Consumer issues brought to the fore

Expired credit

I had booked a ticket through Air Arabia in March, 2011. I cancelled my reservation later and found that around Dh430 had been credited to my account. There was no expiry date mentioned next to it, but when I recently logged on to my account I found zero credit.

When I called the call center it was mentioned, to my shock, that my credit had expired on March 8, 2012. When I pointed out that there was no mention of an expiry date next to my credit, they told me that it is valid for a year from date of booking and was mentioned in the ‘terms and conditions’.

At least a reminder should have been sent to me saying that my credit was nearing the expiry date, or they should have mentioned this fact next to the credit balance. Other airlines send a reminder that their miles are due to expire.

I have lost Dh430. These were not free miles that Air Arabia gifted to my account, but they were my hard earned money. They have charged me without providing any service and I feel cheated.

From Mr Sajin Sulaiman Kakkodi

Dubai

The management of Air Arabia responds:

We thank Mr Kakkodi for sharing his experience and for the valuable suggestion. As rightly mentioned, we do inform passengers upon cancellation that the remaining credit is valid up to one year. This is also highlighted in the travel itinerary terms and conditions. We have taken Mr Kakkodi’s suggestion about reminding customers of credit expiry for further evaluation.

Mr Kakkodi can always contact Air Arabia’s customer relations team to take his case forward.

Mr Kakkodi responds:

Thank you Gulf News for forwarding my letter to Air Arabia. Also, I appreciate Air Arabia for considering my suggestion.

I am not a regular traveller and usually travel only once a year.

The problem with this credit policy is that it forces me to travel with Air Arabia within a year, even if I don’t want to. Otherwise, it would lead to me losing the credit balance, as in my case.

Why can’t the airlines credit the amount to the card with which the booking was done so that there is no hassle for the customers?

Regarding taking my case forward with the customer relations team, I spoke to a customer relations representative immediately after my credit was cancelled, but it had no effect.

He had only one answer, that the expiry period was given in the ‘terms and conditions’.

I kept speaking and he just kept silent, which didn’t help me at all.

The bottom line is that I lost around Dh430 for no reason, without any service being provided.

The management of Air Arabia responds:

Again, we do thank Mr Kakkodi for his suggestion. We do clearly communicate and present the airlines terms and condition to the millions of passengers we carry every year. This is always in line with international standards that airlines across the globe follow.

Mr Kakkodi responds:

I hope that in the future Air Arabia will alert its customers when their credit is nearing expiry. I sincerely thank Gulf News for taking my case up with Air Arabia.

Issue of clearance letter

I had a personal loan and credit card with Dunia Finance that were closed by paying Dh24,395 by cheque on May 27. After that I requested for the clearance letter for both the credit card and loan. They gave me the clearance letter for only the loan saying that the surplus amount taken was transferred to the credit card and after using that amount, a clearance letter will be issued. The card, where they transferred the amount, was blocked till now.

From May 7, I was calling the Dunia customer service on a daily basis to unblock the card but till date it was not done. They are always saying that they are sending the request to unblock the card. The last week of June they told me that they are going to issue a new card within four days, but that also was not done. They are always giving me false commitments. I visited their Sharjah branch near Al Wahda, but they are saying they cannot do anything. I am sending this letter to Gulf News hoping to get some solution to this issue and to get my money back. I don’t want their card. I only need my money back.

From Mr Karikkatt Anil Kumar

Dubai

Ms Veena Viswanathan, Customer Services and Quality Head, Dunia Finance, responds:

We have contacted Mr Kumar and would like to confirm that the matter has been resolved satisfactorily. As you are aware, we are unable to disclose specific resolution details in the interest of protecting and maintaining the confidentiality of our customers’ personal and account-related information. You could, however, contact Mr Kumar directly and seek his feedback to close the matter at your end.

Mr Kumar updates:

I am very glad to inform you that due to Gulf News intervention, Dunia Finance issued me a new credit card for the balance Dh758. I am very thankful.

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