I have been a Mashreq credit card holder for over five years. During these years, I have never defaulted on my payments. Last week, I went to Mashreq to settle my pending amount and at that time, the customer service officer informed me that I was being charged an amount of Dh8,781.15 for ‘Pay Protection’.
I never requested for Pay Protection nor did I receive any correspondence that they are activating it on my credit card.
I called the bank’s customer service on October 11, 2017, and informed them of my dissatisfaction. Then, I got a call from a representative at the credit shield department, and he insisted that the bank could impose any insurance just by sending a statement or text message, without the customer’s consent, to which I strongly objected.
I requested them to provide me with proof that I have given consent to opt for Pay Protection, but they have not provided me with it. I also requested them to not cancel my Pay Protection until proof of my acceptance is provided, but they went ahead and cancelled Pay Protection, as informed to me by a customer service agent on October 12, 2017.
Is this the way they generate funds?
From Mr Venkat Puppala
Dubai
The management of Mashreq responds:
Thank you for sharing Mr Puppala’s concern with us. We have reviewed the concerns raised by Mr Puppala regarding the pay protect charges toward his credit card. Our investigation reveals that the pay protect benefit was auto enrolled on Mr Puppala’s card on August 9, 2016.
The enrolment text message was sent to his registered number on August 9, 2016 confirming that the benefit will be free for the first two months as a trial period and thereafter 0.99 per cent will be charged on the outstanding balance. Mr Puppala was given the option to deactivate the above benefit by sending a text message to 4250 in the same text message, however we did not receive any message from his end. Therefore, the charges were levied on his card from the third month onwards.
Mr Puppala recently approached us on October 12, 2017 for the cancellation of the benefits and based on his request the above benefit has been deactivated on his card.
We have contacted Mr Puppala and explained how the facility was enrolled and conveyed to him the desired resolution.
He is happy and satisfied with the quick and positive response to his complaint. We take this opportunity to thank Gulf News once again for bringing a customer issue to our notice.
The reader responds:
Thank you very much. Mashreq Bank’s management has agreed to reverse the amount that I was charged on my credit card for the past year, for Pay Protection.
(Process initiation: October 18. Response from organisation: October 19. Process completion: October 19.)
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.
