Cancellation issue

I received a credit card from Commercial Bank International (CBI), which I activated on July 10, but when I called CBI after activating it, I was told there was a Dh500 annual fee. The salesperson, who took my application, told me that it was a free card and that’s what I applied for.

At the same time, I made a complaint, but in the week after, no one contacted me, so I sent a complaint message through the CBI website on July 16. After a couple of days, I started receiving calls from CBI and they were saying that the salesperson who took the request for the card was new and she didn’t know about annual fees.

After days of talking with different people, they told me to go to the branch and cancel the card because they could not cancel it over the phone. I went to the branch on July 30 and requested for card cancellation. I was told by the person who took the request that the card would be cancelled within three days, but after one week, I started receiving messages for balances on the card that was supposed to be cancelled. I called CBI and was told that the card was not cancelled. I checked with the branch and the person who took down the request told me that he had sent the request already and he couldn’t do anything from his side. He said that I had to contact the call centre. So, I called the call centre and they told me that I would have to go to the branch and cancel the card, because there was an outstanding annual fee with some late charges on the card, which I had to pay. I told them that the annual fee is the reason I was cancelling the card and I was not going to pay anything. I’m still receiving a message every morning stating that the payment was missed, and it looks like no one is going to do anything. Every week, I’m sending an email and calling them, but till now, no one has gotten back to me.

Yesterday, I received a call from the branch where I submitted the cancellation request and the person told me that my request had come back unsolved. I sent the message through their website after that as well, but as usual, there was no response.

Gulf News, please help me resolve this issue!

From Mr Gevorg Sargsyan, Sharjah

The management of CBI responds:

Many thanks for sharing the customer’s concern with us. Our cards team contacted the customer and explained the features and benefits associated with our credit card. A new credit card is being issued based on his confirmation with our team and we are looking forward to a rewarding relationship with the customer.

We spoke with the customer this morning and the case has been resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.

Mr Sargsyan responds:

Last week, I received a call from CBI and they told me that they will send a new card and reverse all the charges. Thanks for your help, Gulf News.

(Process initiation: September 2. Response from organisation: September 3. Reader confirmation: September 8.)

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.