Reader issues resolved: etisalat internet connection, missing money, credit card issue

Lack of care

I intend to bring to the notice of the management of etisalat the negligence on the part of their technical department. I had applied for an Al Shamil internet connection in May and not even a single person turned up till a month later to provide me with the internet connection. I personally visited their Al Twar business centre in Dubai and the etisalat main branch in the Deira area several times and also called the customer care more than 10 times. However, I kept getting the confirmation that they had forwarded my complaint to the concerned technical department and that there is no issue with my account. But they couldn’t give me a specific time as to when the technician would turn up to provide the connection. The case of the customer care department’s main responsibility is to check whether the concerns or requests raised by customers are sorted out, instead of just sending an email to the technical department. What is the point of having a customer care service that is not taking care of the customer issues? I hope that Gulf News will raise this issue so that it can be investigated and sorted out soon.

From Mr Prasanth Krishnan Kutty

Dubai

The management of etisalat responds:

Kindly note that Mr Prasanth Krishnan Kutty’s issue with etisalat was solved on July 16, 2013. The customer was contacted and confirmed it.

Who took my money?

On June 1, an unknown person withdrew money from my account at a RAKBank ATM in Dubai. When I got a text message alert regarding the same, I visited a RAKBank branch to explain the case. However, they haven’t taken any action in this regard, till date. An amount of Dh1,700 was taken from my debit card account. I specified “unknown person” in my complaint as I did not authorise this transaction. Additionally, I have my debit card — it wasn’t stolen. How can someone withdraw money from my account without my knowledge?

I am residing in Abu Dhabi and the transaction took place in Dubai on June 1, at midnight. Before that, I purchased gold from a jewellery store at 10pm on May 31 and that was my last transaction. I called RAKBank many times, but they are saying the issue is under investigation. What should I do to get back this money?

From Mr Finos Kodokodan

Abu Dhabi

Mr Ian Hodges, Head of Personal Banking, RAKBank, responds: Thank you for giving us an opportunity to justify our stance on the issues raised by Mr Kodokodan, RAKBank customer. Mr Kodokodan had disputed his UAE Switch ATM withdrawal of Dh1,700 dated June 1, 2013 and it has been referred to the Central Bank by us for resolution. We have contacted the customer and updated him on the status. Further, a temporary credit of Dh1,700 has been posted to his account pending a response from the Central Bank.

Credit card issue

I had gotten a credit card a year ago from First Gulf Bank (FGB) — there was an offer of the card being free for life. This year, my card has been charged an annual fee and when I called the customer service they informed me that there was no such offer from FGB. As the card was issued a year ago, I do not have the brochure provided by FGB at the time. Either the FGB representative cheated me by providing false information to increase sales, or the entire FGB team is cheating their customers.

The customer service then told me that if I made another purchase of Dh1,000 during a specific period, they would reverse the amount.

This is just to inform the public on how credit card sales team are cheating the public. It is my advice to the public to make sure that you keep any such brochures given to you by a bank to avoid such scenarios.

From Savad C. K. Purayil

Dubai

The management of First Gulf Bank responds: The customer has requested the reversal of the annual membership fee, but was not agreeing for the spend offer to reverse the same. Now we have approved the reversal of the annual membership fee and advised a free for life card. The customer has been informed.

Problem solved

On June 10, 2013, I took an Emirates flight EK 3703 from Dubai to Mauritius and had requested for AVML (Asian vegetarian meal) while booking the ticket. This was acknowledged and confirmed. However, when I was served the food in the flight, the salad served with food was with shrimps.

I am vegetarian by birth and don’t eat seafood or meat. Can Gulf News highlight this in the newspaper and create awareness, as I have not had a very good response from Emirates?

From Mr Vilas Bakshi

Dubai

An Emirates airlines spokesperson responds:

We don’t have anything further to add to the response already sent by my Customer Affairs colleagues to Mr Bakshi.

Editor’s note: If you have similar consumer issues, send them to readers@gulfnews.com