Your complaints with organistations

Reservations

My 85-year-old mother-in-law came to visit us in April and because she has a bad back we got her a business class ticket on Emirates using my Skywards miles. Unfortunately the volcanic ash delayed her return flight to the UK as she was due to travel on April 15, the first day that volcanic ash prevented flights to the UK.

As soon as Emirates resumed flights to the UK around April 20 we asked them when she could travel and they told us the earliest was May 8. That is close to a three-week wait for a flight. It soon became obvious that other people were being given priority and earlier flights. After a couple of days we looked online and found that you could buy a ticket for the next day if you were prepared to pay over Dh20,000 for a business class ticket.

Emirates told the media that they would not try to profit from passengers trying to get home following the volcanic ash problems. Yet this 85-year-old woman was being asked to wait nearly three weeks to fly home because she had a Skywards miles ticket and Emirates was selling new tickets in preference to flying her home.

My communication with Emirates has been dismissed without them explaining why or expressing any regret for the inconvenience caused.

I would therefore appreciate Gulf News taking up this issue with Emirates as they have chosen to ignore me, though I have been a very good customer of the airline for over 10 years.
From Graham Porter
Dubai  

An Emirates spokesperson responds:

Emirates has been in contact with Mr Porter regarding his complaint on numerous occasions. We have conducted due diligence on his claims and have handled the matter accordingly. We have nothing further to add at this time.

Mr Porter responds:

Thank you for your [Gulf News] attempts to help. Unfortunately, in my view Emirates have basically ignored the issue and offered no explanation for their actions.

In our experience, my 85-year-old mother-in-law was asked to wait almost three weeks, whilst Emirates sold seats to new passengers simply because she had a Skywards miles ticket. Had she been in a hotel at Emirates' expense waiting to fly home like many other passengers we are sure that they would have made her return a priority for Emirates. Thanks for your help.

Editor's Note: A follow up letter was forwarded to Emirates for additional comment, but they said that they have nothing further to add.

Fautly service

I am a longstanding etisalat Wasel customer with a 1GB mobile broadband package. On June 4, 2010 in an attempt to show a friend the IVR process, I inadvertently subscribed to the 3G service by dialling 125. At that time I assumed nothing would happen, since I was subscribed to the 1G broadband package.

The next day, on realising that I have no credit I contacted etisalat's customer support only to be told that I am subscribed to the 3G pay-as-you-go service. The missing credit was a result of my mobile internet usage overnight.

I informed the customer service rep that I was not made aware that I would be subscribing to a new service or unsubscribing from the old one. I also mentioned that the IVR only mentions 3G, but I was told I was incorrect and that it does in fact say 3G pay-as-you-go.

However, I have followed the above mentioned sequence a number of times since the call and it only says 3G. I am now in a situation where I have lost the Dh145 I paid on June 18, have lost at least Dh50 in credit, and will potentially lose more since I can still use the internet without credit and will be charged only after I recharge my account.
From Mohammad Affan
Dubai

The management of etisalat responds:

Kindly be informed that all necessary information has been explained and shared with Mr Affan who subscribed and chose by mistake a different service than what he wanted through the IVR system.

Mr Affan responds:

I strongly disagree with etisalat's response. Even today if you dial 125, the IVR service you are given the option of subscribing to 3G. At no point was I informed that I would be unsubscribed from my existing 1GB 3G broadband package and subscribed to the 3G pay-as-you-go package.

Editor's Note: A request for further investigation into the issue was sent to the management of etisalat. However, despite reminders they did not respond.

If you have similar consumer complaints, send them to us at readers@gulfnews.com