Your support in resolving my refund issue with du is my last hope in dealing with this company and their employees.

My account with home service had been cancelled as I moved to another area, where du couldn’t provide the same full service for home. It was a two years contract, wherein I used only one year from it, and a deposit of Dh350 was paid to du upon connection. Before cancelling I paid the outstanding bill without adjusting the payment with a deposit and then I called customer service to cancel the account.

After cancellation, the story began with the refund for deposit. I got a call from du, and I was given two options for a refund. First, to transfer money to the mobile number if I use du. Second, to provide any bank account number so they can refund money there. But there was no time limit to get the refund; the agent said she couldn’t tell me the timeframe, and if it would be delayed, she would be blamed. I sent the bank account number to the given email of customer service. The reply was that the refund couldn’t be done to the bank account, only the same way I had paid for it upon connection (it was paid with a credit card). I replied back explaining that the credit card the deposit was paid with, had been already cancelled and it doesn’t exist. Customer service replied, they still could transfer the money to that cancelled credit card, and I need to check with the bank how to get it after. I started to get annoyed that I get different information every time I speak with a new du representative.

I went to the Dubai Mall branch, hoping to get better assistance. An employee, who assisted me, checked all the details regarding my account that all dues were paid and the deposit of Dh350 could be refunded. I told him about the refund options I was given on the phone and email, after what he confirmed for me that I could get the money - cash. I was provided with the reference number for my request. I asked him three times if he was sure that I could get cash and he said yes. He informed me that within three days I would get a call from customer service with the confirmation when and where I could get the refund.

After that two days passed and nobody called me. I called customer service, gave the reference and got confirmation that the refund of Dh350 cash is approved. I was told that by the end of the day I should get a call to confirm where to get the money; nobody called. Next day I called again (it was third day of waiting). I gave the same reference number but the customer service representative couldn’t see anything to be refunded on my account. He said the deposit was adjusted to the bill. He kept me 20 minutes on the phone, putting me continuously on hold, repeating same things and not even listening what I was trying to say; that the refund had been approved and the day before, one of his colleagues confirmed it. At the end, he told me to note the reference, which was the same I provided him from the beginning, and that I could go to the mentioned branches to get the refund. And he confirmed again I could get cash.

After five minutes, I got a call from another agent from the billing department, saying that I couldn’t get the cash refund; only to the credit card. It was too much! How is it possible to work like this?

ll this time I was given wrong information by every person who contacted me from customer service. I went again to the Dubai Mall branch customer service. At the entrance, the agent asked me what I wanted; he checked my account and told me again there were nothing to refund and the deposit was adjusted to the bill. Three times I told him that I had a reference number that he should check. He totally ignored me and sent me to another person. I was placed in the room and asked to wait. After waiting for some time, I asked if anybody was going to assist me. It was explained that time that the billing department is located somewhere else and I could only talk to them through a video call. After some time, I made a video call with a woman from the billing department. In total our call lasted for 25 minutes, where for approximately 15 minutes I was placed on hold. After explaining again the whole situation, I was promised that by the end of the day, I should get a call from them with an update. I informed the woman that I was travelling after a few days. Only what I got by the end of that day was a one ring on my phone from an unknown landline, after checking the number on internet, I found out that it was du. The last time I heard something from du was that missed call. Until now they didn’t bother to contact me. This has lasted for almost two months.

I spent all this time following them, wasting my time, dealing with people who don’t know their job at all. Looking forward for your support Gulf News.

From Ms Viktoriia Siatkovskaia

Dubai

A spokesperson from du responds: In response to Viktoriia Siatkovskaia, we have investigated the matter and approved a refund. The customer was requested to visit our retail store to collect refund, to which she agreed and was happy with the resolution.

Ms Siatkovskaia responds: I’ve collected the refund today. I would like to thank Gulf News for helping people, who are desperate in solving their problems. You are doing a great job!

(Process initiation: October 9. Response from organisation: October 18. Reader confirmation: October 25.)

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.