No liability letter for months
I am a customer of Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD) Maktoum Branch. In June I requested the bank to issue me a liability letter addressed to the Land Department. I was informed the procedure would take up to 3 working days to complete, and there would be a charge of Dh100. However, after about a week when I did not receive any updates on my letter request, I started regular follow-ups. After several calls and interactions, I realised there was a misunderstanding in the Mortgage Department on my request, and now after around two weeks, it would require another week to process this request as the bank’s related IT system was suffering an unexpected issue. Not given much choice, and as I was within the deadlines dictated by the Land Department, I succumb to the bank’s request for an additional week.
Finally on July 29, I received notifications that the letter was ready at the branch, which I collected by August 1.
Unfortunately, my struggle continued throughout the month of August as my agent repeatedly told me that the Land Department rejects my letter as it does not address “The Manager of Dubai Land Department”. Hence after much effort, once again I had to succumb to the Land Department’s request and reverted to the bank on September 3.
Much to the doubts of the customer service officer, we finally realised the letter issued to me misprinted the details of the “Addressed Party” on the logo of the bank. Hence, I was advised to make another letter request for which I would be taxed another service charge of Dh100.
This error is a clear breach in the standards of a bank’s legal documentation for which I as a customer should not be asked to pay again. I was uncertain if the bank would be able to deliver the letter to me within a convenient time at my cost, and not make the same mistake again.
Hence after much persuasion on September 19, we agreed on a reprint of the same letter as the fastest solution for both, the bank and me. Knowing the effect of the Eid break, I continued to follow-up with the bank as best I could. Please also note the bank’s staff do not always respond or return my calls and emails.
On September 3, much to my dismay, I visited the branch to find out that even an agreed reprint of the letter was not available due to several issues that the bank faced internally.
Unfortunately, I am now at risk of receiving a hefty penalty from the Land Department for a simple task that was not properly executed by CBD, even after all the efforts and follow-ups that I had been doing. If I get a penalty from the Land Department, I will certainly blame it onto the bank.
I seek the attention of the officials at CBD to please look into this matter and provide me a fresh well printed letter as soon as possible.
From Mr M.A. Alam
Dubai
The management of CBD responds:
We regret that there was an inadvertent error in the formatting of the liability letter issued to the customer. However, the customer has complained to us separately on October 3, 2015 following which we have rectified the error and reissued the liability letter.
We have informed the customer to collect the liability letter from his branch. The customer is satisfied with our response.
We hope the above is to your satisfaction and assure you that we are taking corrective action ensure that such incidents do not occur in future.
Mr Alam responds: Thank you Gulf News for your follow-up. I have received a call from the bank that the letter is ready. I do appreciate the newspaper’s intervention.
(Process initiation: October 11. Response from organisation: October 13. Reader confirmation: October 14.)
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.
