Mistaken identity
In August, 2014, I received a call from a courier company to verify my identity. After checking my name and work place they delivered two credit cards, which I had never applied for! Then, I registered a complaint with Dubai First’s customer service on September 2. Surprisingly, this issue has not been resolved by Dubai First till date.
In addition to the above woes, Dubai First’s collection department sent me a statement, emails and a text message on October 22, asking me to pay the overdue amount of Dh32,756.40 for a credit card that I never applied for or used.
I sent an email to them on October 26 requesting them to resolve the matter. Despite my emails and calls to the customer service department, I continued to receive calls, text messages and statements from the bank’s collection department to pay the overdue amount. It shows that Dubai First did not taken my complaint seriously.
All I want from Dubai First is to take back their credit card, issue an official response and a clearance letter saying there is no outstanding balance or loan in my name and also to correct their database to avoid similar problems in the future.
I hope Gulf News can help me resolve this issue at the earliest.
From Mr Tony John
Dubai
The management of Dubai First responded:
We have investigated the case and we are issuing a No Liability letter to Mr Tony John, who has already closed his account with us. The complaint has been resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Mr John responded:
Dubai First has issued me a clearance letter for the card. This was confirmed to me by Dubai First in an email and I returned the mistakenly issued cards to Dubai First. Their customer support was excellent after Gulf News intervened and they issued me a Dh300 gift voucher! I hope that such an issue won’t come up again. I thank Gulf News for extending support and time to solve my issue.
(Process initiation: November 12. Response from organisation: November 17. Reader confirmation: November 23.)
Charged for free card
I opened an account with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank’s (ADCB) Million Dollar Dreams (MDD) Deposit in 2009, with a deposit of Dh30,000. Along with it, ADCB offered a credit card plus a complimentary Priority Lounge Card. However, I cancelled the card after a few months due to lack of security as somebody overseas used my card details and ADCB did not taken any action from their end. Since the card was in lien, ADCB took eight months to remove the lien. They cancelled the card and refunded the deposit and added an excess Dh502 deposit on my card. But they returned the Priority card with no clearance certificate, and then pointed towards the CCTV and said everything was recorded there.
After cancellation, they introduced a new deposit scheme, of only Dh10,000, which comes with a credit card limit of Dh3,000. I signed up with a deposit of Dh10,000. After five months, ADCB posted a renewal credit card and sent me a statement, where, in the statement, it showed the usage of the Priority Lounge card. They claimed that the card was not free. In the statement, $27 (Dh99) was charged, so the total charge was $54, about Dh198. They had insisted it was free when I got it, and due to their reassurance, I took this advantage.
This prompted me to cancel the second credit card. Now the total amount of the old card has exceeded Dh16,000, with accumulated interest. In September, 2014, ADCB asked me to pay the minimum amount of Dh1,000.
I request Gulf news to help in this regard.
From Mr Jogy Daniel
Dubai
The management of ADCB responded: Thank you for your cooperation and communication with us in the endeavor to best serve our customers and resolve their issues.
Customer satisfaction is at the very top of our agenda, which is why we have an established Service Quality Unit that is dedicated to handling all customer enquiries and complaints. While we cannot comment on specific customer cases, we do take finding a solution for our customers very seriously and approach every situation with the best interest of the customer in mind.
With reference to Mr. Jogy Danie’s issue, the customer is fully aware of his obligations to pay at least the principal amount of AED 200 since July 2011, when he logged his first complaint, however he didn’t take any action till present time. Upon paying the principal amount by the customer, the bank is willing to reverse all the accrued penal charges. This is a position which has been communicated to the customer by our Service Quality Unit and Collections teams, hence the case is closed by our side.
We continually urge all customers to contact our Service Quality Unit 24/7 by phone, email or web, should they need any further clarification regarding their issues.
We would like to thank you for bringing this issue to our attention and hence giving us the opportunity to further our servicing to our valued customers.
(Process initiation: November 12. Process completion: November 24.)
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.
