No one to help
I wonder if Gulf News would address a grievance I have against etisalat, which does not seem to get resolved, despite my calling their customer care number, 101, or even visiting the business centre.
I purchased a 16GB iPhone 5S on February 23. This was under a promotional plan for smartphones, whereby I had to pay up front for the device and for a 1GB data plan for one year.
As per the offer, the price of Dh3,240 must be paid to etisalat, and this includes the cost of the device and the 1GB data plan for a year. I went through with it.
However, on May 23, etisalat disconnected my data plan without any intimation and when I called up their customer complaint line, I was told that the offer is for a 1GB data plan for three months, hence it was disconnected after three months. I reviewed the website once again, along with my papers, and the details categorically stated that the data plan was for one year. So I called up etisalat and explained it to them. They acknowledged that there was a mistake and the data plan should have been available for a year.
The customer complaint section at 101 then logged my complaint in their system on the May 29, informing me that the problem would be resolved within seven working days. I have been making frequent calls to 101 to follow up on my complaint, but the only response I get is that they have again reminded the concerned department to look into the matter.
Since the June 9, the customer complaints line of 101 has not been working (I understand that there is a technical glitch with their system).
On June 12, I finally decided to go to the etisalat business centre in Deira, Dubai, where I had purchased the phone, with all the relevant documents and a print-out of the offer from their website.
I got my token to see the agent at 12.15pm and my turn finally came up after two hours as I had 75 persons ahead of me in the queue.
I met the customer service agent, who took forever to understand what the problem was. She checked with a few of her superiors and eventually told me that she would email the concerned department in etisalat to look into the matter. I asked her if I could meet with her manager, and it was 2.30pm by the time I got fed up of waiting for the relevant personnel.
I eventually conceded defeat and returned to my office to type out this e-mail. I hope Gulf News will take up this issue with etisalat on my behalf and try and resolve the issue for me.
From Mr Taimur Ahmad Khan
Dubai
The management of etisalat responds:
Kindly note that the customer’s issue was resolved and the customer was contacted and updated.
Mr Khan responds:
I am glad to inform Gulf News that the 1GB data plan was restored on my etisalat phone July 3. I thank Gulf News for taking up this matter up with etisalat and responding to me. I wish to further inform the newspaper that I paid an amount of Dh3,240 for the data plan, which should remain valid for one year, but due to technical reasons, I had no access to my data plan from May 23 until July 2 (41 days).
I have requested etisalat to compensate me for the 41 days that I did not have a data plan, as the amount paid is for a 12-month period. I am sure that my request is reasonable and justified.
The management of etisalat responds:
Kindly note that the customer’s issue was resolved and the customer has already been informed.
Mr Khan updates:
Thank you Gulf News. The matter is now resolved.
(Process initiation: June 20. Response from organisation: July 2. Reader confirmation: July 22.)
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.
