I went to Emirates Bank in Sharjah today to receive a clearance letter for my credit care to show my credit card has been cancelled. I was asked to pay dhs 200 to get a clearance letter. When I asked the lady (Bindu Joseph) to show any statement from the bank indicating that this amount is entitled to be paid by the customer she refused to speak to me. She, at one point alleged me of an Emirates Bank employee as she felt I had more knowledge about their internal process. She was VERY rude and had no customer service skills. She asked me to leave her desk and that I needed to speak with an operations manager. I requested her to speak with an operation manager as I have waited three hours in queue before I could speak to her.

She then had a word with to her branch manager who in fact tried to prove that it was Emirates Banks policy by showing personal banking policies and procedure. I said to the lady I was referring to credit card and not personal bank and was told that they are both linked together. I was given two option; one was to keep quiet and pay and second was to leave the bank immediately. I decided to pay the money regardless of the fact that the service was pathetic and I was not convinced. However, Emirates bank could only provide a no liability letter stating that I had no liability with the bank. I stated that I could have proven this myself by showing a credit card statement with zero balance. However, I did not receive any help and the branch manager starting to make a mockery out of me with laughter through his colleagues and friends. He then walked away with pride, ignorance, and a guilt which he will never surpass.

I agree with a lot of the post here about the complete incompetence and arrogance of Emirates bank employees. They somehow in their utter stupidity charged another client's check for 1500 AED to my credit card. How a check gets taken from someone's credit card account alone is a mystery, but the most ridiculous part is that I don't even have checks with them!! I spoke to one Mr. Yakoob Mohamed who found the check, knew it was from another account and only refunded the 100 AED processing charge and refused to help anymore after that, saying he was "only doing this as a favor and to stop calling him about it." Now I am starting the complaint process over again. I know it doesn't sound like much money, but these people have no education on customer service and accountability. WAKE UP EMIRATES BANK!!!

*****Please see the below string of emails sent June 16, 2009 to Emirates Bank, Mankhool branch to understand their complete incompetence. These emails were sent to both, Chaminda W: Branch Operations Officer, and Abdul Rahimi: Branch Manager*****

Hello Chaminda,

My name is Michelle, I work for #####. I have been instructed by my employers finance department to talk to you.

Here is what happened with my international money transfer:
3rd of June I filled out the form to transfer my entire months salary from my Emirates bank account, to my Wells Fargo bank account in the USA. 6th of June the money left my Emirates bank account. I have not seen my money since (It is June 16th). I have been speaking with Abdullah at the Mankhool branch (Head of Tellers) and he has not been able to help me.

This is a very urgent matter. All of my bills are late and I now owe over $200 USD in late fees because of this. This is also affecting my credit rating in the United States. I would hope that you would compensate me for your errors. I am in no position to be paying late fees like this because of an error on your part.

Attached is a form that Abdullah gave to me last week, for your reference.

Kind Regards,
Michelle
_________________________

*****I called the bank after having received no response. I talked to 2 people who promised to call me back. (Keep in mind I've been doing this now for 3 days... after actually getting in touch with someone in the bank, being promised a call-back, receiving no call-back, and then calling the bank --- with no response. I even visited the bank twice in the last week, only to be told I would be called back.)*****

________________________

Hello Chaminda,

This is a gross neglect of your customer base and highlights your incompetence as a financial institution. I was told I would receive a call from Chaminda before 1pm... I made Chaminda promise to call me back, twice. It is now 1:30, with no call. I have called the bank, your phone number, and Abdullah's phone number repeatedly to no avail for over 30 minutes. I have been told over 10 times by Abdulla, that he would call me back since Thursday of last week. He has not EVER CALLED ME BACK ONCE.

It has now been 13 days since I filed my money transfer --- it is a disgrace that you do not even know where the money is.

You have lost my money, my entire month's salary, and I want it back immediately. As of now I consider it stolen. You can be sure there will be severe repercussions for your neglect. I expect you to immediately divert your attention to this situation as you are meddling in my finances to a degree that is unacceptable. I am accruing late fees everyday that you neglect me, and my credit score in the US is being impacted. I expect full repayment for these fees that I have suffered on your behalf. You will no longer have my business, you can be sure.

This is completely unacceptable. Everyone I know, and many whom they know will hear about this.

Kind Regards,
Michelle

________________________

Dear Ms. Michelle,

Our payments department has just now confirmed once again that the payment has gone through successfully. Kindly arrange to fax the swift copy to your bank in US to investigate if there is any issues from their end. Our payments department will send another tracer to the bank today in US stating your claim of Non receipt of Funds.

As advised to you on the phone, kindly fax the swift copy to the US bank and investigate if there is any issue at their side. In the mean time we will get back to you with the tracer message sent today.

Regards,
Chaminda.

________________________

Hello Chaminda,

This is the answer you should have given me last Thursday. I asked Abdullah to make a transfer trace on THURSDAY... And you're just now sending it out?

Kind Regards,
Michelle

_________________________

Dear Michelle,

Actually today's tracer will be the second sent from our banks side. The first tracer was sent on 14-06-2009 by our payments department which " Wachovia Bank" has failed to respond so far. The first tracer message is attached below for your reference.

Regards,
Chaminda

__________________________

Chaminda,

Are you being serious?! “Wachovia Bank” is not my bank. My bank is Wells Fargo, I even gave you the bank routing number on the transfer sheet, to ensure you’re sending to the right bank. You are sending the trace to the wrong bank... That is why they are not responding. Look at the attached sheet I sent to you earlier today. It says “Wells Fargo”right on there.

Kind Regards,
Michelle

____________________________

*****It is now 3pm and the bank is closed, and you can bet that Chaminda went home with no concern for the fact that her bank has lost my entire months' salary. I do not look forward to having another round of this same run0around game tomorrow. This is complete and total incompetence, like I have never seen.*****

My credit card was closed by the bank. i had paid the crdit card in full and infact paid an additional aed 10 just to make sure i had no problems. i also called the bank to confirm the recipt of the payment and the closure of the card. this happend about 6 months ago. now i receive a sms stating that my card is overdue by AED 19.41 and to make a payment to avoid legal action. i was asked to call +97143159478. but the number is never reachable.

Please advise.