Wrongfully charged for late payment

Wrongfully charged for late payment

I wish to raise an issue I faced with my Najm Voyager card. I received this card in September 2017 and used the same to purchase air tickets for October 2017, priced at Dh1,330. I was travelling on vacation on October 5, so on October 4, I made a payment of Dh1,000 towards my Voyager card. This was my first payment, ever since I had received the Najm card. Nobody informed me of any billing date or payment due date till then. I also made a payment towards my Emirates NBD card and proceeded for my vacation. Since I was undergoing medical treatment, I had no access to my phone and emails.

I returned on October 30, and the moment I switched on my mobile phone, I received a message from Najm about pending payments. I called their customer care the next day and an agent told me that I had a late payment fee because my billing date was October 5, and I would need to make the payment by October 30 to avoid fines. I explained to him that I made a payment on October 4, since I was travelling, and told him that never once was my billing date communicated to me.

He told me to make the remaining payment of Dh330 and then place a request, which I duly did. After a day, I got a call from another agent who was rude and not willing to listen. He just repeated that he was sorry and the bank could not do anything. I lodged a complaint again, through Facebook this time, and got a call from the same customer service agent who told me that the bank could not do anything.

Firstly, I have no communication from Najm where they have stated the date for payment, except after October 5, which is when I was not in town. Since this was my very first bill, I cleared the major amount a day before the billing date to avoid any late payments while I was on vacation. I told them that I could send them all my tickets to prove that my claims were correct and I volunteered to share my other credit cards to prove that I have never made a late payment on any of my credit cards. I am really unhappy with Najm’s approach — they do not wish to look into a customer complaint on a logical basis. Why would someone pay 75 per cent of the outstanding a day before the billing date, and then incur a late payment fee?

From Ms Sajitha Chandran

Dubai

The management of Majid Al Futtaim Finance responds:

Please be aware that we have been in contact with the customer in question and we have addressed and resolved her concerns.

Ms Chandran responds:

Yes, it has been resolved. Thanks to Gulf News, I got a call directly from their customer service manager and he reversed the charges for me.

(Process initiation: January 13, 2018. Response from organisation: January 16, 2018. Reader confirmation: February 10, 2018.)

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