Card cancellation process

I am a National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) Visa Platinum card user. Recently, I called up the NBAD call centre to place a request to cancel my card. My outstanding amount had been cleared, but the call centre agent told me to visit the nearest branch of NBAD and to deposit Dh300 with them as part of a “security procedure”, following which, within a period of 45 days, they would process my request. Upon hearing this, I asked the agent to show me the documentation where it says this. She directed me to the NBAD website.

The document clearly stated that the principal card holder had to give a written request to the bank to terminate the card and that ‘such termination shall only be effective on the return to and receipt by the bank of all cards issued for use on the card account and the settlement of all liabilities of the cardholder’. Clearly, this had no mention of the Dh300 deposit that I had to make. I requested the agent to connect me to the supervisor directly.

Once the supervisor came on the telephone line, I was subjected to very rude behaviour. She kept repeating that even though the Dh300 deposit procedure was not written down, it was still applicable and that I must visit the branch to make the deposit.

I have no problem with visiting the nearest branch and submitting all my cards and since I don’t have any outstanding payment, my termination request should begin, as it reflects on my statement.

Subscribers should be made aware about such terms and conditions that have not been printed and still apply to any card holder who intends to terminate an account.

From Mr Fahad Arshad

Dubai

The management of NBAD responds:

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to investigate the complaint raised by Mr Arshad. Following our investigation, it was clear that the experience he received from our Contact Centre agent and the information provided was not delivered to the NBAD service standard. I have personally spoken with Mr Arshad, to express how sorry we are for the experience he encountered and have subsequently rectified the situation. He was grateful that we have addressed the matter, and for the follow up and the attention his comments have received.

Such valuable feedback allows us to address any inconsistencies in our service and ensure that our staff is knowledgeable and provides high service standards that our customers deserve and expect from NBAD. In this instance, the staff concerned will be taken offline for retraining and will be counselled. In addition, as a valuable learning lesson, Mr Arshad’s experience will be shared with all our Contact Centre staff and additional training will be implemented as a reminder for our products, terms and conditions, thereby ensuring consistency and repeatability of a first-class service every time.

I confirmed with Mr Arshad that both the NBAD credit cards will be terminated and there are no outstanding payments required. Mr Arshad has identified the branch most convenient for him to visit in returning the credit cards.

Mr Arshad responds:

My case with NBAD has been successfully resolved. I must however commend the NBAD staff for dealing with my case. They have all been top notch. Thank you Gulf News, for the support.

Relationship maintenance fees

I have been an Emirates NBD customer for four years now. Initially, the account was a salary transfer account but once I switched jobs in April 2011, I had to change my bank too. Thus, the Emirates NBD account has been active but has not had a salary transfer since April 2011. On August 14, 2013, I received an SMS about a relationship fee that was debited from my Emirates NBD account for June for Dh25. On calling them, I was told that this was because I had not maintained my minimum balance in June. I responded saying it was over two years since I had maintained a minimum balance. The bank countered saying they had informed me about this new change in their policy, but the fact is that I hadn’t received any notice, until the SMS on August 14. I told the agent that now that I knew their policy had changed, I have no problem in maintaining a minimum balance of Dh3,000 but since it was mid-August by the time they informed me, the relationship fee should be charged from September onwards, and not from June. I told them to refund the Dh25 that they had debited for June. To my horror and extreme inconvenience, I had to make 10 calls to follow-up on this sole refund. The bank repeatedly promised a refund, but when I called after a few days to enquire, they said the case was closed and resolved and they would not be able to make a refund. After several call backs, escalations within the call centre and connecting me to the branch, the bank finally refunded the Dh25. However, my relief was short-lived, as on September 25, I received two messages back-to-back about the Dh25 relationship fee being debited for July and August. This is completely unacceptable and unprofessional from Emirates NBD. Please Gulf News, help me sort this out with the bank so that I can get my Dh50 refunded.

From Mr Shazil Rahman

Dubai

The management of Emirates NBD responds:

We are pleased to inform you that our Group Customer Experience team has been in contact with Mr Rahman and have resolved the matter to his satisfaction. We wish to confirm that the Operation Officer at our Dubai Media City branch has clarified the matter to Mr Rahman’s understanding and as a gesture of goodwill, we have reversed the relationship maintenance fees levied on his account. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Gulf News for its continued support in helping us to better assist our valued customers.

Mr Rahman responds:

The relationship maintenance fee has been reversed and I thank Emirates NBD’s Media City branch for that. I would strongly recommend everyone to duly check their bank statements and never let go of any suspicious charges on their accounts, no matter how small the amount. Check and clarify until you are satisfied that there is no irregularity - as customers, this is our right and responsibility.

Editor’s note: If you have similar consumer complaints and wish to raise them with the newspaper, contact us via email at readers@gulfnews.com