I have not received the five per cent or 10 per cent cashback on my credit card spends, which Mashreq bank offers. Rather, I have received only 1.25 per cent cashback.
I was shocked to learn from Mashreq’s call centre executive that I was not eligible for the five per cent or 10 per cent cashback on my spends, even though my spends were greater than Dh8,000. The reason was purely because the transactions collected by the relevant merchants from March 17 to April 16 did not sum up to Dh8,000.
This is very upsetting and frustrating to know. Only when I called the phone banking centre, was I made to realise that these were the terms and conditions and that a cashback of five or 10 per cent would not be added to my card.
I am very disappointed with these terms and conditions by the bank, which were not advised to customers from day one, prior to me availing this card.
I would appreciate it if Mashreq would credit my card account with the five or 10 per cent cashback that is relevant towards my spends pertaining to utilities, supermarket, school fees and other transactions accordingly, for April’s statement, in order to maintain my satisfaction level and continued use of the credit card.
Please note that these conditions were not explained at the time of sale. I strongly believe that people should be educated by the sales staff at the point of sale, even if it is a free-for-life credit card, as some customers use the card to avail certain features and benefits.
Kindly assist towards this request.
From Mr Agnelo Pereira
Sharjah
The management of Mashreq responds:
Thank you for raising Mr Pereira’s complaint for our review and feedback.
We have thoroughly reviewed the concerns raised by Mr Pereira and as per our investigation, Mr Pereira has not met the minimum spend criteria of Dh7,500 in the month of April as per his ‘billing cycle’ in order to earn the additional five per cent cashback on utility and grocery spend.
Although the transactions made by Mr Pereira were over Dh7,500, some of those were posted after the 16th of the month (after bill generation), therefore those transactions were not taken into account in the current cycle. These will surely be considered for the additional cashback in the next billing cycle.
This was explained to the customer and he well acknowledges the fact. His real grudge was not the unearned cashback but the fact that the call centre agent did not escalate his issue and declined Mr Pereira up front, after checking his billed transactions, following the set process. Mr Pereira’s suggestion has been noted and the agent has been counselled.
Mr Pereira has been contacted and we have explained the calculation. Being a fellow banker, he very well understood the billing cycle concept in terms of calculating spends and cash back. The transactions not covered in the previous billing cycle will be counted in the next cycle and will make Mr Pereira eligible for the additional cask back, provided the thresholds are met. Having said that, Mr Pereira refused to accept any service gestures or exceptions that we would like to offer and grant him the unearned cashback. We appreciate his wish.
Thank you for your intervention and the usual assistance offered to our customers to resolve their concerns.
(Process initiation: May 11. Response from organisation: May 14.)
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.
