I took a personal loan of Dh131,000 from Mashreq on January 5, 2016, with an instalment of Dh3,361.18 per month. One month ago, I cancelled my Mashreq Smart Saver credit card, without knowing that this was a bundle offer. The Mashreq customer care relationship manager also did not inform me before I cancelled the credit card, that the next month onwards, I would be charged Dh50 since I cancelled the card.

I was not aware that this was a bundle offer and did not read the terms and conditions when signing the documents. I don’t think anybody reads them. But the customer care representative did not inform me that this would happen if I cancelled any one of the products from the three – personal loan, credit card and a tablet — when signing the document or offering the product.

I called Mashreq’s customer care on August 2, 2017, to raise a complaint against the extra deduction of Dh50 but they were not ready to record this matter as a complaint. They have taken my comments as feedback and sent it to the manager. As a customer, I believe that the customer care representative should have complete product knowledge and advise the customer to avoid such difficulties.

I took a personal loan for my children’s medical expenses in 2013, when I was blessed with twin baby girls. Unfortunately, it was not a normal delivery – they were born premature and were born through caesarean section. So both babies were kept on a ventilator and in an incubator for three months. For that, I took a personal loan from a bank in 2013. The medical expenses are still going on, so I transferred the loan to Mashreq in 2016, as I was struggling to make the loan amount Dh3,361.18 each month. Now, this extra amount of Dh50 is not something I am able to afford, as the loan has 28 more months, including this month’s (August) total deduction amount of Dh1,450. This is a huge loss for me, keeping in mind my salary and monthly expenses.

Hence, I request Gulf News to kindly take up this matter with Mashreq Bank officials and make an arrangement to waive off the fees of Dh1,450.

From Mr Sreenath Parakkad Kunnath

Dubai

The management of Mashreq responds:

Thank you for referring Mr Kunnath’s concern to us for our investigation and feedback.

We have investigated the issue highlighted and discovered through our records and application forms that Mr Kunnath opted in for Mashreq’s Max Bundle Offer (multiple products at the same time), and as a result qualified for the Samsung Tablet. The tablet was not offered to customers as a freebee, but as an award for opting in for multiple products at the same time.

The terms and conditions clearly state that if the customer opts out of any of the bundled products before two years at the least, he or she will be charged a nominal fee of Dh50 on pro rata basis towards the cost of the tablet.

In Mashreq, we believe in transparency of the terms and conditions and encourage our customers to always read them before signing the dotted line.

It is likely that the terms and conditions were not completely understood by him, but from our perspective, they were stated in black and white at the onset to avoid impediments later.

These charges are hence fair and as per policy since Mr Kunnath requested cancellation of his credit card stating that ‘he was leaving UAE’ hence breaking the ‘bundled offer’.

He later did not leave the country and opted to continue with other Mashreq products such as loans and accounts.

We have explained to Mr Kunnath the reason for the charges and he acknowledges that he initiated the card cancellation.

The charges are valid and will ideally continue to be levied until January 2018 and cannot be reversed. But purely as a goodwill gesture, we have requested Mr Kunnath to reapply for a credit card and on the basis of the re-issuance of his card, we agree to reverse the charges which were levied. Our sales staff will call him shortly to complete the documentation.

This is the best proposed resolution, considering that these are legitimate charges. We thank you for your intervention in having Mr Kunnath’s concerns highlighted.

Mr Kunnath responds:

I received a call from Mashreq, saying they will provide me a credit card with a lower credit limit and also waive off the amount. Today, Dh50 has been credited to my Mashreq account.

I would like to thank Gulf News for the great support extended to me and also wish to thank Mashreq Bank for sorting out the issue from their end.

(Process initiation: August 6. Response from organisation: August 8. Process completion: August 21.)

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.