Barred
We went to RAKBANK to open a company account. They told me that in order to facilitate the process of opening a company account, I would need to open a personal relationship saving account and put in a monthly deposit of Dh2,000. We agreed on the same and after two months, the company account was still not open and I had deposited Dh4,000 in the relationship account.
We were then informed that the company account cannot be opened due to our nationality. We accepted our fate and then requested the bank to cancel the relationship account and refund our Dh4,000. The bank refused and said that the money was not refundable and we have to keep saving for five years, before we can withdraw the savings.
We were not informed about this at the beginning and the only reason we went into the relationship account was because we were told at the bank that it would have the facility to open a company account.
We have since contacted RAKBANK twice and have received no favourable response from them. We have stopped any further deposits and since then, have been trying to get back our money to no avail.
We appreciate your assistance in getting this message to the right people.
From Ms Ulrick Lionelle Ekono Ebale
Dubai
Mr Ian Hodges, Head of Retail Banking, RAKBANK, responds:
Kindly note that all applications received by RAKBANK are subject to approval at the sole discretion of the Bank and the customer’s company account was not opened since it did not meet our criteria.
Further, we advise that RAKBANK only markets and distributes products offered by Takaful Emarat (Takaful).
Ms Ebale had submitted the duly filled and signed Takaful Insurance proposal form along with relevant documents, including a signed illustration. These documents clearly note the plan term and state that the fund value and encashment value are not guaranteed by Takaful and are subject to applicable charges and the cost of benefits.
After receiving the duly signed proposal form, we arranged for a telephone call to Ms Ebale to confirm her understanding of the product features, including plan term and premium amount. During the call the customer was also informed that taking this insurance is not mandatory for opening an account with RAKBANK. The customer confirmed her understanding of the insurance plan during the call, on the basis of which, we progressed with processing the application.
Since receipt of your email, we have tried contacting Ms Ebale to clarify our stance on the matter, but she remains non-contactable.
Ms Ebale responds:
Thank you Gulf News for your intervention to this matter. I would like to clearly state that RAKBANK staff informed me prior to submitting the application for the company account that a relationship account will facilitate the approval of the company account.
I do not deny the fact that I had signed and submitted the form for the relationship account, along with the application for a company account, but of course I did not read the many pages of clauses attached to it, as I had believed the verbal explanation of the RAKBANK staff and he only showed me the places where I had to sign on the documents.
A telephone call from RAKBANK came through, only to ask if the staff had explained to me the details of the relationship account to which I said ‘yes’. The call did not mention products, features, plan term nor did anyone mention that opening the account was not mandatory as indicated in RAKBANK’s email. I insist that we were told at the bank that opening this relationship account is going to facilitate the company account.
I would like to pose a couple of questions to RAKBANK:
1. Why did it take three months for me to finally know that the company account application was rejected?
2. What has become of the Dh4,000 I paid to RAKBANK? Does it become their money or is it mine?
Finally, I swear that if I understood there was no relationship between both accounts, I would never have deposited my hard-earned money in a relationship account.
I am deeply disappointed with the way I was served and even if I do not reclaim my Dh4,000, I pray this does not happen to anyone else.
Mr Hodges, RAKBANK, responds:
The matter has been reviewed again and we would like to inform you that our stance on the matter remains the same.
Ms Ebale has now made contact with us and we await a confirmation from her on a convenient time and date for a meeting to be arranged with the Bank’s representative.
(Process initiation: December 23. Response from organisation: December 28. Process completion: January 8.)
Call for connectivity
I have been living in Umm Al Quwain since September 2013. As soon as I got my rent contract done, I immediately applied for an eLife package that was on promotion at that time.
To my surprise, the eLife connection was not ready at my house and I was told it would take some time to arrange for it.
My next door neighbour’s house has eLife connectivity and my house has Al Shamil only.
In May 2014, I got a call from etisalat that my package promotion is old and there is a new package, which of course was more expensive than the one I was registered for. I accepted the new package and they confirmed to me that connectivity will take place in three to four days.
Etisalat staff came to my house, but it was useless. They said that the pipeline, through which the fibre optic cable must go through from outside the house to indoors, was blocked and needed to be changed. I came to know later that a contracted supplier etisalat deals with is the one responsible for changing the pipe.
I started getting an SMS from etisalat in September that they are working on my house’s issue and connectivity would be there on October 30, 2014.
On November 2, 2014, I called etisalat to complain that no one came to provide a connection, and they said that on their system, the scheduled date was showing up as November 30, 2014.
From Mr Mahmoud Jaafar
Dubai
The management of etisalat responds:
Kindly note that we are facing a delay to resolve this case, as we are still waiting for other partners to give us permission to do some civil work in the area.
Etisalat updates:
Kindly note that the service was provided to the customer on December 20, 2014.
Mr Jaafar responds:
Thanks Gulf News for your feedback and support. Indeed etisalat has provided the service. I am sure that your intervention was of great help.
(Process initiation: November 23. Response from organisation: December 17. Reader confirmation: December 23.)
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.
