I wish to share my experience with the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) concerning fraudulent charges made on my debit card. On January 24, 2017 I noticed a great deal of fraudulent charges made and I notified the bank immediately. On January 23, 2017 at approximately 11pm, I received a call from the fraud department of NBAD asking if I made a purchase at a store, which I had. It was not until the following day that I realised that the store mentioned during the telephone call was not the same as the store I visited and made a purchase from. There were numerous fraudulent charges on my account totalling Dh9,343.41. I submitted a dispute form at my local branch on January 25, 2017. On February 26, 2017, Dh246.55 was refunded to my account. There was also a reversal of two charges approximately totalling Dh1,800 done in January, however I am no longer able to access these statements to provide an exact date and amount. I have repeatedly called NBAD to inquire about the return of my funds, but have only received an answer amounting to “give us more time.”

NBAD will not return my calls and when I ask to raise a new complaint, I am told this is not possible. During the last telephone conversation I had with a representative, I was I told this case, which should have been resolved in 60 days, would be closed and the funds would be returned to my account by May 1, 2017. When I opened the account with NBAD, I specifically asked if the credit cards were insured in case of fraudulent activity and I was told they were. NBAD is responsible for returning the funds to my account no matter what the process entails with another bank. I would greatly appreciate Gulf News’ assistance, as I have been diligently working on this issue for the past three months with no resolution.

From Ms Sonovia Leeuw

Dubai

The management of NBAD responds:

With reference to Ms Leeuw’s dispute, we have reversed 15 transactions out of 32 transactions being disputed. She acknowledged the amount was already credited in the account. We have contacted and informed Ms Leeuw that the remaining transactions are being followed with the Chargeback Team.

There were several fraud claims by Ms Leeuw and the acquiring bank was defending the case. That was the reason for the dispute, which took a while to be resolved. The customer has been contacted and informed regarding the feedback.

Ms Leeuw responds:

I received a call on May 28, 2017 regarding the complaint I filed with Gulf News from the NBAD. I informed the representative that I stand by my claim and was dissatisfied with their lack of service. I was again told by the representative there that there was nothing else NBAD could do. Within a few hours of the call, I received 15 SMS messages, each issuing a credit for some of the fraudulent charges. Taking into account the credit applied, there is still almost Dh6,000 that needs to be refunded. I sincerely appreciate Gulf News’ assistance. I am certain that it is only because of this assistance that I have come this far.

(Process initiation: May 1. Response from organisation: May 4. Process completion: May 30.)

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.