Bank and telecom company address customers’ issues

A telecom firm assures a reader of its services following grievances over lack of connectivity in a new building, while a bank takes corrective steps against fraudulent transactions on a debit card

Need for connection

Iam an etisalat customer since 2015, and I was residing in Muhaisnah 4. In July 2018 I had shifted to a brand new building in Muweilah Commercial area near Nesto Hypermarket and just opposite Gems Millennium School.

Till now etisalat has not installed its instrument in the building. So they are not ready to take up the application for shifting the connection.

We had contacted 101 many times and all they want is EID number of the building. We can provide this only once the connection is established to the building and they themselves do not know when they could provide it.

I have to pay my half month eLife bill of July 2018 unnecessarily as I expected etisalat connection for me to apply for transferring it.

I am fed up recharging my mobile data and every two days I need to keep “Data Add-On” and wasting so much money unwantedly. Recently by utilising etisalat safe custody provision, the connection had been temporarily suspended now, which I do not know how long I will have to extend it further.

The building owner had informed several times through the watchman, that he had wiring completion certificate from etisalat and the building is fully ready to be equipped with etisalat instrument. But etisalat is not providing the same and has no plans or tentative date for the same.

We are using the internet connection mainly for my work at home purpose and for my children as well. I need to download so many videos and watch YouTube online videos for my children’s activities. We are already stuck in this matter.

Etisalat has to install the instrument at the earliest in my building. All the tenants are of the same opinion and all are fed up in different ways as all are staying with their families. We are not seeing any positive response either from etisalat or our building management.

Your immediate intervention would be very highly appreciated and looking forward to a positive action from your side for us to get the etisalat connection at the earliest. Many thanks for your understanding and cooperation. From Mr Nigil George Sharjah

The management of etisalat responds:

Thank you for bringing Mr George’s concern to our attention. Etisalat customer service team would want to apologise for all the inconvenience he may have faced. We would like to inform you that etisalat is still awaiting approval from the concerned government entities to proceed with the installation process at the customer’s building. The estimated completion time is on August 25 and is still subject to approval and onsite readiness. We have already reached out to the customer and provided him with an update. The case is closed.

Update from etisalat:

Following government approval and onsite readiness, the installation process at the customer’s building has been completed as scheduled. Despite repeated calls to the customer, he failed to respond and has been unreachable ever since.

(Process initiation: July 25. Response from organisation: July 29. Process completion: September 23.)

Hacked account

Iam an account holder with Commercial Bank International (CBI) for the past four years. My salary account was hacked on August 6, 2018, and there were fraudulent transactions in terms of bank withdrawals in Kanchipuram and Chennai, India, amounting to Dh14,604.73 through a total of 28 transactions within a minute. The debit card was with me all the while.

There is no question of my card information being stolen because last time I was in Delhi, India was in March 2018. Moreover I belong to Bengaluru hence there is no way I would use the card in Chennai or Kanchipuram where I never go.

I had a balance of Dh14,624.46 while such fraudulent ATM withdrawals took place and my balance became Dh19.73. During all these back-to-back transactions within a minute, my debit card wasn’t blocked nor did the bank call me asking why so many withdrawals were being done. After returning from the daily run, I noticed such fraud transaction messages and I immediately called the bank who blocked my ATM card.

Till date there has not been a single call or attempt from the bank to contact me and whenever I follow up they are simply stating, “Yes we confirm that it is fraudulent transaction and our team is investigating the matter and such cases generally takes 60 days.”

I am getting more concerned as it’s been a month now and how sure should I be that CBI is really investigating this and shall resolve the matter.

I have been struggling to get updates from CBI but there is no response at all from them since last month. All they did is send me a dispute settlement form by email after me literally begging to take action since they weren’t bothered.

It’s been a month since they blocked my debit card and they haven’t issued me a new card. During the last conversation with customer care when I asked this, they said someone will contact me and here we go not even a single call from them yet.

I request Gulf News to please intervene and help me with this regard so that I can get my hard earned money back. From Mr Manivellan Shanmugam

Abu Dhabi

The management of CBI responds:

The case relates to disputed transactions on a CBI MasterCard debit card. While we are unable to comment on this particular case due to customer confidentiality, we can confirm that all banks are mandated to follow the MasterCard transaction dispute process. MasterCard’s service level agreement is to provide resolution within 60 days. CBI takes all customer disputes seriously and we do our absolute best to follow up and ensure all MasterCard cases are resolved within their 60-day promise.

Mr Shanmugam responds:

Finally, I received a call from CBI for the first time and they have instructed me to visit the nearest branch to submit my blocked debit card and also my passport with a copy