Card renewal

My RAK Bank Titanium Master Card expired on August 31. On the same day I called RAK Bank to ask customer service to renew my card. On September 5, I inquired again and was told there was no request made for the card to be renewed.

I told the lady that I had lodged the request, but no record existed. So, I made the request again despite my disappointment. I was told the card would be delivered by a courier company.

I called RAK Bank again on September 8 only to be told by their customer service agent that the renewal request was on hold as I had not been using the card for some time. I told her to look at my credit card history which would show I had been using this card. Payments were always made in full up to that time since 2005.

She could not offer any explanation as to why the card has been held by the other department.

I do not wish to continue having a Titanium credit card with this kind of customer service from the bank.

From Mr Jimmy Mariano
Dubai

Mr Ian Hodges, Head of Personal Banking, RAK Bank, responds:

Thank you for giving us an opportunity to justify our stance on the issues raised by Mr Jimmy Mariano, RAK Bank customer, before you decide whether to proceed with publication.

The issues raised by Mr Mariano have been investigated and we sincerely regret the delay in processing the request for renewal of his RAK Bank credit card. The renewed credit card has now been dispatched and Mr Mariano has been informed about the same.

At RAK Bank, our staff are trained to adhere to the highest standards of customer service and we are deeply concerned about the omission in this case. The matter has been highlighted to all concerned for corrective action and we are glad that Mr Mariano’s concerns have been resolved positively.

We thank you for your continued support and we will be glad to provide any further clarification as required.

Cash back promotions

I have two credit cards from Dubai First, Master card and Visa card, since 2008. I have earned Dh8,425 as cash back from my Master card and 206,073 Dubai Dinars on my Visa card as per their promotion.

Unfortunately, Dubai First has frozen all my cash back and Dubai dinars without any reason, and since November 2010 they have stopped providing cash back and Dubai Dinar points without any intimation.

Whenever I requested a cash back redemption or Dubai Dinars redemption (I had once redeemed Dubai Dinars in September 2009) they had told me that my card was temporarily blocked due to some business purchase, hence they could not process my request on a blocked card, with a request to wait for some days to unblock the card.
Now, Dubai First has started deducting my cash back stating “cash back expired” and it has come down to Dh6,786 from Dh8,425. I don’t understand why they credited all this cash back and Dubai Dinars if it was not an eligible transaction as they claim. I have credit cards from other finance institutions on which I am enjoying the promised cash back without any issues at all.

Could you please arrange to raise this issue with Dubai First management and try to get my cash back and Dubai Dinars, which I earned since 2008?

From Mr Sadakathulla
Adukurussi
Abu Dhabi

The management of Dubai First responds:

This is to confirm that an investigation has been carried out, and that the query raised by the customer was addressed on August 24, 2011, directly to the customer.

The customer’s case dates back to 2009, when he was informed that a review of his credit card account revealed that transactions performed on both his Dubai First credit cards were not in accordance with the terms and conditions stipulated for the “Dubai First Rewards (Dubai Dinars)” and “Cash Back Scheme” (together defined as “The Points Program”).

We noticed several transactions of the same nature continue to be performed on his Dubai First credit cards.

Dubai First again, in 2010, informed the customer that certain transactions he conducted were still in violation of the terms and conditions stipulated for the accrual of “The Points Program”.

Kindly note that since his transactions were non-compliant with the terms and conditions of “The Points Programs”, this disqualified him from redeeming the respective redemption request placed. Furthermore, it should be noted that as per the terms and conditions of the “Cash Back Scheme”, it has a validity period hence some points expired.

Dubai First has been making continuous efforts to contact him in resolving his complaint. However, we have not been able to receive a positive response from his side.
Dubai First remains committed to delivering the highest standards of service, and as such, we are willing to go the extra mile to satisfy our customers. As such, in order to assist him further we request him to visit any of our branches or to contact our 24/7 contact centre on +9714 5068888.

eLife connection

During November 2010 I received a call from etisalat saying they were migrating from Al Shamil to eLife internet service and that I would be migrated too. They informed me about charges and benefits, I did not want to migrate but they said I didn’t have any choice as by default all customers would be migrated to elife slowly.

Later, I got an SMS from etisalat that I was successfully migrated to eLife from my Al Shamil and that I could enjoy 8mb internet speed compared to previous Al Shamil which had 256kbps only.

I am not getting 8mb speed at my home. Hence I logged a complaint with etisalat and they asked me to do a certain setup on my laptop but even then I didn’t get 8mb speed.
Four months have passed, finally one engineer came to my home and I was told that I wasn’t migrated to eLife as my Al Shamil account was still active.

Finally, the engineer did the necessary changes in his second trip to my home and from March 1, 2011, I got 8mb speed. The engineer brought some papers as well, where I have clearly mentioned the start date of the 8mb connection.

I settled my Al Shamil account bills until February 2011 and asked etisalat to start my billing from March 1, 2011 as I got 8mb speed at my home only from that date onwards. This is captured in etisalat records as well since I have signed complaint papers saying the same.

Many months have passed and I am ready to pay the bill from March (I have sent many reminders to etisalat) but have received no response. In fact they disconnected my internet, for which I fail to understand the reason.

During this time, I went to etisalat’s offices in Deira, Bur Dubai and Jebel Ali several times, but no solution was reached. I was put on hold on phone calls that I made to log a complaint with etisalat, but there was still no solution reached. There was no response even from care@etisalat.ae.
 

  • Who is responsible for not transferring me from Al Shamil to eLife and charging me from November 2010 when I got 8mb internet speed only from March 1, 2011?
  • Why is care@etisalat.ae not responding to my email even after 4 months?
  • Why did they disconnect my eLife internet service when I am ready to pay my bills?
  • Do I have any choice other than etisalat in the UAE for internet service?
  • Why have I got a bill for Dh2,470.17 (November to June), whereas I am supposed to pay only from March to June 2011 at the introductory offer price only?

From Mr Abbasi
Bhikhapurwala
Dubai

Editor’s note: The complaint was forwarded to etisalat for comments. However, despite repeated reminders, its management failed to respond.

Mr Bhikhapurwala responds:
Finally etisalat has agreed to waive Dh1,570 which they wrongly charged, after almost 10 months of my struggle.