I made a Dh13,040 balance transfer from Mashreq-Etisalat Platinum Card to Noor Islamic Bank on May 23, 2018 with one per cent, one-time fee and three-month zero per cent interest. The sales agent confirmed, time and again, that any additional purchase would be payable with regular interest as per payment bill/schedule. But when I got my bank statement, it stated that the full amount would need to be paid by July 13, 2018, to avoid any financial charges. I raised the complaint with the bank on June 19. They called back and I insisted my complaint was not resolved due to the following reasons:
My complaint was valid because I was not informed about the terms of revolving interest nor was I told by the sales agent that if I make any additional purchases, I would have to pay the full balance transfer amount and additional purchase amount together in my next bill. It was not explained to me and I don’t agree with Mashreq bank’s justification. They confirmed about the same, that is, one per cent interest with three-month payment with zero per cent interest, which would be payable. Mashreq Bank’s website did not explain the terms and conditions of balance transfer as claimed by the bank. They didn’t agree that I was supposed to have one per cent one-time fee with zero per cent interest for three months.
However, once I lodged a complaint, I received a call back from their complaints department after six days. They said that I could go to any of their branches and listen to the recording. A sales agent explained the terms to me.
On June 25, I went to the Al Ghusais Branch in Dubai and requested a recording of my conversation with a Mashreq sales agent about their balance transfer rule. But the customer relations officer told me that the recording was not available and I would need to call again on their call centre number for the exact branch and time.
Hence, I lodged complaint asking why I was misinformed and told I could go to any branch and listen to the recording? I need an explanation from Mashreq for wasting my time.
Please be informed that at Al Ghusais Branch, I was informed that if I paid Dh2,000 for this month’s bill, then in the next bill, I would pay Dh13,425 minus Dh2,000, which is Dh11,425 plus only the interest on my additional purchase of Dh390, which should be approximately an additional Dh30. So in the next bill, I could pay Dh11,455 if I pay Dh2,000 for this month. When I cross-checked with a Mashreq call centre agent, he said if I pay only Dh2,000 this month, then I would have to pay interest again on the full amount of Dh13,425 in my next bill.
I don’t know who is right. Why this misinformation again?
Gulf News, please help me resolve the issue before the due date, that is, July 13, 2018.
From Mr Syed Hassan Aquib
Sharjah
The management of Mashreq responds:
Thank you for sharing Mr Aquib’s complaint with us.
We have reviewed the concerns raised by Mr Aquib regarding the Revolving Balance Transfer (RBT) deal where he claims that the payment hierarchy was not communicated by the sales officer.
Our investigation reveals that Mr Aquib was contacted by our sales specialist on May 22, 2018. He was offered RBT deal of Dh13,040 at zero per cent interest and one per cent processing fee plus five per cent VAT amounting to Dh136.92 for a tenure of three months. The deal was booked after communicating the payment hierarchy and taking his consent on the recorded line, which is the procedure of the bank. The call recording is available in our record to review.
Our records also indicates that Mr Aquib had approached us previously and we had shared the call recording with the customer to validate it for himself. The payment hierarchy was clearly communicated by the sales agent but was unfortunately not understood.
We have contacted Mr Aquib. He has already settled the deal amount completely dated July 2, 2018, and as a good will gesture, we have agreed to reverse the processing fee of Dh136.92 levied on his card. He is satisfied with our prompt resolution and gesture.
We take this opportunity to thank Gulf News yet again for bringing a customer issue to our notice.
Mr Aquib responds:
Many thanks for Gulf News’ intervention and for sorting out the issue for me. As mentioned by the bank, the issue has been addressed and closed.
(Process initiation: July 4. Response from organisation: July 8. Reader confirmation: July 9.)
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