plan).
Final outcomes:
1. The package has been cancelled.
2. We have contacted the customer, confirmed the same and she is extremely satisfied.
Ms Bratanova responds:
I received a call from etisalat’s customer service. They assured me that they would review the billing charges. After a few days, they confirmed that the total amount pending as of April 27, is Dh550, to which I agreed, and they have cancelled the other charges. Also, they explained to me the schedule of these charges. I proceeded with online payment at the same time, but on the website, the amount is showing as Dh797, as total outstanding. I have again addressed this issue and they assured me that the new bill would reflect after 24 hours. Till today however, the amount has not been rectified, and I have lodged a complaint and am waiting for feedback. So I do not consider this case to be resolved.
etisalat responds:
Kindly note that we have reviewed the customer’s bill and the earlier refunded amount again, but we did not find any abnormal issues or extra charges.
Moreover, we have contacted the customer, calculated the amount with her over the phone and discovered that she was calculating the bill incorrectly. The customer has agreed on the previous amount and has agreed to close the issue.
Ms Bratanova responds:
I confirm that my complaint has been resolved successfully, to my satisfaction. Thank you for the support.
(Process initiation: April 27. Response from organisation: May 3. Process completion: July 6.)
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.
