I am writing to seek Gulf News’ help regarding my dispute with etisalat. I had an e-Life Triple Play account with etisalat, which I opened in May 2013. I was using the service and managing the payments on time, however, in March 2016, I noticed some charges that were unknown to me, which had been billed over three months – December 2015, January 2016 and February 2016.
I sent emails to etisalat. I did not get a proper reply and no reversal of charges were made. I did not make any payment, as I was waiting for their reply, and after two months, the service was cut off.
The bill was incurred monthly, so I sent the same email to etisalat, but to no avail. At that time, another telecommunication company’s home service was being offered in our building so I transferred to them.
On February 9, 2017, I received an email from the etisalat Collections department, asking for Dh6,015.79. When I called them, asking why my bill had incurred such a large amount, when they have cut off the line after two months, they said that it was a penalty for not finishing the two-year contract. However, the line was opened on May 2013, and the last payment was made in March 2016. I sent them a reply, but I did not receive any answer. Recently, I have started receiving demand letters and calls from the collections agency. I sent them my reply, saying I will no longer question the erroneous charges, but that I will only pay for the two months of service. They did not bother to respond, instead they kept on sending me the demand letter.
I am no longer questioning the erroneous charges that were made, but I am not going to pay Dh6,015.79, as I did not use the service after the line was cut. Once again, a big thanks to Gulf News.
From Ms Jennifer Aseron
Abu Dhabi
The management of etisalat responds:
Thank you for bringing Ms Aseron’s concerns to our attention. Etisalat customer service team would want to apologise for all the inconvenience caused. Ms Aseron’s account was ceased due to non-payment on March 14, 2016, and she was then charged Dh1,500 for not returning the set top boxes (STB). The customer was contacted and updated on the bill. Etisalat will be refunding the rental charges for the period from final warning until cessation in August 2016. Ms Aseron was advised to submit the STBs to the nearest Etisalat business centre with the receipt to process the exit charge refund. She has agreed with the etisalat team to return the STB by the end of April 2017, and clear the remaining dues at the end of May 2017.
(Process initiation: April 17. Response from organisation: April 25. Process completion: May 16.)
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.
