I would like to bring to Gulf News’ attention that etisalat has been billing me for some third party charges, equating to about Dh100 per month. I called the customer service department of etisalat and they said that I had clicked a link on a pop-up ad, on my phone, due to which, these charges were being billed to me.

I asked how etisalat could charge me and debit my credit card when I had an auto debit instruction? They told me to be careful when clicking on anything that comes up on the phone. They also confirmed that etisalat is a general partner for some of these sites. It is obvious that etisalat has shared my phone number with these providers, otherwise they wouldn’t be sending me pop-up notifications!

They gave me a number to cancel the service. When I asked for a refund, as had billed me over the past five months, they said it was a third party website, hence they could not reverse the amount.

I told them that they had an unauthorised debit from my card and they would need to reverse it, as they have no right to take money off my credit card and this was illegal.

When I looked up the terms and conditions on etisalat’s website, I was astonished to find out that they had these costs and information sharing policies covered in their fine print. This is absolutely unethical and a beach of privacy and information.

I urge etisalat to respond.

From Ms Jaya Ratnani

Dubai

The management of etisalat responds:

Thank you for bringing Ms Ratnani concerns to our attention. After the review of the account and the charges, it was revealed that there was a subscription to third party services and the charges were made accordingly. However, etisalat will be making a refund, as Ms Ratnani has been a long-standing and loyal customer. Etisalat customer service staff has updated Ms Ratnani and the case is closed.

Ms Ratnani responds:

Yes, it has been resolved.

(Process initiation: January 26. Response from organisation: February 1. Reader confirmation: February 9.)

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.